While reading this book, be ready to discard one of the basic foundations of our society that influences all aspects of life: the division of humankind into men and women. The people of the frosty planet Gethen , or Winter, are androgynous: remaining most of the time potentials, during their sexual cycle they can become male or female. A person can be the father of several children and the mother of several more. It doesn’t influence in any way the attitude of other people towards him (Le Guin has to use the word he for the lack of a more suitable pronoun, but a Gethenian is no more he than she). On Gethen there exist no male or female occupations, standards of behaviour, etc. It’s a great premise for an SF novel. This is a book that will , probably, make many readers look more attentively into themselves to find out whether they fit in the Procrustean bed of standards, requirements and stereotypes of society, or maybe they are more compex individuals. The answer, of course, depends on the reader.
But a good idea alone doesn’t make a good book. How the idea is realized is often more important. As for this book, the realization proves to be worth the originality of the idea. The story itself (it needn’t and shouldn’t be retold, it should be read) is profound and moving. Slowly but surely it draws the reader’s attention. It won’t leave most of the readers indifferent. As for the characters, Genly Ai may be a bit commonplace, but among the Gethenians there are a lot of interesting personalities. Le Guin’s style is beyond any praise. And in the plot (Don’t believe those who say that the book has no plot. I wonder what they mean by this word.) are interwoven small gems, Gethenian myths and tales which, of course, make no contribution to the plot advancement, but add to our understanding of Gethenians. Together with the main storyline they help us realize that however different Gethenian biology, phylosophy, way of life may be from ours, there are more things that unite them with us. The main thing is that they are humans, and such notions as love, fidelity, friendship, gratitude have the same significance as for us (I’d better say that they have more significance for them than for some non-androgynous homo sapiens).
Of course, different people can see different things, different problems, different underlying meanings in this book. But what this book has for sure (just to sum up) is the stunning original idea, beautiful setting, interesting characters and a profound and moving plot. We may ask more of an SF book (or of any book, for that matter), but in order to like this book, a reader shouldn’t ask less as well.
