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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
This book has a great premise and interesting setting, in the then distant future 2007, but the characters and some of the dwelling on the details bogged down this sci-fi, alien invasion novel (maybe I would have liked the originally published, shorter version better). Alien parasites invade the Earth and immediately cover up their own invasion, a secret spy organization uncovers the plot, struggles to convince the powers that be in the government that it is real, fight the invaders, face a setback, and then discover the secret to victory, this basic structure had the potential for action and adventure. The authors commentary on the Soviet system and technology are interesting and some of the viewpoints can be seen as a product of the time the novel was written, but the inconsistency of the characters, and the author's preoccupation with nudism really drug the story down for me.
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
The original "body-snatchers" book; excellent read!
Oof, this pulpy sci-fi "classic" has not aged well at all. Not only is the "futuristic technology" dated (cars can fly but they still have Western Union)? but also the book is rife with sexist stereotypes. It was pretty over-the-top.
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I read this book so many times as a kid; I'm not entirely sure why I found it SO compelling, but I was probably too young to be reading it and it terrified me.
Avoid the uncut/extended version.
Heinlein needed an editor to backhand him.
Overall a fun read despite the fluff.
Other reviews have greater detail.
Heinlein needed an editor to backhand him.
Overall a fun read despite the fluff.
Other reviews have greater detail.
The Puppet Masters is, like the pre-war novels, an adult novel written for magazine publication, and may have represented an effort to break into the mainstream adult market. The magazine version, serialised in Galaxy in 1951, was heavily cut from the original, and the editor revised it again before novel publication in 1952. An uncut original was published with Virginia Heinlein’s consent in 1990. My comments are based on the uncut version.
The novel is generally considered to be Heinlein’s most extreme cautionary novel against Communism - marked by the paranoia generated by the slugs who can move in almost perfect secrecy when their hosts are careful is highly reminiscent of the fear of “communists under the bed.” Heinlein didn’t approve of McCarthy’s methods, but he did have a strong loathing for what he imagined communism to be. Anyone who attempted to curtail free though was, in his mind, a commissar, and thus an enemy of freedom. He believed that under communism no one was allowed to have their own opinions, and was as helpless as any of his ‘ridden’ characters in The Puppet Masters, unable to act as an individual.
As it is, it’s also unlike Heinlein’s other work in tone, being more horror than science fiction. As a horror novel, it is extremely uncharacteristic of his work, being lurid in many arts, and focusing on the visceral - the sense of slime, the feeling if a master when it bursts - in ways that his usual descriptions, though powerful, don’t normally display. There’s little else in this book that plays into Heinlein’s main themes of social responsibility and personal integrity, (aside from certain aspects of gender relations) just an ‘us and them’ story in which all humans should unite against the monster who could be walking next to you.
The novel is generally considered to be Heinlein’s most extreme cautionary novel against Communism - marked by the paranoia generated by the slugs who can move in almost perfect secrecy when their hosts are careful is highly reminiscent of the fear of “communists under the bed.” Heinlein didn’t approve of McCarthy’s methods, but he did have a strong loathing for what he imagined communism to be. Anyone who attempted to curtail free though was, in his mind, a commissar, and thus an enemy of freedom. He believed that under communism no one was allowed to have their own opinions, and was as helpless as any of his ‘ridden’ characters in The Puppet Masters, unable to act as an individual.
As it is, it’s also unlike Heinlein’s other work in tone, being more horror than science fiction. As a horror novel, it is extremely uncharacteristic of his work, being lurid in many arts, and focusing on the visceral - the sense of slime, the feeling if a master when it bursts - in ways that his usual descriptions, though powerful, don’t normally display. There’s little else in this book that plays into Heinlein’s main themes of social responsibility and personal integrity, (aside from certain aspects of gender relations) just an ‘us and them’ story in which all humans should unite against the monster who could be walking next to you.
"I'm a woman! Therefore the only reason I have any value is that your daddy thinks I'd make a good wife for you!"
I try to read things in the context of the time they were written, and not hold the thoughts of that time against them, but... there's a limit
I try to read things in the context of the time they were written, and not hold the thoughts of that time against them, but... there's a limit
Typical Heinlein characters with nothing new to add to body snatcher stories.
One of his more popular, non-Future History books, this is a decent read (or listen, as I did). Heinlein plays on the common human fears of alien cultures, invasion and a sudden suspension of the ability to control one's own free will. The plot has been redone many times (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc.), but none as good as Heinlein's original.
Classic golden age SF. A good story, executed well.
Some of the relationships and dialogue are quaintly archaic... such as the unconscious cultural misogyny, but there are also progressive attitudes, notably towards race.
Obviously written to take advantage of the (at the time) sudden wave of UFO sightings, and current thinking in that direction.
The technology is impressive, though. While there are retrospectively strange omissions such as a global information/communication network, but then there are smart phones that fit in a pocket, and implants,which are surprisingly prescient for a book nearly 60 years old.
Some of the relationships and dialogue are quaintly archaic... such as the unconscious cultural misogyny, but there are also progressive attitudes, notably towards race.
Obviously written to take advantage of the (at the time) sudden wave of UFO sightings, and current thinking in that direction.
The technology is impressive, though. While there are retrospectively strange omissions such as a global information/communication network, but then there are smart phones that fit in a pocket, and implants,which are surprisingly prescient for a book nearly 60 years old.