Stranger in a Strange Land

[househatke]

By Robert Heinlein.

I have to say, I stopped reading about two chapters from the end. This book was very frustrating because it started with an engaging plot. A boy raised on Mars, by Martians, is brought back to Earth. by birthright and a twist of legislation he is heir to a fortune so vast that the world government takes custody of him and keeps him under constant surveillance. He escapes with the help of a small band of anarchist/libertarians and the gov is in hot pursuit. Or at least warm pursuit

Unfortunately, the main threat is neutralized about halfway through the book. The world leader who seeks to control the fortune is essentially bought off. Heinlein uses the second half of the book to sermonize about sexual ethics, religion and politics. It's not so much that the ideas are wrongheaded (they mostly are) but that he just bashes you over the head with them.

Worst of all though is the constant use of the word "grok" which, in Martian means "to drink" and "to understand fully." They use the word so often that they're almost talking like a bunch of smurfs.

So if you're looking for some Heinlein I suggest rereading Starship Troopers.

[Monk]

It does get quite heavy-handed about halfway in there. I always think of it as a good book for an impressionable and inquisitive sixteen-year-old (certainly not all sixteen-year-olds, I suppose), because it presents some very different worldviews. I liked it when I was that age, but can now definitely see its failings.

That said, I think you should go ahead and finish it just to have it done and over with

[dan]

Well crap, I was going to read this one.

Ah well, Starship Troopers it is.

dan

[agremar]

Dunno, pretty much every Heinlein book dissolves into the same thing except Starship Troopers. Regardless, it's worth finishing Stranger in a Strange Land and consider the point of religion he is trying to make sans the free love cult thing...but then I read it over 12 years ago so maybe because I was young some of the concepts made a big impression.