Ursula K. Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness, The - 6

[StefanY]

Left Hand of Darkness, The

I guess that since I mentioned this in my review of The Earthsea Trilogy also by Ursula Le Guin I should most probably write a review for Left Hand of Darkness as well.

Left Hand of Darkness is more of an exploration of human emotion/sexuality than straight Science Fiction. The story centers around an emissary who has been sent to a distant planet, called Winter, in order to convince them that joining the intergalactic federation is a good thing for their planet and their society. The people of the planet are both male and female, able to change their sex pretty much at will and our emissary must learn how to cope with this strange sexuality at the same time that his body is learning to cope with the extreme climate of this frozen planet.

Overall, I thought that this novel had a grand concept that the author handled adeptly and really did make the reader think and consider human emotion and sexuality. Her storyline is engaging and her characters are well-fleshed out. My only problem with it is that her prose seemed very heavy-handed. I consider myself to have a fairly extensive vocabulary and it seemed that I was stumped by words often in this book. I normally don't have a problem when I come across a word that I don't know and I actually enjoy finding out the meaning of a new word, but the frequency with which this occurred was a bit frustrating. Even without the vocabulary that Le Guin uses in this novel, there were many times that I felt that the plot was plodding along especially when dealing with all of the philosophical and bureaucratic hurdles that the protagonist must go through in order to reach an understanding of these people with whom he must attempt to make some sort of alliance.

The concept and storyline were enough for me to give this an above average rating, however had Le Guin's style matched that of her Earthsea Trilogy, I'm sure that I would have enjoyed the novel much more and given it a much higher rating.
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[MidasKnight]

... I get the same thing out of Clive Barker. Seems like I have to look up at least one word every page or two.

Do you feel she's being presumptuous or just has a naturally richer vocab than most?

Also, I read most of your reviews even if I don't comment on them. I enjoy them and find them useful. Thanks!

[StefanY]

First off...Thanks! Good to know that you enjoy my reviews.

As for Le Guin, I get the feeling that she's extremely intelligent and really does use that sort of vocabulary and just toned it down for the Earthsea Trilogy which was written more for a Young Adult audience. Oh, and I know what you're talking about with Barker. Took me forever to get through Galilee.