A review by surelyinthefountain
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Love this book; it's the romance of the century, though I admit I have so much personal attachment to it because of the care and nuance with which Le Guin writes nonbinary characters. Estraven is the nonbinary rep we all deserve, and Genry's growing understanding of who they were outside of the gender binary was just SO formative for me and helpful in my own journey. There's a lot of wisdom there and at least in my opinion, not very dated. The use of "he/him" for androgynous characters perhaps isn't what Le Guin might have chosen had she been writing today, but it's well-justified, I think, based on who Genry Ai is that he would use that pronoun set when writing his report. A couple of passages seem rooted in a more overtly sexist society, but to be honest, we unfortunately still live in a world where many people still fundamentally believe those things, even if they know what they're "supposed to" say, and those attitudes still do great harm out in the world. So this book is more relevant than ever, I think.
But then, maybe I'm just biased. This book is beautiful and I'm not afraid to gush forever about it! A world where people aren't seen as male or female, just as human beings -- what's not to love??
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