Sara's Profile

218 ratings (3.55 avg)
56 reviews

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Sara's Bookshelves

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Sara is Currently Reading

Sara is currently reading:

The House of the Seven Gables

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

bookshelves: audiobooks, currently-reading

My rating:

progress:

(51%)
— Feb 05, 2012 02:46am

Feb 02, 2012 02:57am

Sara is currently reading:

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1)

by David Weber

bookshelves: baen-free-library, currently-reading

My rating:

progress:

(10%)
— Jan 29, 2012 06:12pm

Jan 19, 2012 06:14pm

Sara gave

to:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

by Robert A. Heinlein

bookshelves: audiobooks, currently-reading

read in November, 2010

My rating:

Sara said: "So here's how it goes. At some point, someone on Earth got the brilliant idea to use the Moon as a penal colony. Problem is, if you stay there too long, permanent physiological changes occur in your body which would make a return to Earth's higher ...moreSo here's how it goes. At some point, someone on Earth got the brilliant idea to use the Moon as a penal colony. Problem is, if you stay there too long, permanent physiological changes occur in your body which would make a return to Earth's higher gravity fatal. Body won't handle the strain anymore. So the lunar colony is made up not just of convicts, but also of ex-cons who have served their sentences and the descendants of transportees. The Terran Lunar Authority pretty much treats everyone on Luna -- convicts and free -- like slaves. Revolution is brewing. Manny, a freeborn computer tech whose greatest asset is a friendship with the Authority's main computer (which incidentally no one else knows is self-aware), attends a meeting of the Lunar underground out of curiosity rather than out of any interest in the cause. And yet by the end of the evening, he finds himself helping run the new revolution.

I've "read" the book twice now, both times in audiobook format. I think I shall continue to do so in future when (note: not "if") I wish to reread it. The whole thing is written first-person from Manny's point of view, and part of that is that the narration uses Lunar dialect. The language has been compressed, with unnecessary articles and pronouns and things removed. It comes off very nicely when read aloud, but I think it might drive me slightly nuts in print. (Besides, the audio reading really is done very well.) It's a stylistic choice I can definitely get behind, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't start to get annoying.

Beyond that: It's a hell of a story. The Lunar Revolution is chronicled from one end to the other in unflinching detail. This is not a glorious uprising; in fact, that's what it's initially trying to be, at the meeting Manny attends, and that is plainly going nowhere. The revolution that happens is bloody and tragic and frustrating and expensive in more ways than one; it is, in the end, a matter of survival rather than of principle. It is won (no spoiler; the narration implies it early on) not so much through the heroic efforts of a small scrappy band of patriots as through careful planning and a healthy dose of luck. This revolution feels real.

It's Heinlein. Of course it's a hell of a story. At the same time... It's Heinlein, so of course it gets a bit preachy in places. It's the story of a real revolution; it's also the vehicle for talking about what a government should be. Luna, which initially lacks formal laws or any organized government, comes off as a sort of anarchist paradise in which everyone is civil to each other. Because when the law is in each man's own hands, sure, you can beat a man bloody and not have to worry about serving time over it, but then he can toss you out the nearest airlock too. So you skip the beating, yes? The farther the revolution goes, the more organized things get, and the more problems begin to spring up in Lunar society. Which -- fine, so that's the theme of the book, but this thematic development is underscored by many outright speeches from the characters (Prof in particular), and that's what sort of pushes it over the line for me. (And of course Heinlein also manages to slip in a speech from Manny about plural marriage and family structure, but although it's a bit preachy in the moment that particular line isn't hit as hard or as effectively here as it is in some of his other work.)

That's why I have to knock my rating down to four stars, but I'd give it four and a half if I could. There is so much to say, and I'm barely scratching the surface here. Sentient computers, the inclusion of certain bits of the American Revolution while simultaneously half-demonizing the Americans of Manny's time, the political games that get played, sheer stupid human nature (Pratchett's big red End Of The World button has good company here) contrasted with sheer brilliant human ingenuity, idealism and morality vs. practicality and necessity... There is so much here. Five stars for the storytelling, for ideas, and for overall quality -- but I've always gotta penalize for preaching at me.(less)"

progress:

(62%)
— Nov 04, 2010 06:10am

Jan 26, 2012 05:00pm · see review

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Sara's Recent Updates

Sara marked as to-read: Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee	My rating:
Feb 10, 2012 05:31pm
Sara is 51% done with The House of the Seven Gables The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne progress:	My rating:
Feb 05, 2012 02:46am · like · see status
Sara marked as to-read: Old Greek Stories by James Baldwin	My rating:
Feb 02, 2012 06:06pm
Sara is currently reading: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne	My rating:
Feb 02, 2012 02:57am
Sara added: Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly read in February, 2012	My rating:
Feb 01, 2012 05:54pm
Sara gave to: The Case of Jennie Brice by Mary Roberts Rinehart read in January, 2012	My rating:
Jan 30, 2012 05:51pm
Sara gave to: The House Of A Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson read in January, 2012	My rating:
Jan 29, 2012 02:44pm
Sara marked as to-read: The World That Couldn't Be by Clifford D. Simak	My rating:
Jan 28, 2012 04:46am
Sara marked as to-read: Empire by Clifford D. Simak	My rating:
Jan 28, 2012 04:45am
Sara gave to: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein read in November, 2010	My rating:
So here's how it goes. At some point, someone on Earth got the brilliant idea to use the Moon as a penal colony. Problem is, if you stay there too long, permanent physiological changes occur in your body which would make a return to Earth's higher ...more
Jan 26, 2012 05:00pm · see review

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