The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. le Guin
I know you’ve all read it and I know it is a legend, so I won’t waste your time reviewing this incredible book. I’ve just finished re-reading it and I’m absolutely blown away. I cried at the ending. So I just want to take a moment to praise it, and its author, Ursula K. le Guin.
It is a marvellous story and brilliantly executed. It is so rich with ideas I was astonished. This is a forty-year-old sci-fi novel and yet it is so fresh, it could have been written this year. Everything about it is plausible – one of the highest accolades I can give any work of literature these days.
I read a lot of the sci-fi classics when I was very young – probably too young to appreciate fully how good they were. So it is an enormous pleasure for me to go back to them in maturity and rediscover them. Some don’t stand up well to the passage of time and my decades-better understanding of life, love, science, and the human condition. But some do. Some were so intelligently and sensitively written that they will last forever. ‘The Left Hand of Darkness
i ain’t read it, but i’m gonna now!
I think you’ve nailed a good point here, Graham, about the benefits of re-reading old favourites.
And the Left Hand of Darkness is an absolute joy; when I see its spine on my bookshelf I still have pleasant mental wanderings about the intricate complexity of the society on Winter. So much so that now I must go off and think about it again – hermaphroditic humnans, who knew!
Shortly after reading this post (and resolving to read the book as I haven’t yet), I stumbled upon this and thought I’d bring it back here in the hope of entertaining you (and sharing a knowing smile between us). Em x
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Reject.html