carlin

it was bound to happen at some point, my reading club read a book that I did not enjoy to say the least

as for what i liked, i found the lesbian romance that takes up the middle portion of the book to be fairly compelling and there were a couple short stories that had interesting concepts

however I found the first third (90 pages) of this to be kinda eyerollingly edgy and sometimes confusing, then we get the lesbian novella which I enjoyed, then the last third was okay but too scattershot.

Overall i just found that it was doing Too Much and not enough was developed sufficiently for me to get much from it. There were a lot of characters that seemed to be similar archetypes (or had the same voice) and i wish we collapsed some of these into the same character so that we could get more depth rather than breadth.

For further reading, I really agree with the review linked 👇

another case of a classic actually being a classic

this really surprised me and totally got me hooked. The content is also quite adult which I didn't really expect, but I guess it is suitable for 15/16 year olds

I knew the ending but not how we get there, and really well done. Also works well when you know it as there is a pretty clear mirror

Really feels like a play with the way that scenes are structured with being single rooms where people appear at the door all the time. Would love to see a play version

Le Guin is such a master

Of course this book lives up to its reputation — I want to read more about it, I want to re-read several chapters, I want to read fan-fiction about it and I want to discuss it with my book club tomorrow!

Naturally this is front loaded with hard sci-fi concepts which make the first five or so chapters quite a steep undertaking. I chose to mostly be confused, and supplementing my knowledge with quick references to Wikipedia, which was largely successful, with great help from Le Guin who continually has helping hands to make sure that you have a well-formed view. And most importantly, it is worth it as she tells not only a good story, but an entertaining one in the world that she has created.

It goes without saying that the gender stuff is compelling, and I can't be the only one who wanted more details and dynamics. It is very thought provoking and I wonder if they've ever published this with female pronouns for the Gethians? I think non-binary pronouns are "correct" but I think it's an important choice to give them binary pronouns as we are seeing them via Genly's eyes (Ais?). As an aside this must hit soo hard if you're gender fluid

Conceptually I wasn't that interested in the Hainish cycle but it's pulling me in

P.S I love the term gichy-michy so much. It doesn't sound appealing but I want it. P.P.S I had to rewrite this review bc of a Hardcover bug >:( reported it on the discord

--- spoilers ---

ougghhhh :( that ending. I need a moment... In the grand scheme of things it is a happy ending, but on the personal level it's so bittersweet. Even regardless of my feeling that it's very well done in contrasting the two, I think that it is the better ending as we're already told the result of the Ekumen <-> Gethen relationship via the prophecy half way through