The Dispossessed has always been one of my favorites, and I was incredibly disappointed when I read LHoD! I found LHoD sort of boring. So much focus on this gender-bending stuff which I found pointless... I actually thought there was a lot in there that was downright mysogenistic. In fact, I made a list of quotes a few years ago when I read it. These are mostly said by the narrator, who's supposed to come from some elevated society where they've got everything figured out. I've been waiting for someone to explain to me how exactly U. K. LG is a feminist, maybe the article above will help, going to read now. Here's that list... please read: http://files.aaroncurt.is/lhodGender.txt
Genly Ai, the book's narrator, is pretty sexist and arrogant. He is repulsed and confused by the way gender works on the planet. He observes what he sees like an anthropologist from an "enlightened" Earth society, comparing their folkways to his own and finding them insufficient. The other Hainish Cycle books make it pretty clear that the Ekumen is not a utopia, and Genly's faith in it is naive. By the end, Genly has a deeper understanding of Gethenian society, contrasted with his earlier arrogance.
