Left Hand Of Darkness

by Ursula K. Le Guin

hardcover, 256 pages

Published Nov. 5, 2009 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-1-84149-606-1

(138 reviews)

[Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website][1]: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)

One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment.

In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: "The king was pregnant," the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time …

[Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website][1]: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969)

One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years I've been recommending this book to people who want to try science fiction for the first time, and it still serves very well for that. One of the things I like about it is how clearly it demonstrates that science fiction can have not only the usual virtues and pleasures of the novel, but also the startling and transformative power of the thought experiment.

In this case, the thought experiment is quickly revealed: "The king was pregnant," the book tells us early on, and after that we learn more and more about this planet named Winter, stuck in an ice age, where the humans are most of the time neither male nor female, but with the potential to become either. The man from Earth investigating this situation has a lot to learn, and so do we; and we learn it in the course of a thrilling adventure story, including a great "crossing of the ice". Le Guin's language is clear and clean, and has within it both the anthropological mindset of her father Alfred Kroeber, and the poetry of stories as magical things that her mother Theodora Kroeber found in native American tales. This worldly wisdom applied to the romance of other planets, and to human nature at its deepest, is Le Guin's particular gift to us, and something science fiction will always be proud of. Try it and see – you will never think about people in quite the same way again.

[1]: www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/14/science-fiction-authors-choice

43 editions

Jacinto reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Está reseña es una analogía cogida con pinzas.

4 stars

Que viva eternamente con sueño y que mi nivel de inglés sea justito para el libro implica que no lo he leído tan fluidamente como me gustaría. He tenido la sensación como cuando estudiando matemáticas nos explicaban un lema con una demostración que a priori no iba a ninguna parte pero al final ya intuías cómo iba a ayudar a demostrar el teorema (o la idea brillante del libro). De ahí al final ya se pone en marcha la acción o aplicación práctica del teorema y te lo acabas y sigues con tu vida, sin acordarte de la arena que masticaste al principio ni de más que las líneas generales de la aplicación práctica, pero sí del kemmer y del frío que hacía en el planeta.

AndySoc1al reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Classic of Science Fiction and Gender

5 stars

I see why this is considered a classic of speculative fiction, and don't know why it took me decades to get around to reading it. The story and ideas clearly influenced entire generations of modern writers.

It's even better on a re-read years later.

BrittReads reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Sci-fi classic!

5 stars

A fascinating sci-fi classic, occasionally a bit dated in our main character's reactions to a culture without gender or sex, his need to see gender where there is none is sometimes a little overstated- but even that is a fascinating read. Overall a brilliant book, touching on politics, beliefs, culture, friendships and vast cold, frozen landscapes, familiar and alien at the same time.

Jens reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

What a treat, this timeless classic - a sole alien envoy on a foreign planet, interstellar politics and diplomacy, survival in hostile environments both literal and figurative. What intrigued me most about this book is the gender structure of the planet we find ourselves on: The locals are ambisexual; they are genderless most of the time and for a few days of each month, they temporarily assume male or female characteristics, and only then engage in any kind of sexual behavior including procreation.

So I expected a wild ride through the sociology and politology of this planet that is different and similar to our Earth at the same time. What I got was an interesting book, certainly, but much slower-paced than I had anticipated, with much less discovery of the gender relations than I hoped. Lots of the interesting things happen "between the lines" of dialog between our protagonists, the alien envoy and his local contact/friend/counterpart. This was a bit too subtle for my mood at the time of reading, and I kept wanting more.

Another thing that bugged me was the consistent use of "he" as a pronoun for the usually genderless people of this planet - this threw me off every time it came up, and sort of ruined the whole premise for me. Fortunately this very fact is discussed in the prefaces of my edition of the book and I understand the reasoning behind it - nevertheless, decades after the book came out, I am of a different opinion.

Read this book for its qualities as a maybe not-so-timeless classic - you won't regret it.

Peter reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Deeply moving, insightful, and accessible, I can only look forward to reading it again...

Anthony reviewed La main gauche de la nuit by Ursula K. Le Guin

La main gauche de la nuit

4 stars

J'ai pris grand plaisir à découvrir l'univers d'Ursula K. Le Guin. Comme le roman s'inscrit dans un cycle de plusieurs romans et nouvelles, je pense que je m'essaierai à parcourir d'autres planètes de l'Ekumen. On plonge assez facilement dans ce monde. Je craignais un peu de m'y perdre mais le talent littéraire de l'autrice rend la visite accessible, même à celles et ceux, qui comme moi, n'ont pas l'habitude de ce genre littéraire. Je n'ajouterai rien concernant l'un des sujets les plus traités du roman — une façon très originale d'aborder la notion de genre — vous trouverez moult articles sur le sujet (cf. la postface de Stéphanie Nicot).

Carlos Cámara reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Good ideas, bad story

2 stars

Content warning It contains spoilers

After having enjoyed a lot The Dispossessed, and having read so many great reviews about this book, I cannot stop but feeling disappointed or under the impression that I failed to understand it or it was not the right time for me to read it.

I must recognize the originality of describing a whole hermaphrodite species in a forever frozen world, with their own culture and social organisation (something I enjoyed). But I felt that the story that was promised was weak, full of Deus ex machinas, unnecessary interruptions, and not even as strong and moving as I had imagined. Is the bonding between Therem and Genly as strong as suggested or is it merely survival? Are their beliefs about the other so shaken and deconstructed as suggested or were simply weak prejudices broken by the forced coexistence?

The fact that I found the narrative unconsistent and unnecessarily complex, didn't help at all. Genli's trip is littered with plenty of complex concepts that are not fully developed, (I am still unsure about what the Shifgrethor is -I had to look at Wikipedia and stack exchange), legends, explanations about calendars or chapters written from somedody else's perspective, without a clear criteria or rhythm on when those interludes are added. But probably, what I found most disappointing was the constant mentions to the how different gethenian culture, society and cosmogony are due to their hermaphroditism, but IMHO, it is never not clearly exemplified in anything specific, not to mention the missed opportunity of using they/them pronouns (albeit I'm aware that that might not be that commonplace back in 1969, and probably editors thought that books had to had male characters to be sold).

Kirk Moodey reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

a favorite

5 stars

One of my favorite works of fiction, in my top 5; it was number one for a little while but these days I'm more fond of Kafka's short story Metamorphosis. Both challenge the normal perception of the social paradigms we live with.

Jon Nixon reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

A beautifully written, multi layered book full of quotable lines, great ideas and deep characters.

It starts out as a story of court intrigue, misunderstanding and mistrust and ends up in high adventure, respect and friendship. On the way it includes philosophy, politics (a critique of populist nationalism which is as relevant as ever) and its own mythology.

The journey across the ice is beautifully described and totally believable. I love the way that Le Guinn throws in proverbs and aphorisms which are perfect for the alien culture she is describing.

morpheo reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

It's alright...

3 stars

Yeah, it's alright, I guess. Or maybe I'm just not getting all the hype?

Lieke reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I probably come back to this to give the book another star, but at the moment I really need to think about what my opinion is.
I've read The Dispossessed, which I truly enjoyed , and I kind of expected I would do the same with this book. But that wasn't the case: I struggled with the language, with both of the main characters. There were parts in the book which were beautiful and gripping. I love the anthropological approach of telling a story of another planet, backed up by myths and other stories.There are parts of the story I'm still thinking about. So, maybe 4 stars.

Sergio reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a classic and one of LeGuin's most celebrated books for a reason. Not only is it a fantastic science fiction book with one of the most meticulously thought out cultures I've read, full of folklore and traditions and sayings and other bits of flavor that make it feel like a living breathing place, but I couldn't imagine anyone better than LeGuin to write about the process of looking past your prejudices to move from ignorance to understanding and the messy process of accepting a culture different from yours that manages to be brutal and miserable but undeniably sweet and heartfelt at the same time. I loved The Dispossessed but I suspect once the dust settles it might be The Left Hand of Darkness the one to stand at the top of her scifi output for me.

Jectoons reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Un libro adelantado a su tiempo, un titán de la ciencia ficción

5 stars

Los conceptos tratados en esta novela están increíblemente adelantados a su tiempo. Le Guin tiene la destreza narrativa de sumergirnos de lleno en el mundo de la novela, y empatizar (y un poco odiar) al personaje principal a través de quien estamos conociendo este planeta de hielo. Un clásico en todo el sentido de la palabra, pero uno que se ha mantenido fresco y relevante desde 1969.

Ika Makimaki reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Often discussed as "The book with the genderless aliens" it is obviously a lot more than that. It does of course touch on the gender thing, as the people of Gethen (Eternally winter planet) have no gender and only enter Kemmer occasionally when they become sexually active and can be temporarily male or female.
It is more a political and anthropological reflection about duality and unity. A theme that maybe starts on the sexes thing but goes on to war and peace, nationalism and the Ekumen (A intergalactic union of planets)
Essential reading though, and awesome world building!

Kathrin Passig reviewed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle, #4)

Review of 'The Left Hand of Darkness' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Die erste Hälfte war Science Fiction von der quälendsten Sorte: Es war am Tag Gnarth des Monats Fnorgh auf dem Planeten Hemmheremm, Xarf fiel vom Himmel, als die Anhänger des Syrph dem Gorthonen von Shnorgh, siebter Flynpp aus dem Argan Sneckereck, bei der Klumph-Zeremonie zusahen, im Hintergrund werden allerdings bereits Intrigen im Kalten Krieg gegen das Land Blorgh gesponnen. Ich habe mehrmals mittellaut "boooring" gerufen, aber wegen vieler positiver Rezensionen hier drin und des guten Rufs der Autorin darauf vertraut, dass es irgendwann besser werden würde. Wurde es auch, in der zweiten Hälfte bestand das Buch nicht mehr nur aus Notizen zum worldbuilding, sondern hatte eine Handlung. Die war aber auch nicht besonders interessant (obwohl es ums Überleben in Eis und Schnee geht, und das interessiert mich eigentlich immer; ich weiß gar nicht, wie es möglich ist, davon so lahm zu erzählen). Die Überlegungen zu Sexualität und Gender bei den …