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pastelkerstin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book took a while to get interesting, but once it did, I found it hard to put down.
At its core there are some pretty good radical ideas in here about favouring community over patriotism. Genly speaks of a world based on cooperation and without law enforcement out among the stars. What a vision.
Gender and sex is also obviously a big topic in this book. I think it shows the arbitrariness of gender roles well, even though Genly and the other Envoys struggle with understanding this, as they come from a binarist society. Genly often makes sexist comments about manly or womanly qualities he sees in the Gethenians, people who are neither men nor women (or who are both, depending how you want to see it). But I don't think that means that the reader is supposed to agree with Genly. Seeing whatever a main character says as correct is a misguided way of reading fiction, in my opinion.
That's also why when Genly's interior monologue says that sexual desire/attraction is people's driving force (a very Freudian idea) and a requirement for being human, and therefore the Gethenians with their sexual cycle seem strange and inhuman to him, I think we're not supposed to think he's right. After all,Genly learns to see Therem fully, as not fitting into Genly's ideas of sexuality and gender, but as a full human being, despite these differences. There is the implication here that asexuality either doesn't exist on the other planets or that Genly isn't aware of it. So I would put an aphobia warning on this just in case, because reading "no sexual attraction = inhuman" stings even if you know that Genly struggles to see past his own experience of the world.
I think Genly and Therem's relationship is the most interesting part of this book. And it feels very queer to me, even thoughthey are never officially together and Gethen doesn't seem to have a concept of queerness (unlike Genly's homeworld).
Overall, I liked this book, even though it has some elements that are a bit squicky or hard to read for me, like the way incest is tolerated on Gethen under certain circumstances and how this is part of one the main characters' backstories, or the aforementioned sexism and (almost certainly unintentional) asexual erasure from Genly.
At its core there are some pretty good radical ideas in here about favouring community over patriotism. Genly speaks of a world based on cooperation and without law enforcement out among the stars. What a vision.
Gender and sex is also obviously a big topic in this book. I think it shows the arbitrariness of gender roles well, even though Genly and the other Envoys struggle with understanding this, as they come from a binarist society. Genly often makes sexist comments about manly or womanly qualities he sees in the Gethenians, people who are neither men nor women (or who are both, depending how you want to see it). But I don't think that means that the reader is supposed to agree with Genly. Seeing whatever a main character says as correct is a misguided way of reading fiction, in my opinion.
That's also why when Genly's interior monologue says that sexual desire/attraction is people's driving force (a very Freudian idea) and a requirement for being human, and therefore the Gethenians with their sexual cycle seem strange and inhuman to him, I think we're not supposed to think he's right. After all,
I think Genly and Therem's relationship is the most interesting part of this book. And it feels very queer to me, even though
Overall, I liked this book, even though it has some elements that are a bit squicky or hard to read for me, like the way incest is tolerated on Gethen under certain circumstances and how this is part of one the main characters' backstories, or the aforementioned sexism and (almost certainly unintentional) asexual erasure from Genly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Infertility, and Suicide
zalesbian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
A very slow start. But once I got to page 120, or so, I couldn't put it down. It was captivating and very tense.
As a gender queer individual myself, I found the first part of the book to be dull I felt like the hero was projecting his gender too strongly on these people. But that was very much the point, and Ursula K Le Guin did an excellent job of altering his, and ours, perception as the story progressed.
Ultimately, it was a love story. It was Broke Back Mountain set on an alien planet and I loved it.
As a gender queer individual myself, I found the first part of the book to be dull I felt like the hero was projecting his gender too strongly on these people. But that was very much the point, and Ursula K Le Guin did an excellent job of altering his, and ours, perception as the story progressed.
Ultimately, it was a love story. It was Broke Back Mountain set on an alien planet and I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Excrement
Moderate: Sexual content
Content warning: graphic descriptions of prisons related to Concentration Camps. Content Warning: moderate description of genitals/gender/sexuality.miriamana's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture