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The Left Hand of Darkness
- BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation
- Narrated by: full cast, Toby Jones, James McArdle
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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Two great - Two fine - One really bad
- By Nigel on 14-06-17
Summary
The first ever broadcast dramatisation of Ursula Le Guin's seminal science fiction novel.
On an alien world in the middle of an ice age, one man prepares for the biggest mission of his life. Alone and unarmed, Genly Ai has been sent from Earth to persuade the people of Gethen to join the Ekumen, a union of planets. But it's a task fraught with danger.
Genly is shocking to the natives, for Gethen is a world in which humans are ambigendered - everyone can be a mother, and everyone can be a father. First Minister Estraven is the only person who champions Genly's cause, but their relationship is deeply incomprehensible and troubling.
As the duo embark on a journey that will take them to the edge of their physical and emotional endurance, the stakes are high - to save a world from war and save their own lives.
Ursula Le Guin's award-winning masterpiece was one of the first feminist SF novels, and this compelling dramatisation is both a subtle exploration of gender and a thrilling tale of love, betrayal and survival in a landscape of endless snow and ice. It stars Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey), Toby Jones (Dad's Army) and Louise Brealey (Sherlock).
Duration: two hours approx.
What listeners say about The Left Hand of Darkness
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Chris
- 28-07-17
Proper Science Fiction
No guns, no explosions, just concepts, snow, and writing. No more words are needed. none.
8 people found this helpful
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- I. R. Lowell
- 11-10-19
Engaging storytelling excellently adapting a great seminal novel
Superb retelling of Ursula K LeGuin’s novel. The acting is superb and conveys the misunderstandings of the masculine ambassador in a world where sexuality only flourishes every Kemmer-period. The use of story within the story and the short experience of spiritual encounter, encompasses the wealth and depth of what being human means. The author later regretted writing ‘he‘ as the pronominal form for the Gethians and this production, in using female actors in the main enables the strain and strangeness of being not just the alien but the one who is In permanent Kemmer to be realised. Excellent audio production.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mariangela
- 15-03-18
beautiful but a bit confusing to follow
loved it but this it was a bit too abridged which made difficult to follow
2 people found this helpful
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- mareepsasja
- 01-05-20
Way too abridged!
I've read this book some years ago, and was really looking forward to the audio version. It's my fault for not looking at the length when I purchased it - 1 hour and 53 minutes would have told me I was getting a very heavily abridged version. You wouldn't have a hope of understanding this story if you were relying on this dramatisation, and hadn't read the book. Such a shame, despite the performances being good.
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- Scott S
- 20-10-16
This is not the full book
Wish someone else had wrote this in a review, I guess I spent more time looking for a review and not enough looking at the length. Only two hours. It's not bad, but obvious well short on details amd explanarion that must be in the book. As for performance, the dialogue was often read in a soft voice, dramatic maybe but harder to hear and understand than most audiobooks. I would rather be able to listen to someone just read the book than act it out as an audio play. My fauly I should have paid closer attention to the description.
21 people found this helpful
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- theamazingcatherine
- 02-03-17
I want to give this six stars
It's always difficult adapting a novel - what to keep, what to leave out, how to interpret character voices. This brought the beauty and the terror of the ice-crossing, and the complex relationship between Ai and Estraven, with a host of wonderfully living voices. Gorgeous. Gripping. Good show all around.
4 people found this helpful
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- mizmac#1
- 04-05-20
A Marvelous Adaptation
I've read the novel over 50 times since I first read it in 1969. Although this adaptation changes many specifics of the novel, some of them significantly, it remains a moving and faithful version of Ms. Le Guin's story.
1 person found this helpful
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- T. Kaeff
- 08-01-20
Faithful to the book.
My only complaint is that I am left wanting more. Well done, faithful to the novel.
1 person found this helpful
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- Scott K. Simpson
- 28-10-16
Good, but not the novel
I like the dramatization, however there were parts not included which could've been with good effect. There is a particular chapter in the novel " The question of sex" which I think would've explained much more about the gethenians for those who hadn't read the novel.
1 person found this helpful
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- M C.
- 16-09-20
I loved it and am ok with the adapted version
I do wish it was 2-3 hours longer, because there are so many nuanced relations and characters. But the production overall was just lovely. Acting performances were fantastic, the foley was excellent, and Le Guin’s story is engrossing. Highly recommended.
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- Scott Sexton
- 10-05-19
Excellent performances of a very moving story.
Toby Jones as King Argaven shines in his brief portrayal. Loved hearing this excellent adaptation.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-12-16
Still a favorite of all time.
I love this book and this performance of it. Perfect! If only it could have been the full unabridged version.
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- Eli
- 09-07-16
meh
i expected more but left unimpressed. only one thing made me go woah. and that was the inability for gender changers to comprehend how non-changers view the opposite sex within their own culture.
2 people found this helpful