Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

13 reviews

_david_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The worldbuilding is masterfully executed, revealing a rich and diverse world and culture within the confines of a relatively short book. The characters are captivating, and the narrative effectively captures the challenges of collaboration with a culture one doesn't fully comprehend and vice versa.

The book successfully presents multiple perspectives, with the main character questioning his own ideas and cultural norms after engaging with Winter's people. What stands out is how Winter and its countries aren't portrayed as utopias nor lesser places than earth. They're not good or bad, just different, with their own moral grey areas. Even the two countries that are shown in the book have big cultural differences. Eventhough gender is a significant theme and the first thing you'll likely learn when looking up the book, the core focus revolves around learning to respect and collaborate with another culture. The way gender is represented in the book is in a world that shows the what-if scenario of a society where gender (or sexuality) has no impact on people's role in it.

The only aspect I wish were different is that 'neutral' pronouns and other terms are male to the reader. Perhaps it highlights the flaws of the main character and his default way of thinking. But I still found it odd.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Police brutality, Confinement, Grief, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Incest, Suicide, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Cursing, Incest, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexism

arcturus_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, War, Grief, Police brutality, and Misogyny

waxwwing's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is so complicated, man. (Yes, I understand how ironic the use of the word 'man' is here). I'm very grumpy about

Estraven's death

but I think the ending of the novel is, ultimately, very fitting. This is the sort of novel that I believe I would enjoy much more if I was studying it - there's so many layers to this text and what is has to say about gender, and I'm particularly interested in the role

incest (god)

plays into the narrative. TLDR; Ursula Le Guin would be massively fascinated by modern ABO fanfic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Incest, and Violence

bookishperseus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It did take a while for me to be able to start this book, and at times I found it incredibly slow, complex or tedious.

I did keep reading it because there was a small interest as to what would happen, even though this book is following what could be considered a 'usual every day life'.

Towards the end, I found the final 3 or 4 chapters actually quite interesting. Not something I'd read again, but glad I finished it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child death, War, Chronic illness, Deportation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Rape, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Confinement

matteo_rio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i love le guin’s intro to this book so much, i love sci-fi

fave quote: “it is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. we who are so rich, so full of strength, end up with that small change. we have nothing else to give.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Police brutality

Minor: Incest, War, and Xenophobia

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Physical abuse, and Incest

Minor: Kidnapping, Torture, Misogyny, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Suicide, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, and Death

blazingquill's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is an older book written in a classical science fiction style - which is to say, sometimes a slog to get through. In addition, while it takes several meaningful steps to deconstruct the gender binary, it does so in a way which is very accessible, and therefore doesn’t push as far at it perhaps could, as Le Guin herself commented on several times. 

That being said, it’s a very profound look into the difference between things that are societally decided and things that are innately human, in a way that thoughtfully offers solutions to the world we currently live in rather than just pointing out the bad. (From what I understand, this is often a core tenant of Le Guin’s work, and makes me excited to read more.) At it’s core, despite the way it sometimes reads, it’s a story about friendship and love. The line, “I do not know if we were right,” inflicted psychic damage upon me, and just barely manages to push the heavy queer coding into explicitly queer. 

If you have experience reading dense science fiction, and don’t mind it, I would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Incest, Misogyny, and Trafficking

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Police brutality

Minor: Murder, Transphobia, and War

sylvester749's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

extremely dense, very interesting and well read, found it a little difficult to get into. didn't feel as groundbreaking to me as i thought it would going into it, but that very may be because i read it 54 years after its publication. still, what a galaxy brain and very well explored premise. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping and Police brutality

Minor: War, Deportation, Miscarriage, Suicide, Death, and Incest

erikwmj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Police brutality

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Xenophobia and Sexism

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did but the way Le Guin delves into spiny and complicated topics so casually is truly mesmerizing. 
The various POVs only clarify the world building tangentially which makes you feel like you too are seeing a culture from afar, and in turn this gives the similarities and critiques of our own culture a bigger "punch". The language and slang however can be confusing especially if you're (like me) not used to sci-fi, but honestly once I realized there's no way I'm going to get every single reference on my first reading and just plowed on, my experience improved by 100x. Some books are meant to be read more than once to truly get them and this is one of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Confinement, and Torture

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Animal death

One of the characters hunts small game for food; this is not described in detail. A group of characters has a biological variation that makes them able to predict the future, this is framed as painful for them, yet a different character points out that it's a "gift" not to be "cured" even if they're hurting. The characters of the planet present cyclical sexual dymorphism, the narrative goes into detail about the biology of this which could trigger dysphoria in some readers.