false 6425272 1841496065 9781841496061 3 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1257028344m/6425272.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6425272-the-left-hand-of-darkness 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin 48224 4099 0 2009-07-08T16:29:33-07:00 993939 256 2009-07-08T16:29:33-07:00 0 2009-07-01T21:20:42-07:00 964217 156 2009-07-01T21:20:42-07:00 0 2009-06-27T23:59:06-07:00 945735 144 2009-06-27T23:59:06-07:00 0 2009-06-25T13:28:44-07:00 936205 123 2009-06-25T13:28:44-07:00 0 2009-06-22T22:21:41-07:00 923594 103 2009-06-22T22:21:41-07:00 0 2009-05-29T17:42:35-07:00 819640 73 2009-05-29T17:42:35-07:00 0 2009-05-29T13:14:52-07:00 818712 16 2009-05-29T13:14:52-07:00 4 0 false Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 21:53:49 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 02:18:20 -0700 2009
The Terran narrator's gender essentialism -- his need to define himself by traditional masculinity, his rather stereotyped descriptions of Terran women -- was jarring to me, especially in the context of a far future narrative. However, the book is forty years old, and in Le Guin's words "the rather naive male narrator is a deliberate authorial outreach to male readers" [interview with Guernica magazine:]. Perhaps I took him too literally.

The Gethenian cultures are fascinating, not only for the androgyny of the people, but the societal results of living in such a bleak environment, with so few animals and so many hardships. The world has been carefully thought out, and the results are fascinating.

The book is moving and thought-provoking, and succeeds in creating a powerful sense of place and landscape. Not only do I guess that the spaces visited in the book will linger in my mind, but I find that many of the cover illustrations I've seen look familiar -- the artist and I have both been to Karhide.]]>