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THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS. [Paperback]

Ursula K. LeGuin (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 286 pages
  • Publisher: Ace U.S.A.; 4th Printing edition (1 Jun 1973)
  • ASIN: B000SE4QVW
  • Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,846,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Ursula K. Le Guin
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First Sentence
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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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book that makes you think 6 Sep 2001
By faerine@mail.bg
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.
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Love story, polar adventure yarn and meditation on gender... 25 Feb 2004
By Dr. Kenneth W. Douglas
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...

A twentieth-century classic in all senses; and this Virago Modern Classics edition is beautifully packaged as always, with subtle but effective cover art.

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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars the religious slant 19 April 2005
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 29 days 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.
Published 2 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 3 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 5 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 6 months ago by Clare O'Beara
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
The very best example of the genre.

Le Guin again delivers a beautifully written haunting story. To read is to fall in love.

Superb.
Published 10 months ago by Mark Noble
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