Stranger in a Strange Land

2.5 for an interesting concept, but... This book is SO outdated, it read like a sexist, anti-homosexual, communist manifesto. I read the "original uncut" version & now know why they took out 50,000 or so words when they published it the first time, my God, what a slog! The only character I liked was Michael Valentine, and only until he found his "human-ness"...he then, as well as all the rest, were incredibly smug & annoying. Jubal in particular would pontificate for pages about everything from religion to art, in a way I found extremely clunky, writing-wise. That's my main beef, in fact, I found the writing style workman-like at best. The ending was so falsely cheerful, like a Monty Python skit making fun of the upper classes - "It's so, you know, sunny!!!" Or like a young adult novel where everything turns out exactly as it should & the people who SHOULD get together, DO, and then all the ladies have babies & are so fucking happy AAAAARGH. SO glad I'm finally finished, now I can read "Game of Thrones!" ( )

Dash and King...well, I have finished the book and damn both of you for putting me through that! Honestly I was thinking at the end of section two, "I really am enjoying this, I don't know what King's problem is!" Then I turned the page! Part three was supreme torture and Part four wasn't much better. By part five, I just wanted it to end!

*************Extreme Spoiler Alert**************************

Dash told me I wouldn't like the end, he was wrong. By the end of section five I was more than ready for Michael Valentine Smith to DIE! Had Jubal died, I would have been upset, but MVS dying actually made the book that much better and more satisfying for me.

I gave it three stars with this in mind, by the end of section two I was thinking four stars, section three I was thinking one, section four it was two, section five was still a two...but then they killed the annoying bastard and I thought that deserved a bump. It wasn't badly written, the author is sexist (it was written in the 50's and published in 1961), but I didn't think over much for the time. His almost psychic vision of the "Free Love", communal living, of the later 60's was impressive if a little nauseating. I compromised on all points and called it a three. If I had to agree with one of you I am more toward King's opinion however. (sorry darlin) As it happens, I agree completely with Rindis.

I have to add that I loved this bit:

"Jubal shrugged, 'abstract design is all right - for wallpaper or linoleum. But ART is the process of evoking pity and terror. What modern artists do is pseudo-intellectual masturbation. Creative art is intercourse, in which the artist renders emotional his audience.'" Interesting way to look at it I thought...

But:

"Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault." Made me almost stop reading and put the bloomin' book in the wood stove! ( )

Can't say I grokked this one in fullness.
Interesting, nonetheless! This book went from being 5 stars as I started out, and then after a couple hundred pages, 4 stars, and then it really started to get tiresome and ended up at 3 stars for me. I kept it at 3 stars just because of a lot of fascinating dialogue throughout. The plot was so-so. I couldn't tell if this book was truly supposed to be set in the future because it really felt like it was still in the 60's with the not so feminist friendly (for lack of a better term) treatment of women and the fact that some of the "futuristic" technology was incredibly outdated compared to what we actually have today. Anyway, this book is a lot deeper than the little I've said so far, but I don't want to give anything away by going any further into it.
( )

putting aside all of the sexist, homophobic, and gender stereotyping commentary throughout this book (and a bit of racism as well, but not nearly as overt), i found this a fun read. for the first 2/3 of the book. (a book that is supposed to be a major work of sci-fi, however, should be able to see past things like sexism. i give him a pass because of when it was written, but i still find that disappointing, for a 'forward thinker.') i didn't agree with a lot that he has to say, and make a reader think about, but it was interesting, and kept me reading.

the last 1/3 of this book was awful. the writing, which hadn't been stellar to begin with, over-utilized all of the lameness that was easier to excuse through the first 2/3. (there are a lot of long monologues, where heinlein gets to use a character to expound upon a point he wants to make. usually, other characters around the speaker will simply say 'huh?' to keep the talker going. got old.) his diatribes became less and less interesting to me, and more and more filled with holes, in my opinion. much of the culmination of all of it (not just the ending, but the entire last third) was predictable, and didn't add to the questions he wanted us to be probing.

i'm left with a feeling of 1 star for this book, but i'm giving it 2 because of the first part.

and, utterly inexcusable, is this quote that i simply cannot abide, in the last third, spoken by the main character woman:

"'Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's at least partly her own fault.'" ( )

Admit it, this book is pretty boring. ( )