The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin

A joint winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin has the tag as the first feminist science fiction novel, yet it offers up much more that that with a deep exploration on the makeup of society plus the workings of the human condition when confronted with something different.

Genly Ai is an envoy from a confederacy of words to a single remote planet unaware of any other life than its own. The society into which Genly finds himself is one of single sex inhabitants, where everyone enters into a stage of sexual urges called ‘kemmering’, during this phase sex is possible, though the consequences being sex only possible at certain times. This leads to a type of society where more emphasis is placed on the person, and less on gender, and that we should have no stereotypical view, and that a person is always a person regardless of anything else.

As we view the world of Gethen (Termed Winter for its cold extremes) though the eyes of an envoy, we get a perspective that consists and develops towards adaptation, as Genly has to learn to acclimatise to the quirks and traits of such an odd people. The brilliance of the book is in the change that comes over Genly as an outsider in an alien world; he gradually comes to feel differently, and sees through eyes opened wide. Le Guin also creates vivid and memorable peoples, the expansive and at the same time elusively alien culture is explained through observations and personal encounters between Genly and various native people, which are brought expertly to life due to this.

This is a strong book that always keeps the narrative flowing and precise, it knows exactly what it wants to do, and it succeeds on every level. The bond between Estravan a native and Genly the envoy is something touching and heart warming, it’s a love story if you will, yet one which is realised in many different forms, and yet simply equates with everything else to a brilliant book.

The Left Hand of Darkness - 9/10