32. The Left Hand of Darkness

By Ursula K. LeGuin (215 pgs)

Rating: 4

Genly Ai is a member of the Ekumen assigned to Winter as a kind of first contact specialist. His job is to live among the native inhabitants and lay a foundation for their entry into the interstellar sort of federation...or brotherhood maybe. In any case, Genly being what we think about as a typical human, physiologically speaking that is, is on a world with people who are potentially either/both genders and go through cycles of sexual readiness and are essentially non-sexed the rest of the time. This physiological fact has shaped their society and Genly quickly gets himself into trouble.

While not my favorite LeGuin book, The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my most loved science fiction books. When I was a teen I tried to read this book over and over and could not get past the first chapter. Eventually in college I had to read it for a creative seminar in science fiction and fantasy. Like many of LeGuin's books, The Left Hand of Darkness explores a number of fairly complicate questions. In this case concepts of gender, identity, and behavior take the fore. It's worth struggling through the beginning of the book. Aside from being a fantastic story it also contains interesting insights into why humans behave as they do and how language reinforces that.

I recommend this to all sci fi fans and anyone interested in gender identity issues.