Winter is an Earth-like planet with two major differences: conditions are semi artic even at the warmest time of the year, and the inhabitants are all of the same sex. Tucked away in a remote corner of the universe, they have no knowledge of space travel or of life beyond their own world. And when a strange envoy from space brings news of a vast coalition of planets which they are invited to join, he is met with fear, mistrust and disbelief...'The Left Hand of Darkness' is a groundbreaking work of feminist science fiction, an imaginative masterpiece which poses challenging questions about sexuality, sexism and the organisation of society.
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'A beguiling read... Le Guin's sometimes mischievous narrative tone is crisp and fresh' - www.sf.com 'A jewel of a story.' Frank Herbert 'As profuse and original in invention as The Lord of the Rings.' Michael Moorcock 'Delicate yet daring, narrated with immense gravitas...Ursula Le Guin's masterpiece' - Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels
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I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination. Read the first page
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45 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Left Hand of Darkness" tells about the mission of Genly Ai, an ambassador of the Ekumen to Winter. The Ekumen is a union of most of the known planets, and Winter is a faraway planet still in its glacier period where all people are of the same gender. Genly Ai goes to Karhide and Orgoreyn, the main countrylike territories on Winter to try to convince them to join the Ekumen. Le Guin describes an inspiring world, very different from what we know, where there are no "men" or "women", but only PEOPLE, and where pride is a completely different concept. Being both an alien and a man, Genly Ai has to go through various experiences to learn different meanings of country, friendship, pride and love, and together with him we are indulged in reflecting more about these things and the world that we (don't) know. I would recomment this book not only to science fiction friends, but also to everyone who likes to think while they read.
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ever since my dad gave me this book as a teenager, it has had a permanent place on my all-time Top Ten Book List, even though my reading tastes have drifted away from Sci-Fi over time. As other reviewers have commented, it's not only arguably the greatest science fiction novel of the century, but one of the best novels in general. It just has so many different aspects - and it's one of these books that leaves the reader with a real sense of loss on finishing it not because it's a particularly sad tale, but just because it's come to an end.
The setting on the world of Gethen, where the inhabitants are the hermaphrodite products of an ancient genetic engineering project and can both father and bear children, allows Le Guin to make some fascinating comments on gender; but this alone would not have allowed the book to stand the test of time (after books like Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" and Jackie Kay's "Trumpet", readers are probably much more used to seeing gender as a fluid thing than in the late 1960s when Le Guin's book was published). The two things which make the book so special for me are firstly Estraven and Genly Ai's epic journey across the ice cap - which is a unique blend of thrilling adventure, unconsummated love story and philosophical musing on duality (light and darkness; male and female; good and evil); and secondly the way in which Le Guin makes the planet of Gethen and its culture so thrillingly real - she constructs folk tales, poetry and suchlike which add extraordinary resonance to the narrative. While immersed in the book, Karhide and Orgoreyn are utterly real places for the reader - since my teenage years, I still feel disappointed that I can't actually go there...
... Read more ›28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By F. Roberts
Format:Paperback
Rereading this brilliant book 20 years later I was this time struck by a little noticed aspect, its treatment of religion. It contains two perfectly coherant alien religions, both wonderfully thought-through and convincing. I cannot think of any other SF work that contains one, let alone two, convincing stabs at what the religious ideas of an alien civilisation might be like.
Ursula le Guin`s family background was in social anthropology -the real science that forms the basis of her books is social enthropology not Physics or Biology.
An inexhaustable book.
Ursula le Guin`s family background was in social anthropology -the real science that forms the basis of her books is social enthropology not Physics or Biology.
An inexhaustable book.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are not many science-fiction books you could list alongside 'the Left Hand of Darkness'. 'Fahrenheit 451', perhaps, 'That Hideous Strength' (but not really in the sense that it's science-fiction), the short story 'Nightfall' but not the novel, perhaps one or two others.
This is an utterly compelling vision of a world where the people are just like us but totally different. LeGuin changes two things - the temperature, and sexuality, which on Winter is hermaphroditic. From this basis she constructs a world utterly unique, utterly perfect in its conception.
In itself, that would be enough to put LeGuin with the best of Philip Dick's strange imaginings.
But she then runs through it a powerful and passionate story of impossible yearning and the limits of human endurance.
You may hate this book. But if you have any interest in science-fiction at all, you must read it. And even if you hate it, you may find yourself reading it again. And again. And again.
This is an utterly compelling vision of a world where the people are just like us but totally different. LeGuin changes two things - the temperature, and sexuality, which on Winter is hermaphroditic. From this basis she constructs a world utterly unique, utterly perfect in its conception.
In itself, that would be enough to put LeGuin with the best of Philip Dick's strange imaginings.
But she then runs through it a powerful and passionate story of impossible yearning and the limits of human endurance.
You may hate this book. But if you have any interest in science-fiction at all, you must read it. And even if you hate it, you may find yourself reading it again. And again. And again.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is an overwhelmingly excellent book.
On the planet Gethen, also called Winter, humanity exists in a unique form - all Getheninans are androgynes. Genderless most of the time, a Gethenian may become either male or female each month, during the three-day-long kemmer period.
The societies that developed in this unique strain of humanity are explored by the author intelligently and sensitively. Ursula Le Guin has a rare talent - she can make the most familiar exotic, and most exotic, familiar. I am not the first reader of this book to wish for a chance to visit Gethen.
Set in the Hainish Ekumen long after the overthrow of the Shing, (look for other books in the Hainish series: The Dispossesed, Rocanon's World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusion,) The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of Genly Ai, First Envoy of the Ekumen to Gethen. It is also the story of Therem Harth rem ir Estraven, a high official of the Gethenian Kingdom of Karhide, called the Traitor, the truest and most loyal citizen Gethen has ever known.
The Left Hand of Darkness tells a captivating story of fidelity and betreyal, set in a world that is alien yet familiar to us. Ursula K. Le Guin's unique writing and incredible imagination make reading this book an experience unparalelled in any genre.
I only wish I could give more than five stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
annoyingly eccentric tale of another world
I remember trying to read the Wizard of Earthsea also by le Guin when I was a child and remember being put off by the eccentric nomenclature used to name people and places and... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Mr. Robert Marsland
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
What a magnificent imagination this woman has. The creation of the frozen world of Winter and its two main bizarre nations - one an Alice-in-Wonderland kingdom and the other a kind... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Martin
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ok if you like fantasy worlds
I found the the fantasy world difficult to grasp due to lack of explaination by the author.
Not really my scene.
Not really my scene.
Published 3 months ago by Janice Rothwell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book speaks for itself, Kindle version good
Contains a forward, some maps and appendices. There are some problems with formatting, occasional missing spaces for example. Read more
Published 4 months ago by David
1.0 out of 5 stars
Incomprehensible
I tried this book some years ago and didn't manage to read more than a few pages then. However, I have now tried again as it is my Book Club's book this month. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Teens_again
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Leguin
I've loved this book for about 25 years and have re-read it several times. What a brilliant idea, and how movingly executed. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Victoria Martin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed.
I am not really into this type of story and hence this report is not really fair. I found the tale complicated and with strange plot and names. Read more
Published 5 months ago by JCT Richards
4.0 out of 5 stars
Glad I waited for it
I removed one star for the long wait until the book became available in kindle format, otherwise it is as good as I was hoping it to be and will continue buying the rest of the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Vdorna
5.0 out of 5 stars
So glad I read it!
I'd been meaning to read this for years on a recommendation from my dad and I'm really glad I did. UKLG discusses a range of important ideas about society within the context of a... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Georgina Gorton
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Left Hand of Darkness
One of LeGuin's greatest achievements, this book brings us to a world called Winter. Or as the inhabitants know it, Gethen, just emerging from the ice age. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Clare O'Beara
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