The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

Tiptree Retro winner ( )

I first read this book in 2011 and already then I knew that I would read it again. The timing of me re-reading it wasn't entirely my choice but in the end that didn't matter at all. Because I knew what was going to happen it was as if my brain was free to notice things I didn't notice 2 years ago - the poetry of the language, the beautifully crafted story, the meaning of the folklore and excerpts of historical records inserted between chapters, the echoes of the philosophy of ying and yang throughout the book, the notion of true gender equality and its consequences. I noticed how perfectly the ending of the novel mirrored its beginning, recognizing the similarities between a keystone being placed in an arch to connect the separate sides and Therem Estraven being a similar kind of keystone that would link two separate branches of humanity. I finally fully understood the title of the book, which made me feel that I understood nothing the first time around. I realized that this novel isn't really about Genli Ai, even though he is the narrator most of the time. It is about Estraven, his vision for Gethen, and about following a path which others can't even see.
Like many other science fiction novels this book isn't about the planet or the technology, but rather about people, human nature and everything that comes with it, such as patriotism, love, deceit, faith and Truth. Yes, it's a lot to talk about in a book that is not at all hefty, but that is where Le Guin's brilliance lies. She doesn't need 600 or more pages to ask questions, ponder answers, observe and make the reader think. Half of that does very well.
I'll keep this review short because what I really want to tell you is that this is an amazing book, that I'm buying it for my collection and that if you haven't read it yet you should, even if you're not a fan of science fiction. ( )

I liked this book. When I was younger, it was a bit too dense for me to really enjoy, but when I reread it a while ago it was much easier. Le Guin's willingness to twist things and experiment with the structure of society is always interesting. ( )

Very good, though ultimately not quite as mesmerisingly amazing as [b:The Lathe of Heaven|59924|The Lathe of Heaven|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170537258s/59924.jpg|425872]. The very long journeying segment was my favourite bit, as deeper concepts were explored as opposed to just alluded to.

The gender thing was a little weird. Some of the overt discussion felt a little out-dated, which is probably a good sign of our overall development of gender notions. At one point the male human protagonist is asked, by the ambi-sexual person from Winter, what women are like - and he can't answer, or not properly, in that his answer is clearly very rooted in sexist views of the sixties or early seventies. Maybe UKLG was avoiding projecting her female feminist viewpoint on the male protagonist, or maybe she hadn't developed particularly nuanced views by this point? ( )

notions of honor, friendship, love, justice, gender

I have the same impression of Heart of Darkness, where it's highly regarded and profound but I don't quite grasp. ( )