The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

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The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

(#4 - Hainish Cycle)

July 1, 2000 / 320 pages / Fiction

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

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A classic, beautiful tale that will whisk you away with its savageness, poetic prose and mind blowing concepts. One of Le Guin's absolute best!

Grade: A+ / Trilliane / Feb 6, 2014

Beautiful prose, complex characters, and a slow-paced but intricate and thought-provoking exploration of an alien world.

Grade: A+ / emberem / Aug 31, 2017

(Cross-posted to my science fiction blog, Android Dreamer) The Left Hand of Darkness is often called a 'feminist' science-fiction novel, but surprisingly is not the story of an intergalactic butch lesbian who travels the galaxy systematically castrating alien men on each planet she comes across. As a matter of fact, there really aren't any women in The Left Hand of Darkness, and only one man to speak of. Genly Ai is the envoy for Ekumen, an interplanetary alliance that has tasked Ai with tryi

Grade: A / BeardedHeckler / Aug 31, 2015

This was good, and fairly interesting for a while, but there was a ton of geographical descriptions and traveling that I didn't really care about. Especially since it's on a foreign planet, there's no real reference point, other than what's in the text. I am personally terrible at spatial reasoning so this was a little boring for me. Still a good read, though.

Grade: C / bookmage / Dec 22, 2016

Think simultaneity. Think interconnection. What's the difference between female and male? Light and dark? Perhaps the answer is more nuanced than we'd like to believe. Perhaps the answer is multiple. Perhaps multiplicity doesn't make the answer less complete. Ah, The Left Hand of Darkness -- a perfect display of how social commentary and science fiction go together like peanut butter and jelly. Prepare yourself for introspection and beautiful prose. Bonus points for 1960s genderfucking.

Grade: B / juderomines / Jul 25, 2018

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