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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Robert A. Heinlein

Start date: November 1, 2024

Finish date: November 30, 2024

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2008 Brad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: faves, revolution, the-best, sci-fi, political, to-read-again

I’ve read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress twice in twenty years. Two decades between readings and it still holds up surprisingly well. Heinlein’s Lunar Revolution, his benevolent AI, Mycroft (aka Mike), and Professor de la Paz’s ideas for government were all exactly how I remembered them. Yet I found that my favourite part of the rereading experience was the tale it told about me.

When I read this book the first time, I was an idealistic youth who believed that change was possible and worth fightin ...more

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Nov 01, 2016 RJ - Slayer of Trolls rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nebula-hugo

It's a Sci-Fi classic celebrating it's 50-year anniversary, I get it, and I acknowledge that Heinlein clearly had a major influence on the development of the genre. As entertainment in today's world however, I found TMIAHM lacking in some areas.

First, pacing: we start off with a couple chapters that get the story moving, followed immediately by an exceedingly dull 70 page conversation between three characters (more on them later) in a hotel room, which the author uses to give us the history of It's a Sci-Fi classic celebrating it's 50-year anniversary, I get it, and I acknowledge that Heinlein clearly had a major influence on the development of the genre. As entertainment in today's world however, I found TMIAHM lacking in some areas.

First, pacing: we start off with a couple chapters that get the story moving, followed immediately by an exceedingly dull 70 page conversation between three characters (more on them later) in a hotel room, which the author uses to give us the history of the moon colony where the story is set, an overview of local "Loonie" culture, and the backstory on all three characters in addition to laying out the Lunar Revolution plot for the rest of the novel. You know a book is dull when reading George R R Martin's descriptions of meals and wardrobes begins to feel like an attractive alternative. Another lengthy dull stretch hits around the 2/3 mark until the action finally picks up in the last 80 pages or so.

Second, content: Political discussion dominates large portions of the book, and weaves less prominently through many other passages. This isn't completely out of place in a book about a political revolution, but there's always the sneaking suspicion that the author is using the text to advance some of his own political views (see, for example, the spectacularly awful Executive Orders by Tom Clancy) and indeed many other reviews have pointed this out as well. It's true that Heinlein seems like he's more interested in starting the political discussion than taking a stand, but he does tend to nudge the discussion in the direction he'd like it to go. Professor de la Paz, the Rational Anarchist, is likely based on the real-life Robert LeFevre (see Wikipedia for more) and exists in the book mostly to guide the political side of the revolution as well as to advance political discussion on various issues.

Third, female characters: Wyoming ("Wyoh") is sort of a liberated bimbo, apparently a staple of Heinlein's literature. She's the love interest, but also a strong-willed woman. Most females in the story are idealized and subjugated at the same time. Aw, heck, it was 50 years ago...It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what Heinlein was saying about women especially given societal roles and the political climate at that time, it just sort of feels unsavory in our current environment. Moving on.

Lastly, the narrative: Manny, who has one arm and a complicated ancestry, is our narrator and he narrates the entire book in broken English spiked with Lunar (Loonie) slang, often based on elements of Russian society. Certainly, this affected my enjoyment of the book - certain parts of the book were very difficult to get through because of this.

Although these issues detracted from my enjoyment of the book, it remains a monumental achievement for a variety of reasons. The Lunar revolution shares a number of parallels with the American Revolution and the Oktober Revolution, and there are plenty of other historical references as well - reading the Wikipedia page for this novel is highly recommended but beware of spoilers if you haven't read the book yet. The Lunar culture was extremely well thought out, even if it is kind of goofy in a way that only Heinlein would have written and I can only imagine how his use of Russian terms in lunar culture was received by readers at the height of the Cold War. Lunar geography is well integrated into the story also, with a lot of thought having been given to the locations of cities and settlements among actual lunar features. Heinlein projected the political situation on Earth 100+ years into the future in order to create a realistic political climate that would give rise to Earth-Moon tensions in order to make a revolution believable. And even though the narrator grated on me often as I mentioned above, his sense of humor had me laughing out loud at times - check out the Quotes section of GR for some real gems.

I admire this book much more than I enjoyed it, in the same way that I admired the achievements of the band REM in the 1980s-90s without liking any of their songs or albums enough to buy or listen to them. I don't usually write long reviews of books but this one earned the extra effort - I had several tabs open to various Wikipedia pages and other websites while I wrote this, as well as having my copy of the book open on the desk in front of me, and I still feel like I could say more. 3-star books are usually give-aways for me, but I'm keeping this one because I feel like I will re-read it someday, and I'm guessing the book will reveal even more to me then. ...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Gary Lyons rated it it was ok

Take lame political philosophy, mix ins a dash of racism, a touch of sexism, and some pretty unispired storytelling and you have The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

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