From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Robert A. Heinlein

Start date: August 1, 2013

Finish date: August 31, 2013

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Group Classic Discussion August, 2013
Hugo Award 1967
#34 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 po…more
[close] Group Classic Discussion August, 2013
Hugo Award 1967
#34 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#12 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Aug 31, 2011 Fungus Gnat rated it it was ok · review of another edition

In the late 21st century, the residents of the Moon, all of them criminals and other personae non gratae banished from Earth (together with their descendants), rebel against the economic servitude imposed from the mother planet. As is often the case in Heinlein’s work, the hero of the story is Heinlein himself, disguised this time as an apolitical computer mechanic who is pressed by the rush of events and his own personal affections to play a major role in the revolution. It is this character wh In the late 21st century, the residents of the Moon, all of them criminals and other personae non gratae banished from Earth (together with their descendants), rebel against the economic servitude imposed from the mother planet. As is often the case in Heinlein’s work, the hero of the story is Heinlein himself, disguised this time as an apolitical computer mechanic who is pressed by the rush of events and his own personal affections to play a major role in the revolution. It is this character who tells the story. Almost equally important, however, is his pal Mike, a sentient supercomputer who becomes a powerful ally in the struggle for freedom.

On the positive side, Heinlein creates a believable relationship between the two societies—one in which the conflict is developed and worked out in a manner satisfactorily informed by a realpolitik that seems to flow naturally out of the situation, and out of Heinlein’s cynical view of collective action. A similar cynical view drives the evolution of the rebellion—which turns out to be more the product of a manipulative clique than of any deep popular thirst for freedom. Heinlein also seems to exhibit a better grasp of the implications of the information revolution then just getting under way than do most of his contemporaries.

The pivotal narrator is a mixed bag. His cynicism is consistent, and it sometimes manifests itself in the form of an impish sense of humor; there is even an occasional touch of sweetness, and Heinlein sustains a credible Russian "accent" throughout the entire work. The character tends to grow on you, although neither his more macho side nor his sloppy side squares well with his ironic detachment. (And again, I’m not sure whether this is a complaint about the narrator or Heinlein.)

For the most part, Heinlein recognizes that the fiction in science-fiction should dominate the science. There’s plenty of science, but he also leaves a lot of his world incompletely explained and documented, much as a narrator talking to contemporaries some years after the events would do. He spares us much of the tedium of detailed explication.

But not all of it. For excess scientific detail, Heinlein substitutes excess political and organizational detail. The narrative gets seriously bogged down, particularly in the novel’s first half, with who gets what position and who votes how, speeches about the nature of a revolution, and so forth. Heinlein is a sucker for the didactic, and even when you make allowances for his apparent desire to create a definitive libertarian screed-novel and take on the mantle of an s-f Ayn Rand (“It strikes at the most basic human right, the right to bargain in a free marketplace.”), there is still plenty of the tendentious—often manifested as a tin ear for how people, including elites (journalists, for example), speak. Combine this with Heinlein’s prose style, which might be described as functional at best, and the only sense of wonder this book was bringing to me around the halfway point was marvel at anyone’s thinking this could be worth reading. Fortunately, events start moving a little in the second half, but even there, Heinlein would rather try to pump drama out of the cleverness of his computer and his “Loonies” than create any meaningful plot reversals.

Then there are the usual Heinlein sops to sentimentality—there’s no plot rut that can’t be rolled out of by having a 13-year-old boy murdered or an 18-year-old girl raped and murdered.

As I say, Heinlein gets an important part of the future right, although, like most of his colleagues, he had to think we were going to be freely winging to the Moon and setting up hugely complex colonies in the coming decades (that is, coming as of the mid-sixties). Even the info rev stuff—an empty memory bank has a 12-MB capacity, printouts are still being rendered on “computer paper.” There are no DNA tests, no GPS, and no mobile phones in this future 70 years further into the 21st century.

But of course, nobody’s going to get the future right, particularly looking out beyond a century. It’d be nice, though, just to tell a compelling story.
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Jul 19, 2020 James rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-top-100, hugo

Full of ideas, mildly problematic in it's views, this is classic Heinlein, and not a bad read. The (early established) concept of an AI running a rebellion is brilliant, as is some of the social thought experiments that are engaged in, such as line marriages. There are times when the lead character (and hence the author) becomes a tad didactic in their approach, and Heinlein's problematic (although certainly original!) approach to women also raises its head.

It has dated a little, but engages is ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Brandon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, dnf

Could not finish. I didn’t care for the writing style, characters, or the plot. I have enjoyed Heinlein in the past, but I did not enjoy the style of this one.

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