Robert A. Heinlein
audio cassette | Pages: 174 pages Rating: 3.84 | 25824 Users | 748 Reviews
Declare About Books Friday
| Title | : | Friday |
| Author | : | Robert A. Heinlein |
| Book Format | : | audio cassette |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 174 pages |
| Published | : | July 1st 1987 by DH Audio (first published August 3rd 1982) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction |
Chronicle In Pursuance Of Books Friday
Robert Anson Heinlein…shame on you, sir. W…T…everwomanhating…F were you thinking when you wrote this drivel?Friday is, in my irritated opinion, the most offensive and childishly ridiculous female protagonist since Russ Meyer and Roger Corman teamed up to co-direct Planet of the Nympho Bimbos Part II: Attack of the Soapy Breast Monsters.**
** Not a real film, so don’t bother searching Amazon for it.
Pardon my soap boxing, but this is a despicable pile of misogynistic shit that should have been dropped, wiped away and flushed from the literary world before it ever plopped on the printing press. Sorry for the dysphemism, but “I really didn’t like it” just doesn’t adequately express my loathe-on for this book.
Previously, I’d read and enjoyed a handful of Robert Heinlein’s novels and many of his short stories and consider
Before I get to my major problems with the book, let me pause, slow my heart rate and give you a quick run down of the plot:
PLOT SUMMARY
Set in the future on a balkanized Earth that has splintered into a collection of rival city-states, corporate fiefdoms and criminal enclaves, Friday Baldwin is an artificial person (AP) who works as a combat courier for a mysterious employer. Her job is making deliveries and pick ups to sensitive to be entrusted to normal channels. As an AP, she is stronger, faster and supposedly more intelligent than normal humans though she hides her true nature because APs are held in contempt by society (similar to Robots in Asimov’s much better Robot novels).
Early on in the book Friday finds herself out of a job and then travels from situation to situation acting as the reader’s eyes and ears for Heinlein to share with us his vision of a dystopic future and expound on his political views.
Of the almost 400 pages in the book, there’s about 100 or so that are decent, Heinlein world building.
MY PROBLEMS WITH THIS BOOK
For all of her strength, speed and deadly fighting ability, Friday is nothing more than an insecure, bubble-headed skank who thinks that SEX is the only valuable commodity she has to offer in this world. Countless times in the book, she either sleeps with, or tells the reader she would be willing to sleep with, someone as nothing more than a courteous “thank you” for being nice.
Don’t get me wrong, sexual independence and equality…fine by me. But I got no inkling in Heinlein’s prose of sex being an uninhibited display of physicality between equals free to express themselves. Nope, didn’t see it. I saw tawdry, lowbrow objectification grounded in atavistic chauvinism rather than new age “free loveism.”
Granted, most of the sex Friday has in the book is consensual and she’s a willing participant. I say “most” because there’s an instance at the beginning of the book when Friday is kidnapped and gang-raped by 4 guys (I’m not kidding folks). Of course, Friday, for the most part, doesn’t hold a grudge against the rapists as she believes they are just “softening” her up for interrogation which she completely understands. Whoa…full stop…major HUH? Moment ahead.
Excuse me while I bang my head against the wall in frustration.
As a proud:
1. Father of two brilliant, happy and outgoing little girls,
2. Husband of a smart, confident, self-motivated woman,
3. Younger brother of two well-educated, independent sisters, and
4. Youngest son of an intelligent, successful businesswoman (and mom of 5)…
…I just wanted to bitch-slap Heinlein until I knocked the skeevy right out of him. Please don’t interpret this as some indulgent display of gender enlightenment by the PC police as I am about as opposed to militant PCness as I am about this book. Hell, the women I know can more than take care of themselves without my blundering around getting in the way. However, this book is horrible. It’s crap and I don’t want to avoid calling it what it is simply at the risk of appearing to pander.
There were dozens of instances in the book where I wanted to throw the book (with Heinlein attached) against the wall, but I’m going to mention just three of them to give you an idea of our protagonist.
1. A young man offers Friday his seat on a crowded passenger train. She accepts and then proceeds to lean forward as he stands next to her so as to allow him to look down her shirt. She does this as a gesture of thanks.
2. Friday explains her belief that it is inappropriate for her to allow someone to buy her a meal unless she is willing to give them a legitimate shot at sleeping with her. Now that’s class.
3. I don’t want to give away a spoiler so let me just tease you by saying that one of the 4 rapists from the beginning of the book reappears later in the novel and Friday’s interaction with him will cause you to fume, spit blood and hack up bile….TRUST ME ON THIS.
This is not some strong, independent woman who isn’t afraid of her sexuality and explores it with confidence and on her own terms. This is a timid, naïve woman with a massive inferiority complex who feels she “owes” a guy the opportunity of getting her into her pants because he offered her his seat on a passenger train. Are you F@#KING kidding me?
This book was a big, hairy Neanderthal of a novel with its knuckles dragging along the floor and had more in common with the soft-core porn of John Norman’s Gor novels than the previous work I’ve read by
A horrible, massive disappointment and it will be a while before I give one of his books my time. For now, Mr. Heinlein, let me just say:
Define Books Concering Friday
| Original Title: | Friday |
| ISBN: | 0886461863 (ISBN13: 9780886461867) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Friday |
| Literary Awards: | Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (1983), Nebula Award Nominee (1983), Locus Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction Novel (1983), Prometheus Award for Best Novel (1983) |
Rating About Books Friday
Ratings: 3.84 From 25824 Users | 748 ReviewsCritique About Books Friday
In short, if you like Heinlein, you're going to like this book. Politics, some action, sex, intrigue, background world-building, and the need for the true leaders of humankind to push their boundaries feature prominently in this story. Friday is the story of a young woman who is a high level courier for the mysterious Boss. As is typical in Heinlein's novels, the storyline is much more about who Friday is and why she makes the choices she makes than about what she does or the people around her.(written 5-05)Yyyyyyeah! Loved it. Heinlein sure knows how to write a good story, even if his female characters are always bi-curious sex maniacs in favor of free love with multiple partners. For an artificial person, Friday seems pretty damn human. I liked the mystery in the plot and just how bad-ass she was."I did not offer to pay the Hunters. There are human people who have very little but are rich in dignity and self-respect. Their hospitality is not for sale, nor is their charity." 178"A
I read this in high school (the cover really helps these star ratings). If I were to reread this today (which I have no desire to do), I would give it 2 stars, mostly for the ending ((view spoiler)[which reduces the eponymous Friday to a barefoot-and-pregnant housewife of one of the men who raped her in the first chapter (hide spoiler)]). Addendum (11/22/11): Upon further reflection and in light of the comments below, I'm revising my rating to 2 stars: Get past chapter one and ignore the ending
This is one of the most Heinlein books ever Heinleined. Nearly all of his tropes are here: Open relationships/shared partners, promiscuous sex being no big deal and as taboo as shaking hands, shady corporations, war, people fighting for personal freedoms, people hiding from crooked authority figures who are on their trail, noble older men, an emphasis on scholarship and learning, people getting rich by luck and/or tricky shenanigans, anti-bigot sentiments, anti-organized religion sentiments...I
I am naming this an all time favorite as it is Heinleins own response to all those misguided self-righteous 'literary critics' and college lit professors who needed a scapegoat in popular fiction for a twenty year period of time.There are reviews here at Goodreads that obviously have been written by those readers so tainted by the 'legend' of Heinlein and his misanthropic misogyny, jingoism, and racism that they fail to recognize or can only grudgingly admit there is much more else to RH and the
Not as good as Saturday._________________________________The most memorable passage in Friday occurs on page 1. I quote it here in full:This book is dedicated to Ann, Anne, Barbie, Betsy, Bubbles, Carolyn, Catherine, Dian, Diane, Eleanor, Elinor, Gay, Jeanne, Joan, Judy-Lynn, Karen, Kathleen, Marilyn, Nichelle, Patricia, Pepper, Polly, Roberta, Tamea, Rebel, Ursula, Verna, Vivian, Vonda, Yumiko, and always semper toujours! to Ginny. R.A.H.Ever since reading the book in 1982, I have wondered
A friend of mine slipped me this soft cover at my book club. He thought I would enjoy it. He was right.While the exploits of our genetically-engineered superhuman in love, sex and war are fun to read about, Heinlein's futuristic milieu's are always the front runner. The world is broken and the worst of the extremes have begun vying for power. What side would you rather be on? The fascist socialists who kill anyone with a savings account or the theocracy hell bent on removing rights from everyone
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