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The Left Hand of Darkness (Paperback)

by Ursula Le Guin (Author) "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..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit; New edition edition (31 Dec 1981)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857230744
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857230741
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 51,788 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'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


Product Description

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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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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Customer Reviews

42 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book that makes you think, 6 Sep 2001
"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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24 of 24 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 "drkennydouglas" (Glasgow) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Left Hand of Darkness (Virago modern classics) (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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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the religious slant, 19 April 2005
By F. Roberts (London England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful
I've been dying to get this book for ages and it didn't disappoint. The whole idea of kemmering is fascinating. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ms. Grainne Ketelaar

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, melancholic story
I loved the Earthsea trilogy which I read when I was young, but this book had sat on my bookshelf unread for many years. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction As Great Art
No lesser a critic than Yale's Harold Bloom considers Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness canonical. Read more
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3.0 out of 5 stars Road to Political Correctness
Like many of Le Guin's books, this is a 'road' story involving a journey in which is also a metaphor for discovery and self-discovery, a journey into truth. Read more
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I've lost count of the number of times I've read this. I know I'm going to read it many more times. I feel sorry for the reviewers who've been made to hate this book by being... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars you have to remember this was written in the 20th century
The way I see it, this book defends two ideas. First that we are human beings first, males and females only second. You'd think this would go without saying. Read more
Published on 7 May 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars worst...book...ever...
i really really hate this book. i'm sorry to those people who enjoyed it, but i did not. i did not find it the least bit intriguing, it didn't hold my attention, and it was just,... Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Thought-Experiment and a Moving Story
While reading this book, be ready to discard one of the basic foundations of our society that influences all aspects of life: the division of humankind into men and women. Read more
Published on 27 Jul 2003 by Ludmian

4.0 out of 5 stars A LESSON OF GEOGRAPHY
Well, after having read here the reviews written about Ursula Le Guin's 1969 THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS, I was a little puzzled. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2003 by wdanthemanw

5.0 out of 5 stars This _is_ the Science Fiction Masterpiece
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... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2003 by Martin Turner

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