336 pages
Spanish language
Published Dec. 28, 2021 by Minotauro.
«La luz es la mano izquierda de la oscuridad, y la oscuridad es la mano derecha de la luz. Los dos son una, vida y muerte, juuntas como amantes en kémmer, como manos unidas, como el término y el camino.»
«Escribiré mi informe como si contara una historia, pues me enseñaron siendo nió que la verdad nace de la imaginación». Así comienza su relato Genly Ai, enviado al planeta Gueden —también llamado Invierno por su gélido clima— con el propósito de contactar con sus habitantes y proponerles unirse a la liga de planetas conocida como el Ecumen.
Los guedenianos tienen una particularidad que los hace únicos: son hermafroditas, y adoptan uno u otro sexo exclusivamente en la época de celo, denominada kémmer. En Invierno, Ai contacta con Estraven, un alto cargo que le mostrará cuán diferente puede llegar a ser una sociedad donde no existe la diferenciación sexual.
Una reflexión sobre las relaciones humanas, el género, el poder, el nacionalismo, la guerra y la política dentro de un marco de ciencia ficción, en un planeta inhóspito y frío, que invita al recogimiento. Los mensajes que deja el libro son como el frío de Invierno, se filtran hasta los huesos. Una vez lo empecé no pude parar. Cualquiera diría que es de 1969, con cuestionamientos y reflexiones muy actuales.
Thought provoking story and a compelling writing style.
It feels weird to give an out-of-five star rating, the same way I'd rate a USB cable I bought online, to a book like this.
It's like the worst of asking lay people whether they like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect. Yes, of course, but that's almost beside the point now, and focusing on it distracts from the true importance.
This is an incredible story, from the nature of the telling, to the glimpses given of a vast science fiction universe that say a lot in few words in Le Guin's classic manner, to its depiction of gender that, as I understand it, feels less shocking now in part due to the impact it had when it first came out. My only regret for this book is that it took me so long to finally start to read it. It's even a fast and easy …
It feels weird to give an out-of-five star rating, the same way I'd rate a USB cable I bought online, to a book like this.
It's like the worst of asking lay people whether they like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect. Yes, of course, but that's almost beside the point now, and focusing on it distracts from the true importance.
This is an incredible story, from the nature of the telling, to the glimpses given of a vast science fiction universe that say a lot in few words in Le Guin's classic manner, to its depiction of gender that, as I understand it, feels less shocking now in part due to the impact it had when it first came out. My only regret for this book is that it took me so long to finally start to read it. It's even a fast and easy read, that draws you in and wondering what will happen next whether the characters are on a perilous journey or quietly talking in a monastery.
4.5 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.
Llevo muchísimo tiempo queriendo leer esta novela pero cuando Le Guin no ganó el Nobel me dió un arrebato y me puse enseguida a leerla.
Quizás el principio de esta novela es algo difícil de comprender pero al cabo del tiempo lo vas haciendo y te vas enamorando de la narración de esta autora y del mundo tan guay que ha construido.
Sin duda es una novela imprescindible por lo que cuenta y por la forma de contarlo.
Mildly dated but clearly written and well thought out
Largely agree with Philipp's review of this one, though I feel the gender aspects don't play such a minor role in the book.
What I really enjoyed was how the use of the special vocabulary made you as the reader be as clueless as the main character of the book is in the beginning. And the latter parts of the book make a great travel/wilderness story.
The quantum leap in Le Guin’s Hainish series. Astonishing exploration of identity and landscape as contrast and supplement.
My second reading of this was different, I think. I enjoyed it more, probably because I have more patience now for the slow, quiet story that it is.
This story is oddly both dated and ahead of its time. It includes an ambisexual people, presenting as androgynous, male, or female at different times. But at the same time Genly talks about men/women as if their earthly, Western tendencies are universal and timeless. It’s odd to project that into the future.
When the story gets to the snowy trek in the north, I thought I’d get bored, and probably did on my first read. But this read I found it wonderful. I didn’t remember that Genly and Therem fall in love of a sort, that they grow close in survival together. There were multiple beautiful moments and lines in that part of the book.
A few favorite quotes:
I certainly wasn't …
My second reading of this was different, I think. I enjoyed it more, probably because I have more patience now for the slow, quiet story that it is.
This story is oddly both dated and ahead of its time. It includes an ambisexual people, presenting as androgynous, male, or female at different times. But at the same time Genly talks about men/women as if their earthly, Western tendencies are universal and timeless. It’s odd to project that into the future.
When the story gets to the snowy trek in the north, I thought I’d get bored, and probably did on my first read. But this read I found it wonderful. I didn’t remember that Genly and Therem fall in love of a sort, that they grow close in survival together. There were multiple beautiful moments and lines in that part of the book.
A few favorite quotes:
I certainly wasn't happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can't earn, and can't keep, and often don't even recognize at the time; I mean joy.
And I saw then again, and for good, what I had always been afraid to see, and had pretended not to see in him: that he was a woman as well as a man. Any need to explain the sources of that fear vanished with the fear; what I was left with was, at last, acceptance of him as he was.
And I wondered, not for the first time, what patriotism is, what the love of country truly consists of, how that yearning loyalty that had shaken my friend’s voice arises, and how so real a love can become, too often, so foolish and vile a bigotry. Where does it go wrong?
Straight up, this is one of my favorite books ever, so I'm invariably going to be more than a little bit biased when discussing it. I think it's gorgeous. A fantastic example of economizing the plot until only the essentials are used, the story never feels sparse or minimalist. The plot zig-zags at a leisurely pace, but neither does it ever feel slow or rushed. It's a true classic. I'll stop before I get ahead of myself. This book is absolutely wonderful, and that's all I can really say about it without revealing too much.
My first Ursula K. Le Guin book and I thought it was fantastic! Tipped to the book from watching "The Jane Austin Book Club" on cable, it's probably one of the reasons the 70s is considered the heyday of sci-fi novels.
Highly recommended for sci-fi lovers and novices and anyone who hasn't read any Le Guin yet.
