Comments | nwhyte: March Books 13) Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein

nwhyte

March Books 13) Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein

Mar 22, 2009 04:33

Of Heinlein's four or five Hugo-winning novels (Double Star, Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and retro-Hugo-winning Farmer in the Sky) this probably is the best. (Reserving judgement on TMiaHM as I haven't re-read it yet.) Which I not to say that it's a perfect piece of work. The things that make a lot of Heinlein's later work ( Read more... )

rereads, sf: hugos, bookblog 2009, writer: robert a heinlein

Comments 14

rigel_kent March 22 2009, 04:22:33 UTC

...cringingly awful dialogue...
I've been re-reading some Heinlein myself and have also started to wonder. Is this how he *thought* people spoke or how he thought people *ought* to have spoke(pardons for the mixed tenses)? I f you see what I mean.
IMHO, TMIAHM is his best work, although SIASL comes pretty close. Again, MHO.

frumiousb March 22 2009, 07:04:11 UTC

the gender stuff in Heinlein started to bother me as a young teenager, back before I had any idea that I should be bothered by that kind of stuff. I still have some sense of affection for The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, but I tried to reread Stranger a few years ago and found it virtually unreadable.

yea_mon March 22 2009, 08:36:27 UTC

Stranger is one of those books I could never get into. Might try sometime I feel up to it, as Heinlein is an author I find difficulty reading nowadays (despite my adulation of him in my youth).

On the subject of the other 1962 nominees, I have heard of them all - but have only read Planet of the Damned and Second Ending. PotD is a good adventure, but SE is an incredibly engaging and touching story. If you can get your hands on White's 'Monsters and Medics' short story collection it has it.

girfan March 22 2009, 09:40:31 UTC

Stranger was a must-read in the 60s. I haven't read it for years and probably should to see how good/bad it still is.

Long or short? anonymous March 22 2009, 10:16:18 UTC

Did you read the restored text or the original text?

Oliver

Re: Long or short? nwhyte March 22 2009, 10:36:38 UTC

Original - I try and read the version that actually won the award. I understand the expansion is not much of an improvement.

(?Morton?)

Re: Long or short? matgb March 22 2009, 11:49:21 UTC

I finished the expansion recently, and obviously don't know what was added, but your review above pretty much sums it up, it's a passable little tale but only a classic "of its time", and clear indication why the literati look down on SF if that's the "best" of 40 years ago.

I'm going to dig out some of his less preachy works, not read TMIAHM either, probably ought to.

But from what I've seen as an adult, calling scalzi "the new Heinlein" appears to be an insult to John.