Left Hand of Darkness was required reading for me in college, which I skipped, because I was too busy playing League of Legends and I sparknoted the discussion the day after. I regret this now.
The first introduction to Gethen painted here is a bit stiff, especially the first chapter, but as I approach the middle of the book it dawned on me that everything presented to me, and the way it was presented, was intentional and thoughtful. I've just been introduced to the clinical definition of 'kemmering', but before that, my brain was trying to put to face how the people on Gethen looked. Le Guin seems to purposefully only describe them when needed, leaving everything else up to imagination.
Everyone is referred to in male pronouns for simplicity, I think. But there are Gethens who are described as feminine, beautiful, handsome. They're clearly supposed to be visualized as women or .. are they? It's hard to tell. The gruff muscular sailors that one character passes — are they shaped like women? Men? The politicians in Karhide, the King of Karhide himself … is that a woman? A man? They're described with both qualities of course, because on Gethen nobody is a man or a woman, they're just Gethen.
That is the point I expect. No Gethen is beautiful or noteworthy because they are 'male' or 'female', I can't ascribe assumptions to a character just because they're a certain gender (and it would be useless to, considering Gethen society).
The book has a few stale points and some parts of it are like chewing through chalk, but I'm sad that it will end soon. I wanted to explore more of this world.
Hope I haven't spoiled anything but I'm delighted to finally be able to read and enjoy this book when at first I thought it was a total slog.
That's all,
Greyson
by Gileotine