From the Bookshelf of SpecFic Buddy Reads…

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 30, 2019

Discussion: SciFi

Why we're reading this: Featured buddy read-June 2018
[close] Featured buddy read-June 2018

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 11 topics — 231 comments total

SciFi

Extremity (Sep) - Full Discussion
By Lindsay , Cartoon Evil Genius · 2 posts · 5 views

last updated 14 hours, 11 min ago

The Hungry Gods (Aug) - Full Discussion
By Linda , Dances with Chickens · 17 posts · 11 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 09:12AM

showing 10 of 17 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 15, 2012 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-reads, favorites, 2013-reads, location-is-the-true-protagonist, 2021-reads, ursula-k-le-guin, 2012-reads, hugo-nebula-nominees-and-winners

2023: still amazing. And still breaks my heart in the end.
————

2021: At this point it’s hard for me to even imagine that just a decade ago I was reading Ursula K. Le Guin for the first time. This book overwhelmed me with how good it was, and how different it ended up from what I expected. Le Guin’s measured and contemplative anthropological science fiction was so incredibly memorable in how it presents the world, challenges the assumptions and reaffirms essential humanity of all of us that it tou 2023: still amazing. And still breaks my heart in the end.
————

2021: At this point it’s hard for me to even imagine that just a decade ago I was reading Ursula K. Le Guin for the first time. This book overwhelmed me with how good it was, and how different it ended up from what I expected. Le Guin’s measured and contemplative anthropological science fiction was so incredibly memorable in how it presents the world, challenges the assumptions and reaffirms essential humanity of all of us that it touched my very soul and probably changed something in me forever.

This book needs to be read starting with its wonderful introduction, written by Le Guin herself. This part is so important, especially for those who from the advantage of society that has moved on after decades since the book came to be may view it as tame, as not going far enough, not being visionary in the way that calls to our wishes and current views. Let’s give the spotlight to Le Guin’s own words:

“This book is not extrapolative. If you like you can read it, and a lot of other science fiction, as a thought-experiment. […] The purpose of a thought-experiment, as the term was used by Schrödinger and other physicists, is not to predict the future—indeed Schrödinger’s most famous thought-experiment goes to show that the “future,” on the quantum level, cannot be predicted—but to describe reality, the present world. Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.”

Le Guin described the world as viewed not from the Ekumenical year 1491 but from the Earth year 1969, and there are still elements that are painfully recognizable.

But what I see, what gives me hope, is that essential humanity that triumphs over the smallness of prejudices and conventions. The humanity that Le Guin was so good at bringing to forefront.

“It is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. Terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. We who are so rich, so full of strength, we end up with that small change. We have nothing else to give.”

Dream on, Therem Harth rem ir Estraven. Dream on, and I’ll dream on with you.

”Will you tell us about the other worlds out among the stars—the other kinds of men, the other lives?”

——————
——————

2012: The question that permeates Le Guin's 1969 sensational for its time novel about the ambisexual society is what remains once the male and the female labels are stripped away? What is underneath the labels - is it simply humanity?

"A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience."

Like some readers, Genly Ai, the protagonist of this brilliantly written leisurely-paced cerebral sci-fi classic, for a while just cannot seem to move past the ambisexuality aspect. Ai is an ambassador to the planet Gethen to convince its leaders to join the interplanetary union Ekumen. The inhabitants of Gethen differ from other humanoid races in two aspects: (1) they have adapted well to tolerate the Ice Age climate of their world, and (2) they are ambisexual. For the majority of lunar cycle they are essentially neuter, and for several days they enter a sexual phase, kemmer, during which they attain either male or female characteristics and become capable of sex.

"What is a friend, in a world where any friend may be a lover at a new phase of the moon? Not I, locked in my virility: no friend to Therem Harth, or any other of his race. Neither man nor woman, neither and both, cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing under the hand's touch, changelings in the human cradle, they were no flesh of mine, no friends; no love between us."

Ai, a male proud of his “virility”, does not feel comfortable among the Gethians. He is always suspicious, always mistrusting of these people whose essence he refuses to understand. He views himself as "a stallion in harness with a mule", chuckles at the idea of a pregnant King. He tries to view the Gethenians as male, and is appalled at all the femininity that he sees in them, feeling that it is wrong, inferior, alien to him. In the world of wholeness, not of duality, he feels lost and isolated without the familiar stark division that rules our lives. After all, the first question that people immediately ask at birth is - boy or girl? Man or woman?

[Sidenote: Remember the whole relatively recent conundrum about Canadian parents who decided to raise their child without telling the society the child's gender? They received death threats for that attempt, so ingrained is the gender division among us].

Ai is not a bad guy. He is just lost, confused, and isolated - a human, in the other words. He is so out of his comfort zone he does not comprehend how to deal with the society that he views as passive, where there is less competitiveness, and where crying is perfectly fine. He finds it so hard to accept this world without the quientesential 'maleness' or 'femininity' - even though he struggles to define exactly what it is that separates men from women.

Ai becomes so terribly isolated in his alienness, longing for something familiar. In this strange and unfamiliar world of wholeness, he clings to the eternal human "Us vs. Them" divide, refusing in his loneliness and fear to look beyond the usual, the prejudice. Until circumstances force him to get to know Estraven, and Ai finally sees in him "not a man's face and not a woman's, a human face."

"A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt."

But it's really Therem Harth Estraven, who, in my opinion, is the true hero of this story. Estraven sees the promise that the union with Ekumen has for his world. In his attempts to help Ai, he becomes labeled a traitor. But it takes a long time and many trials and tribulations for Ai to recognize Estraven for what and who he is - just HUMAN, to move past the uncomfortable and the prejudice and discover simple human love.

"It is yin and yang. Light is the left hand of darkness... how did it go? Light, dark. Fear, courage. Cold, warmth. Female, male. It is yourself, Therem. Both and one. A shadow on snow."

The language of this book was initially a stumbling block for me. It was dry and very cerebral, making it difficult at first to become immersed in the story. But that was the language of Genly Ai, the man who was not meant to be likeable at the very start. But then I got to the first interlude - short and very poetic legends of Gethen which help shed light on the nature of this world and help us see the events of this story in a different context and different light. The beauty that Le Guin's language reaches during these interludes is breathtaking. The segments of the story written in Estraven's voice are also very distinct, very urgent, simple, and filled with so much dignity and quiet resolve that it made my heart leap and weep at the same time.
------------------

The Left Hand of Darkness is a deep story of humanity, love, betrayal, alienation, and acceptance. But it is not an easy book to read. It is not meant to take you on an exciting whirlwind ride. Instead its aim is to make the readers think and reflect. It may be slow to start, but it's hard to put down as well. I walked away from it feeling that a part of me has been changed forever - and for the better.

I walked away from it with more questions than I had when I started - and that's a very good thing, as far as I am concerned.

"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."

—————
Recommended by: Tracy ...more

1210 likes · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2012 Lyn rated it it was amazing

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin has a voyeuristic quality, as if a description to a studious observation. I could not help thinking that I was reading a National Geographic article about a reporter visiting Winter, or Gethen as its inhabitants know it.

Many readers cannot help but comment upon the Gethenians physiological androgyny, and this is certainly a central theme of the story, but there is so much more to fascinate the reader. Le Guin has demonstrated again how she can crea ...more

326 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2019 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: auth-f, classic, bipoc-actor, x2019-read

This book is so very good, not surprisingly, since this is Ursula K. Le Guin. I so enjoyed this story about contact between alien races, the complexity of cultures on Gethen (Winter) and about prejudice.
Genly Ai is from the Ekumen, on Gethen to pave the way for further Ekumen specialists to bring Gethen into the Ekumen. Along the way, Genly misinterprets much of his interactions with the various government officials he interacts with, and gets himself into trouble. If it hadn't been for Estrave ...more

27 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2013 Denise rated it it was amazing

Rereading now after several decades. At 25%. I'll be interested to see if I still feel it's 5 stars after so many years.

Finished. I think that dates this is not the subject-which is certainly apropos for today- but the pacing. While I have read thoughtful slowly paced specific books (The Wanderers and Good Morning Midnight come to mind) this journey across the literal and figurative ice feels long. I personally found the aspects of geology engaging and, of course, the contemplation of the 'other ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2014 Veronique rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read2015, read2021, favourites

Re-read

The first time I read The Left Hand of Darkness, I remember finding it hard to connect with at first, although the language was straightforward. This was probably due to its format, that of an anthropological report interspersed with myths and legends. As I carried on however, this slowly changed, mirroring somehow the way the main character also starts to understand better the society he is visiting, as well as himself. And I was hooked. My reading notes from then are effusive, full of c ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2021 Cathy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

“What Earthsea and the Hainish Cycle have in common is maximal impact with minimal page count.”

After reading the first three chapters, I put this away, as I wasn‘t having fun with it. When this was published in 1969, it might have been a groundbreaking work. Now, after having read my share of gender-bending novels, this felt dated to me. The writing is dry, the style is not engaging me. Little plot progression, no exploration of the characters, to whom I felt absolutely no emotional connection.

I “What Earthsea and the Hainish Cycle have in common is maximal impact with minimal page count.”

After reading the first three chapters, I put this away, as I wasn‘t having fun with it. When this was published in 1969, it might have been a groundbreaking work. Now, after having read my share of gender-bending novels, this felt dated to me. The writing is dry, the style is not engaging me. Little plot progression, no exploration of the characters, to whom I felt absolutely no emotional connection.

It‘s probably also not quite what I was expecting. I read the blurb and thought „genderless society, lots of commentary and exploration about their personal interactions and divergence compared to our society“, but none of that happened in the first 60 pages.

The topic of loyalty and betrayal could have introduced more tension, but was told just as blandly. By the time I reached the supposedly more interesting part of their travel North, I had lost my will to continue. I am not interested to keep on going in the hopes of more.

One thing that irritated me deeply: The characters are all genderless, with brief exceptions of their „kemmer“, aka fertile periods / their Time / heat. Yet they are all being referred to as „he“. Which wouldn’t necessarily be an issue—Leckie does the same thing in reverse in her Imperial Radch novels and I had no issue with it. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, I am not sure. I plan to re-read Ancilliary Justice this year, so I will pay more attention to that. However, when descriptions were made of someone appearing or behaving feminine in some way (irritating in itself), it was always with a negative slant. Maybe the point was to show how strange the situation was for the narrator, but it just made me dislike the book deeply. Why do female authors do that?

Another strange point was the narrator not seeming to be interested in what was going on in the society he was supposed to get to know. Odd.

Maybe I should have expected something slow and not obvious, considering that this was first published in 1969. This reminded me of Foreigner, which was also a book of only middling success for me. I guess in the future I should just stay away from the SF Classics.

DNF around 20%. No impact in too many pages. I might revisit this review or the book again at some point. ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

May 23, 2019 Jackie rated it did not like it

Shelves: e-books, didn-t-get-to-the-finish-line, 2019-read

This book felt jarring from the beginning as I was thrown head on into this weird world of Winter or Gethen. I didn't get used to Le Guin's use of language, even becoming annoyed at some of the inconsistencies like earth vs Earth and the supposed lack of "l" in the Gethen language yet they use it in postings and in dialogue. There were some concepts that were interesting like the Gethen society's hermaphrodite qualities and the implications of the lack of gender, but it wasn't enough to keep me ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2021 Liam || Books 'n Beards rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-2020, audio, science-fiction, owned-audible, 2021

This is my second UKLG novel, after THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST and I'm spotting the parallels already. I'm interested in reading further into the Hainish Cycle.

Genly Ai is a human who is visiting a planet, Gethen, to attempt to convince the inhabitants (biologically different humans) to join the Ekumen, a federation of human worlds - the plot other than that is fairly disinteresting, in my opinion, but the setting and the characters make up for that.

The inhabitants of Gethen are sexually andro ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2013 John rated it it was amazing

4.75 stars ... I'm going to be lazy and just paste what I wrote in my group discussion :)

Just finished this book an hour ago, so I'm still digesting it, but if there was one word in my head on finishing, it would be "precise" -- LeGuin seems to know exactly what she's doing here; she sets up and takes out every shot perfectly. This was the first LeGuin that I've read and it sets a high bar.

The story was a bit cold emotionally, but it was clear from the start that this was not LeGuin's priority, ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2021 Christina Pilkington rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is such a beloved book that I feel bad for saying this, but this was just an ok book for me. I just wanted a little more out of it. A little more character development, a little more world-building, a little more discussion of the themes. And, if I might say, for it to be a little less boring in some parts.

It might have just been the head space I was in at the time, so I would like to reread this again some day and maybe my rating will change, but for now I felt this book was just an avera ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2012 Dawn rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, series-in-progress

Like all my favorite science fiction, this book is written with a thought provoking idea.
The planet Winter has been sent a lone emissary from the intergalactic civilization to bring them into this organization. Winter is an unusual world of androgynous people and the emissary has a difficult time understanding this or their complex political and cultural rules.
I liked the ideas of a persons sex not making any difference to how they live their lives. I never could think of any of them other tha ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 07, 2017 Layton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-downright-incredible, books-i-own

Thematically, this novel covers a lot of ground. It deals with themes of identity and xenophobia, yet the most prevalent theme is friendship. The power of friendship and the love therein that overcomes any barrier. It's a brilliant, beautifully written science fiction novel which everyone should read.

Highly recommended. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2023 Lulu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, classics, lgbt, books-read-in-2023

I'm starting to realise Le Guin's particular brand of introspection is not necessarily going to work for me. I did enjoy this book, but I struggled through the first half quite badly. One we're on the ice, and there's so much concentration on the relationship and trust between two characters, I was all-ears, but it takes a while to get there. I did really enjoy this in general; the worldbuilding is interesting, the narrative voice is fun, the cultural differences are well-explored. I also really ...more

1 like · Like · see review