Reviews

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

amandasupak's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

 2.5 stars 
Named characters: 111 (This is just far too many, that’s almost a new character every 3 pages) 

I read a lot of science fiction, and in the past year I’ve been trying to dive into some of the older and critically acclaimed gems of the past. The main question I want to answer is: “If you like modern sci fi, would I also still like some of the old stuff?” This book won the Hugo award in both 1966 and 1967 (somehow, I didn’t know that was possible?). Book 1 is actually very interesting, it has a lot of world building and lots of philosophical discussions. Book 2 is fine. It’s not bad, it’s not good. Book 3 is just straight up boring and I was dying for it to end. So the answer is complicated, but probably no. Sorry, but you are going to consider me a harsh mistress after you read my review. 

Let’s start with what I knew about the book before I even picked it up:

-          Heinlein won 4 hugo awards, and this book was considered his finest work 

-          He was considered the father of hard science fiction, aka science fiction where science is the backbone of the way the plot works. 

-          He was praised for having strong female characters. Let’s just say I think this is very overstated, but compared to some other sci fi at the time like the Foundation series, this is completely true. To be fair the bar is in hell though. 

What I liked about the book:

-          There were lots of big ideas in this book. How to overthrow a government, how to recruit people to your revolution, and how to use AI to win a war. 

-          He is very progressive in introducing alternative family structures like polyamory. Because the moon was originally set up many generations ago as a prison colony, the female to male ratio is very low.  With not enough women to marry, women end up being able to pick their husband(s) when forming their family.  There is also discussion of IVF (which had not successfully been done when this book was published), and surrogacy. 

-          This book is hard sci-fi, and for the most part he does a good job. He describes the AI character and their relationship was humorous.  You can talk to it in plain language which is very reminiscent of ChatGPT, but this was written over 60 years ago! 

Neutral observations:

-          There are some funny anachronisms because it’s so old. There is no concept of internet, so in order to talk to the AI you have to call it on a phone line. There are quite a few times when there is action happening, and characters will say to each other “make sure to stay close to a phone line!” and it cracked me up. There was also this concept called “bundling” which is the word he uses for sex. After doing some research it appears this was a term used in colonial America where two teenagers would lay next to each other in bed, they would be wrapped in sacks and a wooden board placed between them. The idea was that they could spend time talking and getting to know each other at night with a little bit of privacy from their parents, but that the bundling would prevent them from banging. Hilarious! If you want to read more about this: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-awkward-17thcentury-dating-practice-that-saw-teens-get-bundled-into-bags 
 
 

And now we can round this review out with the bad: 

-          I would say the style of writing in this book is really dry and boring. A lot of this book is the opposite of “show don’t tell”. It’s written in present tense, but it sounds like you are reading his thoughts on the events in his diary after everything is already over. All of the action seems to be rushed and written like he’s remembering it from the past and now writing it down. In some ways he rushes his writing in some areas, but then he also gets way too bogged down into the details in another section. It just ends up being really boring. 

-          The main character speaks in a lunar dialect that sounded in the audiobook like broken Russian….. For. The. Entire. BOOK! God help me that was annoying as hell. Imagine 300 pages of this: “Not fastest. At Bell Labs, Bueno Aires, down Earthside, […] But matters whether you get answer in microsecond rather than millisecond as long as correct?” or this “I slowly got through skull that I was only human who bothered to visit with him.” It just feels like gears grinding in my brain. 

-          I understand Heinlein’s female characters were progressive at the time, but it still reeks of sexism to a modern reader. The main female character (Wyoming or wyma/wyoh for short) is supposed to be equal in power the main character as they are collaborators in the plot, but yet she almost never allowed to take any actions to effect the plot at all. Instead Heinlein spends a great deal of time writing about how beautiful she is, and he reminds you about it quite a lot. We also get these lines in the book: 

She was gorgeous. When she undulated down a corridor, boys followed in swarms. 
I stopped three paces away to look her up and down and whistle. 
“Wyoming was wearing black shorts and pullover--practical for travel and effective on a blonde.” 
“Wyoh, you look like slot-machine sheila waiting for action” 
[Whyoming says], "I'm not crying! I'm just frightened silly that you won't come back!" 

-          Book 3 was a slog to get to. While I know this is a hard science fiction, he spent way too much time describing the details of things that don’t matter like

explaining every target they will hit on earth and why, all like 50 of them

. He gets super bogged down into the details and forgets he has a plot to run. There was also no tension or build up to the end. When there was about 10 minutes left in the audiobook, it didn’t even feel like the ending was coming up. 

-          This book is big on ideas like how to throw out a government, but terrible with character development. 

-          The main character Manuel does a lot of shady things to help win independence, so much so that I wondered if he was any better than the last government. Here are some examples

He steals money from all over luna to fund the revolution, he rigs the election so that his men get put into congress (a lot of whom were family members), and he bombs earth and kills thousands of people. 

 

-          Manuel creates a lot of ripples in the plot by doing a lot of things, but it feels pretty flat Because it’s only written from his point of view, and none of the other characters ever tell him how they feel about his actions, you never get a sense of how his actions effect others. 

-          There are just WAY too many characters. At one point at the end of the book, a named character dies and I had no emotional reaction to it because I could not remember who the hell they were. 

-          There is a substantial number of sections in this book that are just a few characters talking back and forth at a table. It’s unusual for a modern book to do this. It basically stops all the plot and you listen to very long political conversations at a table with a few characters. 

 

jamesmarriner87's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative medium-paced

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

4.0

kealyjules's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

boxofbees's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

tylertootle's review against another edition

3.0

A fascinating read from start to finish that placed a heavier emphasis on social science fiction than I originally anticipated. The ideas Heinlein shares are unique and believable, but when you're looking for more science than social fiction, it's easy to lose interest quickly. As a result, some parts in the middle of the book came across as slow and tedious reads but were ultimately made up for by a strong ending that does a great job of engaging the reader and tying the story together.

joaniffer's review against another edition

I picked this up because I saw reviews for The Cat Who Walked Through Walls saying to read this first, but I just couldn't get through it. I don't think it's a bad book; the story-telling style (exposition as dialogue, and A LOT of it), just wasn't for me.

erikajay's review against another edition

1.0

This book had such a cool premise, but the writing was subpar. So much happens in this book, but rather than taking us through those events, most of the book is just a long list of events that happen that we’re not part of. This made for a very boring book.

I did appreciate the references to historical events.

Audio rating - 2/5 The narrator would switch in and out of an accent for one character. The voices were not consistent, which was difficult to listen to.

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

4.0

The future. The moon has been colonized. The moon is in revolt. Prescient with respects to revolutions and the transitions in government. Really well done and much better than I anticipated. Really liked this one. Was expecting a corny Starship Troopers type thing but this was way better.

mrm4games's review against another edition

The writing feels like it's written for a toddler. The sentences are way too short. The promise of a high-stakes plot to overthrow the government doesn't outweigh the writing.

filippasundgren's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Det är så fascinerande att denna bok skrevs på 60-talet och ändå lyckas vara relevant i dagens disskutioner om artificiell intelligens och hur den kan nyttjas för gott och ont. Även om begreppet ”AI” aldrig används så ställs frågan om Mike besitter ett medvetande - och många av hans handlingar talar för att han kan bilda relationer och personliga åsikter om världen kring honom. I berättelsen deriverar inte datorn från sin lojalitet, men frågan om huruvida den lika väl hade kunnat användas för ont med lite mänsklig övertalning finns alltid nära. 
Liksom artificiell intelligens diskuteras även mänsklighet och dess ramar. Jordens befolkning uppvisar svårigheter att respektera månens självständighet eftersom de ”bara är bönder och fångar”. Det står förmodligen nära med synen under 60-talet då ekonomin växte otroligt och rikedomar prioriterades över ett ärligt och lyckligt liv. Än idag så ses inte fängslade personer som delar av samhället på sina ställen i världen - även om det är självklarhet för oss i Sverige att fångar är människor i behov av rehabilitering. 
Handlingen spelar mycket på frihet och revolution. Inte konstigt kanske, jag vill minnas att de som växte upp på tiden som boken skrevs kallas för ”children of the revolution”. Många orättvisor konfronterade världsbefolkningen på den tiden och det är inte konstigt att det reflekteras i litteraturen. Teorin om att den enda vägen till frihet sker genom revolution och reform speglas starkt (shoutout Marx). Jag trodde vid många tillfällen att vi som läsare skulle vittna hur makt korrupterar individer, men jag är fortfarande osäker på om det verkligen hände så jag avstår från att utveckla den punkten.

Om man bortser från handlingen och karaktärerna finns det fortfarande mycket intressant innehåll i den här boken. Språket som används är väldigt spartanskt och snålt. Pronomen och andra termer för vem det är som uttalar sig saknas ofta. Jag misstänker att det var författarens egna teori om hur språket skulle se ut år 2077 - återstå att se antar jag. Redan idag ser vi förändringar i språket för dessa klasser, så det är antagligen inte så långt från sanningen. 
Kvinnosynen som presenteras på Luna är väldigt rolig. Inte hemskt realistisk (skulle jag misstänka) men kul att reflektera över.

Skulle jag rekommendera den här boken? Om man är intresserad av politisk teori och sci-fi: absolut! Det är ett intressant verk av sin tid. Den kommer däremot inte att erhålla en plats bland mina personliga favoriter. Känslorna som jag upplevde under bokens gång var inte tillräckligt radikala för att den ska uppnå favvostatus (även om jag blev upprörd i slutet).