Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

4 reviews

spootilious's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Read: December 4, 2023
Title: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Review:

I’ve noticed with this book that people either love it or they hate it and I can definitely see why.

This novel has been recommended to me so many times in the last few years that we I finally found a moment outside of work, school, family functions, and kids I had to pick it up. I have to admit I made quick work of the novel once I started, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed in the recommendation even if I usually don’t find myself reading Science Fiction.

The plot was… decent. I didn’t hate it but I don’t believe that is what is alluring to this novel. The plot is more of a roadway for everything else in this novel. The writing is very technical, which I am not quite use to but was extremely fitting for the POV of the main character which I very much appreciated. There was also a distinct lack of emotional awareness throughout the book making it a poor pull on the reader’s heart strings but also fitting to the POV and relieved somewhat by some of the supporting characters. There were also some very large chucks of information, statistics, physics etc information that were very difficult to digest and not adding much to the story.

With all that said, the mix of cultures in both the language used and the people described is fascinating and while I have always been aware that this is a trademark of Heinlen, seeing it in action is a work of art. His ideas of what the future would look like in this scenario are intriguing and, what I believe, are the causes for this novel winning so many literary awards and having such a large following. It’s not the plots or the characters, it is the questions it forces its readers to ask.

The original ideas of how relationships unfold, like the one the main character is in, the optimistic view of women’s power in a society where they are now so very rare. The gender roles of these women these are all very intriguing.

I also had the privilege of reading this novel for the first time in 2023. Fifty-eight years after the book was written and Fifty-two years before the book is said to take place. This gave me such a strange look into the past’s possible future and an examination of our own future. Obviously, there are things that will most likely never be and things that we’ve already surpassed which makes it all that much more interesting. Asking questions like why he considered a certain tech and not another, or where did we branch away from the foundation of the technology, he was seeing progress?

This work, more than anything, asks some hard-hitting political questions, especially about America. Heinlen paints a very stereotypical America from the 60’s still present and prideful in 2075. Is America this way today? Possibly… Will it be in fifty years? Also Possible… What will that look like? What are we today?

Bottom line: I loved this book. It is a conversation started and a question poser. Two of my favorite things.

QUOTES:

“I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”

“Easier to get people to hate than to get them to love.”

TW: Child Death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gun Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical Trauma, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial Slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery Violence, War, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Incest, Infertility.

Content Warnings

zosiablue's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I read this was because it was in an episode of Black Mirror I liked and I wanted to see how it connected. It didn't, really, except they both are futuristic and take place in space.

That's OK! It's a classic and I'm mostly glad I read it. The plot was better than the delivery; Earth sends their prisoners to the moon and the moon prisoners revolt and start a war to get free. The best character is a nearly-human computer so brilliantly drawn that I felt every little blip of his fate.

But the misogyny was hard to swallow. Also the contradictory politics and cringy libertarianism. And so much of it was space opera action, which is exciting if you want it (I didn't want it). Regardless, I'm going to be thinking about that computer for a long time.

Content Warnings

belgaer's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Sucks. Only finished it because I’m reading all the winners of the Hugo for best novel. Never reading anything else by Heinlein again.

Content Warnings

speroergosum's review

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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