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What Members Thought
a quietly brilliant novel.
I enjoyed Left Hand of Darkness, especially the first two thirds where Le Guin spends her time on the legends, history, culture and biology of the world. Once all these pieces are in place the book peters out with a long chase through the ice and a rather cliched tragic death scene. Were it not the for the last eighty pages, I would have rated this book ten stars.
Genly Ai is an envoy from a federation of planets who share trade, science, and art for the betterment of personkind. He is on a mission to attempt to bring a newly discovered planet into the fold, a harsh and forbidding world that was named Winter by those who first visited. On this world, humans are neither male nor female until they enter their monthly mating cycle, at which point they could become either. This is not the plot of the story, just the backdrop, though the effects of the lack of
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Conceptually this book is five stars. I found the cultural differences because of the lack of a male/female dichotomy so interesting, particularly the lack of "macho-ness" although not competitiveness or passion. The culture of Karhide was especially fascinating and the concept of 'Nusuth' (it doesn't matter) was an almost existential idea, but with a more spiritual almost zen application.
The story was good as well, but did get occasionally bogged down in concepts and forgot about the trajector ...more
The story was good as well, but did get occasionally bogged down in concepts and forgot about the trajector ...more
i'm not sure how i feel about this book.. wanted to give it a 3 or even a 4 star, but something just felt not right.. caught between love & hate..
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Oct 30, 2007
Rindis
rated it
it was ok
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review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
do-not-own
Apr 16, 2008
Luzcasa
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2008
Lasairfiona
marked it as to-read
Dec 04, 2008
M
marked it as partially-read
May 19, 2009
Zarinthia
marked it as to-read
Jul 08, 2009
Ross
marked it as on-hold
Aug 02, 2009
Erin
marked it as to-read
Jun 19, 2016
Cassie
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2017
Adelle Rich
marked it as to-read
