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A review by piburnjones
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
I didn't know what to expect from this. It's an eclectic mix of things - first contact with another planet, political intrigue, travelogue, all occasionally interspersed with legends from this world. And for a hot second, you think you've slipped and fallen into [b:One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich|17125|One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich|Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427731744s/17125.jpg|838042].
I didn't find it to be a page-turner, but it is a masterclass in creating cultures and civilizations that don't look like carbon copies of anything on Earth. I liked the way Le Guin portrayed the communication barrier that stems not just from differences in language, but from cultural assumptions and expectations.
I think the primary reason I found it a slow read is that it took me a long time to latch onto either of the main characters. They start to come alive eventually, but they felt very distant and even wooden for most of the book.
The most interesting way this book shows its age is in its treatment of gender. Even though a key part of the concept is that people of Gethen do not have a set gender, Le Guin defaults to he, man, and boy where today an author would choose gender neutral words. The human narrator even seems to betray his own biases when he notices feminine characteristics in the Gethenians - often these are not flattering comparisons. Whether this stems from something in his own past or psyche that might have prompted him to volunteer for this particular assignment is left as an exercise for the reader.
I didn't find it to be a page-turner, but it is a masterclass in creating cultures and civilizations that don't look like carbon copies of anything on Earth. I liked the way Le Guin portrayed the communication barrier that stems not just from differences in language, but from cultural assumptions and expectations.
I think the primary reason I found it a slow read is that it took me a long time to latch onto either of the main characters. They start to come alive eventually, but they felt very distant and even wooden for most of the book.
The most interesting way this book shows its age is in its treatment of gender. Even though a key part of the concept is that people of Gethen do not have a set gender, Le Guin defaults to he, man, and boy where today an author would choose gender neutral words. The human narrator even seems to betray his own biases when he notices feminine characteristics in the Gethenians - often these are not flattering comparisons. Whether this stems from something in his own past or psyche that might have prompted him to volunteer for this particular assignment is left as an exercise for the reader.