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A review by eliasandrea
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.25
I read this on a recommendation from my professor, and I'm glad I did.
I've never read anything like The Left Hand of Darkness, not just in the profoundness of it, but in that I have never been a sci-fi reader. Fantasy resides in more safety from my experience, with magic systems and such that are generally easy to follow as they don't differ from each other too much. Whereas in this book, it's a whole other world. Societies and culture thought out so deep as to where customs and relationship standard stem from.
The gender philosophy(?) of this book isn't anything new to me. Being a genderqueer individual in the 2020's, you tend to analyze gender-norms from the perspective of an outsider. But I have never seen it applied in such an explorative way (or at all), especially not from so long ago.
I all in all loved this book, and just struggled with vocabulary and with emotional disconnect due to less interiority and more observational storytelling. Which served the goal perfectly, of course.
Also I say I struggled with emotional disconnect, but that's not meant to be a critique, but more an experience. You're experiencing a world and its people, and Genly himself is feeling a disconnect. Which may lend itself to effective character execution.
I've never read anything like The Left Hand of Darkness, not just in the profoundness of it, but in that I have never been a sci-fi reader. Fantasy resides in more safety from my experience, with magic systems and such that are generally easy to follow as they don't differ from each other too much. Whereas in this book, it's a whole other world. Societies and culture thought out so deep as to where customs and relationship standard stem from.
The gender philosophy(?) of this book isn't anything new to me. Being a genderqueer individual in the 2020's, you tend to analyze gender-norms from the perspective of an outsider. But I have never seen it applied in such an explorative way (or at all), especially not from so long ago.
I all in all loved this book, and just struggled with vocabulary and with emotional disconnect due to less interiority and more observational storytelling. Which served the goal perfectly, of course.
Also I say I struggled with emotional disconnect, but that's not meant to be a critique, but more an experience. You're experiencing a world and its people, and Genly himself is feeling a disconnect. Which may lend itself to effective character execution.