Helpful Score: 1
As an exceedingly brief summary, this is the story of a brain transplant and the dual-sexed multiple personality that results from it.
I read this book the first time when I was about 15 or 16, I think, and it really hasn't stood up to my growth as an adult. I remember being especially thrilled by the idea of bodypaint that couldn't be distinguished from clothing, but in these days of the internet, that's hardly the unique idea it was to a testosterone-flooded teenager of 25 years ago.
Today, this book isn't about bodypaint, it's about Heinlein's man/woman stereotypes thrust into your face. There's not much more than dialogue in this book, and so there's no relief in plot exposition or anything else. There's just a constant back-and-forth inside the main character's head about how women and men should spend their time seeking pleasures of the flesh. Now, in normal circumstances, I think this is a great idea---pleasures of the flesh are quite pleasing, after all---but there's so much sexist baggage piled on top here that it often left an icky taste in my mouth.
Not one of Heinlein's best. 3/5.
I read this book the first time when I was about 15 or 16, I think, and it really hasn't stood up to my growth as an adult. I remember being especially thrilled by the idea of bodypaint that couldn't be distinguished from clothing, but in these days of the internet, that's hardly the unique idea it was to a testosterone-flooded teenager of 25 years ago.
Today, this book isn't about bodypaint, it's about Heinlein's man/woman stereotypes thrust into your face. There's not much more than dialogue in this book, and so there's no relief in plot exposition or anything else. There's just a constant back-and-forth inside the main character's head about how women and men should spend their time seeking pleasures of the flesh. Now, in normal circumstances, I think this is a great idea---pleasures of the flesh are quite pleasing, after all---but there's so much sexist baggage piled on top here that it often left an icky taste in my mouth.
Not one of Heinlein's best. 3/5.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a book that really explores what it means to love, and defines love in such an expansive way that I can't help wishing that real people were more like the ones in the book. This central theme is set against a backdrop of a world where violence and decay have taken hold, a stark contrast. Heinlein wrote this in the sixties and set it in the 90's and it's a bit of a shock to think that this was his expectation for how our society would develop (and thankfully hasn't!) There is a ton of social commentary in this book if you stop to think about it. This would be a great book for a discussion group.
