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goodnight_moon 's review for:
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K LeGuin's writing makes me wish I was more perceptive as a reader and articulate as a reviewer. I'm appreciative that they continue to include much smarter opinions (including the author's) shared on the book and her work generally.
I think that feeling speaks to her balance in keeping a text deeply layered with beautiful themes and important ideas still accessible through an engaging plot. Any less entertaining and I would label it "literature" and let it sail right over my head. But to call it "entertainment" is to sell her short.
She is an expert at turning a fantastical idea into believable every day movements and conversations, and building those seemingly mundane elements into page turners. I loved this book for so many reasons I can't specify; it's a tangled mess of enjoyment I've only started to organize as I've finished the whole story.
I love that a plot not far off the trade federation negotiations in The Phantom Menace was more than gripping enough to frame this story.
I love that the speculative sci-fi aspects of the story were used to frame the human-driven plot, rather than being the plot. I Robot and The Left Hand of Darkness have completely changed my views on science fiction - on the potential of well-written scf-fi, to be specific.
The hope created by two characters, facing the bleakest of futures, seeking to overcome cultural differences to understand each other, was truly inspiring.
"A man who doesn't detest a bad government is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on Earth, it would be a great joy to serve it."
"'I'm glad I have lived to see this', he said. I felt as he did. It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
I think that feeling speaks to her balance in keeping a text deeply layered with beautiful themes and important ideas still accessible through an engaging plot. Any less entertaining and I would label it "literature" and let it sail right over my head. But to call it "entertainment" is to sell her short.
She is an expert at turning a fantastical idea into believable every day movements and conversations, and building those seemingly mundane elements into page turners. I loved this book for so many reasons I can't specify; it's a tangled mess of enjoyment I've only started to organize as I've finished the whole story.
I love that a plot not far off the trade federation negotiations in The Phantom Menace was more than gripping enough to frame this story.
I love that the speculative sci-fi aspects of the story were used to frame the human-driven plot, rather than being the plot. I Robot and The Left Hand of Darkness have completely changed my views on science fiction - on the potential of well-written scf-fi, to be specific.
The hope created by two characters, facing the bleakest of futures, seeking to overcome cultural differences to understand each other, was truly inspiring.
"A man who doesn't detest a bad government is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on Earth, it would be a great joy to serve it."
"'I'm glad I have lived to see this', he said. I felt as he did. It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end."