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captainjaq 's review for:
Farmer in the Sky
by Robert A. Heinlein
In my ongoing quest to read all the Heinlein juveniles I’ve neglected, here’s the latest. Farmer in the Sky is the tale of Bill, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout who decides to emigrate to Ganymede. Now, it’s not quite that simple, it never really is, is it, and there are a number of obstacles and interruptions as Bill and family (dad, step mom and step sister) try to adjust to what is basically a frontier lifestyle on one of the moons of an outer planet.
It’s not a bad book, but certainly not one of my favorites. One of the things which got to me was the rampant sexism. I know this book was published in 1950 (after being serialized in Boy’s Life, the Boy Scout Magazine, earlier in the year) but when the step mom abandons her sick daughter because “a wife’s place is with her husband.” rubs me the wrong way. Even in 1950, in a book written for adolescent boys, this strikes me as a bad message to send.
That aside, though, the story is fun and full of adventure, but Bill vacillates between wanting to leave and wanting to stay so much you have no idea what’s going to happen in the end – and it seems to come from nowhere in terms of character development. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but probably won’t be revisiting it any time soon.
Full review here: https://captainjaq.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/review-kellers-fedora-and-others/
It’s not a bad book, but certainly not one of my favorites. One of the things which got to me was the rampant sexism. I know this book was published in 1950 (after being serialized in Boy’s Life, the Boy Scout Magazine, earlier in the year) but when the step mom abandons her sick daughter because “a wife’s place is with her husband.” rubs me the wrong way. Even in 1950, in a book written for adolescent boys, this strikes me as a bad message to send.
That aside, though, the story is fun and full of adventure, but Bill vacillates between wanting to leave and wanting to stay so much you have no idea what’s going to happen in the end – and it seems to come from nowhere in terms of character development. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but probably won’t be revisiting it any time soon.
Full review here: https://captainjaq.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/review-kellers-fedora-and-others/