Are you tired of seeing Robert Heinlein books reviews from me yet? Well, let me apologize now, but it’s not going to stop for quite a while. You see R A Heinelein wrote a lot of books, and I am not quitting until I’ve read the last one.
Not that I haven’t been reading other stuff. I also read half of The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman, but I misplaced the copy in my home, and the jungle of books that I have, I can’t find it for the life of me. So I won’t be writing a review until i find the copy.
Meanwhile, here’s a double Heinlein treat for you:
Double Star by Robert Heinlein
I’ve said it before that Heinlein does not deal with the science of physics, but rather the science of the society and the person. Double Star deals with the latter. It’s a mind-scan of Lorenzo Smythe, an out of work actor who is hired/coerced to impersonate an out of action political figure.
Lorenzo is not your usual ham, he was trained to be a real ‘trouper’ by his now dead dad who wouldn’t have anything less than perfection from Lorenzo.
So Lorenzo might hate politics, have no respect for the policies of Bornforte and be an all-out xenophobe, yet when he begins to act like Bornforte, he becomes Bornforte. It becomes his best performance yet, and eventually he cannot distinguish his own self anymore.
The novel’s catchline says “Every stand-in dreamed of the starring role – but what actor would risk his life for the chance?”
Lorenzo risks his life and he does not lose it, but Lorenzo dies. Being Bornforte does not leave any room to be Lorenzo.
All through this book Lorenzo speaks out to you. You learn about his thoughts, motives, drives, passions, fears. It’s a most beautifully done first-person narrative, and the character is a treat. Of course Heinlein doesn’t leave politics alone either. The Martians or Venusians that humans are reluctant to award equal status to can be taken as a metaphor for a lot of things. The new District 9 is not any better at this.
Tunnel in the sky by Robert Heinlein
I am yet to be bored by Heinlein. I read Double Star within 24 hours of acquiring it and Tunnel in the sky within 18 hours of reading Double Star.
Tunnel in the sky is about Rod Walker, a teenager in a normally defunct family (now don’t ask me what that means) who is thought of not having what it takes to make it in a world which is all about adventure and seeking a life in new challenging planets.
In a high-school survival test Rod Walker is marooned on a distant planet full of unknown dangers and threatening beasts. His aim was to survive for only a week, but when the expected recall-signal fails to arrive Rod realizes he will be there forever.
The story describes how Rod survives, and helps many others also there for the test to survive. He learns to share, lead, follow, build, destroy, challenge, fight and give up. He plays his part in building a community that’s savage in their daily-routine but humane in their hearts.
He becomes the leader of that community and witnesses marriages, deaths and births. The group learns to survive major challenges and eventually reconcile themselves to their new lives, learning how to enjoy it. That’s when the rescue party arrives. But Rod doesn’t feel he can go home any more.
Civilization isn’t built in a day, and it certainly doesn’t evolve the way shown in Tunnel in the sky, but it takes people who sacrifice an innovate. The kind of people who are in this book.
The micro-society in the book is no different than a nation. Each individual can be related to a certain force working in our own society. Reading about how they work together and against each other in the book gives you a look at how our own world gets by.
This is certainly a book worth recommending though it gets a bit repetitive in the middle. You expect more action than there is. Heinlein also lets an important thread (of the planet’s extinct civilization) unexplored which is very disappointing for a reader like me.
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I’ve already ordered 2 more books from flipkart.com and they should be arriving in 2 weeks. It’s not a short wait for a book-crazy-maniac like me but I think I ought to wait cause it certainly isn’t a good idea to spend all my money in a go buying all the books at once. Let me go broke one book at a time.
Meanwhile I’ve also read bits from The Clash of Civilizations And Remaking of The World Order by Samuel Harrington but I think The Lexus and the Olive Tree was a better book on the same topic. I ought to find it and finish it.
