Loyiso Mkungela Mkungela itibaren Dembancane, Senegal
This is definitely not a space opera about rockets and robots; nor, despite some reviews, does it seem very "feminist" to me. It's just a brilliant novel about people, relationships, and desires, a thought-experiment that leads to lots of insights about deep topics: The impact of gender differences on human cultures. The ethnographer's role as a student, diplomat, or missionary, and difficulties of being alone in a foreign culture. Hospitality and honesty in harsh climates. Fear, deception, and misunderstanding in power politics and patriotism. Origin stories and other mythology. Dualism and unity in culture and religion. The importance of keeping face and respect, and how that can drive us to bad decisions. Facts vs truth. Local vs global, concrete vs abstract, specific vs general. I'd love to reread this book and discuss it with other people. I didn't quite understand the motivations behind the behavior of the king's cousin, Tibe, who seems to think in ways foreign to his countrymen. But he is a necessary plot device for Le Guin's thought experiment to express itself. In fact, the only thing that didn't seem to have a point in the context of the rest of the novel was the telepathic "mindspeech." I didn't realize until later that Le Guin actually wrote other Ekumen novels; I'm guessing she stuck mindspeech in here only for continuity with the earlier books. UPDATE: There's a quote from LeGuin that seems to describe pretty well why this book covers deeper ground than "mere" feminism: "Because of our lifelong social conditioning, it is hard for us to see clearly what, besides purely physiological form and function, truly differentiates men and women. ... How to find out? ... I eliminated gender, to find out what was left. Whatever was left would be, presumably, simply human. It would define the area that is shared by men and women alike."
I am ashamed to tell you under what circumstances I read this tome, but the date implies I was in high school, and a boy was involved. (Reading books to impress boys? Is nothing sacred?) Anyway, it's cool to read cause it's such a weird brainy classic but the story line is one step up from Guiding Light and the whole thing is thinly veiled capitalist propaganda. Makes you feel dirty.