Zana’s Reviews > The Left Hand of Darkness > Status Update

I was really vibing with this but this trek through Hoth is killing me

‘...I had not wanted to give my trust, my friendship to a man who was a woman, a woman who was a man.

He explained, stiffly and simply, that he was in kemmer and had been trying to avoid me, insofar as one of us could avoid the other. “I must not touch you,” he said, with extreme constraint; saying that he looked away.

I said, “I understand. I agree completely.”’

Nooooo don't deny your love

‘“That’s in the Sanovy teachings, that about the other worlds. There used to be an old Sanovy crazy-priest would come by my Hearth when I was little and tell us children all about that, where the liars go when they die, and where the suicides go, and where the thieves go—that’s where we’re going, me and you, eh, one of those places?”’

Indefinite detention be like

“Ai: Star Ship is a good name, sir.

Alshel: Oh? What do you call it?

Ai: Well, technically, it’s a manned interstellar Cetian Design NAFAL-20.

Voice: You’re sure it’s not St. Pethethe’s sledge? (Laughter)”

👁️👄👁️

“He sees me as a Karhidish agent attempting to lead Orgoreyn into a tremendous prestige-loss by persuading them to believe in the hoax of the Envoy from the Ekumen; he thinks that I spent my time as prime minister preparing this hoax. By God, I have better things to do than play shifgrethor with scum.”

Lol damn

“...and as for the skills of stillness and of fasting, I might as well never have learned them, and must start all over, like a child. I have fasted now one day, and my belly screams, A week! A month!”

First day of Ramadan vibes

“He knew I was angry but I am not sure he understood that he was insulted; he seemed to accept my advice despite the manner of its giving ... Is it possible that all along in Erhenrang he was seeking my advice, not knowing how to tell me that he sought it? If so, then he must have misunderstood half and not understood the rest of what I told him...”

Holy miscommunication trope Batman

“It is not altogether a bad thing to have criminal ancestors. An arsonist grandfather may bequeath one a nose for smelling smoke.”

????

“Oh, yes. I could speak to Ollul by ansible and ask them to send a NAFAL ship to pick me up. It would get here in seventeen years. Or I could radio to the Star Ship that brought me into your solar system. It’s in orbit around your sun now. It would get here in a matter of days.”

And he told NO ONE about the starship??

‘“By the milk of Meshe!” said fat Humery beside me. “You want us to go shooting off into the Void? Ugh!” He wheezed, like the high notes of an accordion, in disgust and amusement.’

Understandable 🚀