This is a classic novel about an envoy to a planet known as Winter, a world as cold as the name suggests and populated by ambisexual humanoids. Naturally, this results in quite a culture shock for the envoy, Genly Ai, who has to deal with understanding their alien nature as well as the intricate political machinations that take place between the various nations of the planet. His primary guide to understanding this is a politician named Estraven. (Hilariously, auto-correct wants to change this to “estrogen.”)
The first half of the book is lyrical, mystical, and well-nigh incomprehensible, at least to me. I had trouble keeping track of who was who, what was what, and generally following what was going on. Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. Actually, I enjoyed it quite a lot, in the way one can enjoy a beautiful piece of music.
But then in the second half, things started to coalesce. Estraven, in particular, becomes a phenomenally well-developed character who starts dispensing pearls of wisdom like this:
“To oppose something is to maintain it. They say here ‘all roads lead to Mishnory.’ To be sure, if you turn your back on Mishnory and walk away from it, you are still on the Mishnory road. To oppose vulgarity is inevitably to be vulgar. You must go somewhere else; you must have another goal; then you walk a different road…
To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”
What an absolutely killer insight! It’s the sort of gem that makes me so glad I read the book, and make it a perfect entry for Vintage Science-Fiction Month. This is why we observe it every January; it’s an opportunity to look up classic books like this and find what it was that made the foundational works of the genre so striking to generations of readers.
Estraven and Genly are eventually forced to work together to make a nightmarish 80 day trek across a frozen wasteland. (I highly recommend reading this book on a snowy winter night if possible.)
These scenes, while maybe a little repetitive, were still very effective. The two characters, having nothing else to do, learn a lot about each other and themselves. By the end of the journey, I absolutely loved Estraven, who is really one of the most fully-realized ‘alien’ characters I can recall. Which makes the way the story ends all the more powerful.
The book is remarkable for the way it depicts a truly alien world. I only know of a few modern authors–A.C. Flory and Lorinda Taylor, to name names–who have attempted anything like this. And no wonder, because it’s very hard to do, but done well, it makes for a remarkable, dream-like experience to read. They say the value of reading is that it lets you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Well, in this case, it’s more like 800 miles in an androgynous alien’s skis. And that, my friends, is what science-fiction is all about.
I’ve been aware of this book for a while and thought the title is intriguing. Maybe now I should actually read it. Your comparison with works by those two fine writers ac flory and Lorinda Taylor clinches it!
Thanks, Audrey!
I think you will like it! 🙂
I’ve put in a hold request at the library.
OH MY GOD!!!! You must read it, Audrey. You must!!!!
I’ve put in a hold request at the library.
If there was any book which indicates that Le Guinn wrote on another level above most of her contemporaries (if not all) it would be this one. The concepts she tackled were challenging and yet she carried them off.
Right you are! 🙂
Wow! To get named as comparable to LeGuin certainly gives my ego a boost! I needed that! Now if more people would just read my books! I came to SF late and Left Hand of Darkness was one of the first SF books I ever read. I was immediately hooked, and all her books had a big influence on me. I don’t think you’ve read any of my series The Labors of Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head – I wish you would. If you want world-building, my termite world tops the charts (in my not-so-humble opinion!) Plus it reprises many earth myths in an alien environment. What could be more fun?
I promise you, I am going to read the Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head books. I am sorry it’s taken me so long. Because I feel like I need to do a review a week, I have an unfortunate tendency to put off longer books that I want to read in favor of things I know I can read and review quickly. But that issue is solved–for now–because I have many scheduled reviews in the pipeline! So, now I believe may be the perfect time to take up your books. 🙂
Oh! Nice to hear! Good luck!
I’m reasonably certain I told you The Left Hand of Darkness was worth the read. What most amazes me is how well after 50 years, it can still be considered groundbreaking. She also strikes me as one of the few authors who succeeded in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy.
That you did! And you were right, as usual. Thank you for recommending it. 🙂
I am so very, very glad you reviewed this iconic work, Berthold. There are two books at the top of my pantheon: The Left Hand of Darkness and Dune. Very different, and yet they both showed me that the best of scifi could stand shoulder to shoulder with the literary classics. In fact, in some ways, the best of scifi can be better than the classics because it allows the writer to explore what it means to be human in extreme situations that would be impossible in the real world. The Left Hand of Darkness is a story I return to about once a decade so I can discover gems I missed in the previous reads. It /is/ a classic.
I quite agree with everything you said. Absolutely, a classic!