My first reactions to Lilith's Brood:

1) Heriarchy is not a genetic trait.
2) The Oankali (especially Ooloi) manipulation of humans is immoral.
3) The Oankali are no more moral than humanity, since both are driven by supposedly inescapable genetic tendencies.

I'll pass on this reading response. I guess "The Left Hand of Darkness" just doesn't strike my fancy. It could also be lack of sleep. I KNOW I'll have something to say about "Lilith's Brood," so it's OK.

-CZ

Linked through the Slog, I found this. I went in expecting to be quite offended, and was surprised by the wit with which Mr. Hitchens went through his argument. Does it being funny make it any less offensive? Does he have a point? Discuss.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701?curren...

In my first post on this novel, I immediately took the side of Luke, against what I perceived to be an unjust representation of men. I seem, as a side effect, to have ignited a flame war between RoseBlack, JackKerouacSucks, and the world. As a result of that war, in addition to the conversation that we had in class, I've taken the time to look closely at my opinions on this novel. As much as it galls me to admit in a public forum, my first impression was quite narrow-minded, and reveals the basic prejudice with which I read feminist literature.

I think the most viscerally affecting passage in HT was at the very end of chapter 28, near the end of the narrator's description of the fundamentalist takeover in the time before. In it, Luke responds to the narrator losing her job and all her rights without really blinking an eye. He still wants to make love, and can't understand why the narrator doesn't want to. He says "We still have..." and she finishes "We still have each other."

Of all the fascinating characters in Neuromancer (The Finn, Dixie, Maelcum, etc.), the two that most caught my interest were the two AI's, Wintermute and Neuromancer. They are a stark contrast to the ways in which technology was portrayed in Starship Troopers. In that novel, technology was entirely a tool of humanity. It did not malfunction, it did not turn on them, and though the Bug warriors did carry some small weapons, it was predominantly organics that the M.I. was fighting.

I think this is a little more formal than what others have been posting, but here it is anyway. It's somewhat an expansion of the comment I made earlier, with some more points and some textual support:

This was a triumph
I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS!!