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A review by goblinhearted
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.5
This was my first Le Guin novel, and it has lit a fire beneath me to read all of her other work.
I went in blind, not knowing much about this book aside from the “weird gender stuff”. I put off reading this (and other work) for a long time because of misconceptions I had about science fiction. For the first five or so chapters, I didn’t really understand what was going on or where the story was going - I was just diligently reading and trying to be a good sport and give it a fair chance. Then things started to come together and my patience began to pay off.
This book showed me what a great storyteller Le Guin is, as well as how she truly revolutionized science fiction by telling stories that were very different than the stereotypical “hero’s journey” stories. This one, despite having very rich worldbuilding (a fascinating world!), is very much character-driven.
A huge theme of this book is duality - think yin and yang. I was impressed by how eloquently Le Guin draws the connections and differences between a variety of things - civilizations, towns, people - through the use of positive and negative space (what’s said and left unsaid).
There are so many other powerful themes to highlight: nationalism and its impact, us vs. them mentalities, looking past differences and working toward unity, empathy, love, and more.
The thing I love about speculative fiction is that it makes you think. I’d say that Le Guin’s work makes you think a lot. This book, among her others, is a great book club read because it opens up a lot for discussion.
It’s also worth mentioning that this was one of her first novels. Having since read more by her, I can confirm that her writing and storytelling style only gets better and better from here.
I went in blind, not knowing much about this book aside from the “weird gender stuff”. I put off reading this (and other work) for a long time because of misconceptions I had about science fiction. For the first five or so chapters, I didn’t really understand what was going on or where the story was going - I was just diligently reading and trying to be a good sport and give it a fair chance. Then things started to come together and my patience began to pay off.
This book showed me what a great storyteller Le Guin is, as well as how she truly revolutionized science fiction by telling stories that were very different than the stereotypical “hero’s journey” stories. This one, despite having very rich worldbuilding (a fascinating world!), is very much character-driven.
A huge theme of this book is duality - think yin and yang. I was impressed by how eloquently Le Guin draws the connections and differences between a variety of things - civilizations, towns, people - through the use of positive and negative space (what’s said and left unsaid).
There are so many other powerful themes to highlight: nationalism and its impact, us vs. them mentalities, looking past differences and working toward unity, empathy, love, and more.
The thing I love about speculative fiction is that it makes you think. I’d say that Le Guin’s work makes you think a lot. This book, among her others, is a great book club read because it opens up a lot for discussion.
It’s also worth mentioning that this was one of her first novels. Having since read more by her, I can confirm that her writing and storytelling style only gets better and better from here.