4.07 AVERAGE

abbyhxpe's profile picture

abbyhxpe's review

2.0

Now I probably shouldn't rate this because I audio booked half of it and spark noted the rest, but I disliked it sm that it deserved a review
dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
slow-paced

One of my favourite novels. I recently found time to re-read it, and was absolutely blown away. In context of science fiction, anthropology, and literary study, Le Guin's fiction was trailblazing with few equals, and in Left Hand she moves even further from the science-fantasy of previous Hainish works and more towards a fully realized mode of critical inquiry deeply immersed in plot-based, world-building, universe-spanning fantastic fiction.

To think that in this novel Le Guin wove together an intimate story of two people, one with no fixed gender and another with VERY definite views about binary genders, alongside the story of societal comparison and politics is eye-raising stuff, and to find that the novel's climax is a long episode of adventure that subverts the usual colonial tropes by simply having the two protagonists come to a kind of reconciliation with one another... well, that's incredibly ambitious. Nor is Le Guin a straightforward plotter. Instead, sophisticated narrative ironies layer interpretations of events as the principle actors have alternating chapters that at times present different visions of the same events - to which Le Guin, the layered writer she is, adds frameworks of mythological, historical, and theoretical reflection.

And then you think that Le Guin didn't just have to write this stuff, she was theorizing her way out of a deadened, masculine, colonial genre and into a new, more hospital space that still proves challenging for contemporary readers... I will always be in awe.

In its own way, I always find Le Guin a page-turner, but this is among the more thoughtful adventures she wrote, which is not to say that it is ponderous.

The world misses Ursula K. Le Guin. I certainly miss her voice.
adventurous reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

really enjoyed the social commentary on gender(roles) and seeing the genderless world through Genly a guy from earth worked really well. the relationship between genly and estraven was also really interesting and built up so well. made their death all the more devastating after everything they went through. all estravens hard work did lead to them joining the ekumen but it cost him his life :/
adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

mad_kling's review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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