This was my first Heinlein, and it made me want to throw it across the room. It took me many years to try another one. I've gathered that they're kind of hit or miss...
I learned, after reading some other reviews, that there’s a “cut” version (the originally published version) and an “uncut” version with additional content originally edited out. Apparently I bought the “cut” version. Normally I would have been disappointed to realize this; I hate to miss out on any content. But In this case my reaction was, “You mean, there could have been *more*? Yikes, I dodged a bullet.”
I'm not sure which version I read. I just know its treatment of women as intelligent pets infuriated my twenty-one-year-old self. It did teach me the word "grok" though.
The only Heinlein I've read is The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. As I recall, it's not preachy (or if it ever got that way, it must not have irritated me) and it's heavy on more traditional hard sci-fi elements. Although I usually enjoy hard sci-fi, even when the writing isn't top-notch, I still could not get myself wrapped up in that novel. I think Heinlein's style and I just don't get along, for some indefinable reason.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is the one that people seem to speak the most favorably of, from what I’ve seen. Stranger in a Strange Land almost seemed more like fantasy than hard sci-fi, especially in the second half.
I’ve barely had any time to read the Valente book, just a few pages to see what it’s like, but I really like what I’ve read so far and the way it has stories within stories within stories. I’m hoping to have time to curl up with it for a longer reading session this evening.
I learned, after reading some other reviews, that there’s a “cut” version (the originally published version) and an “uncut” version with additional content originally edited out. Apparently I bought the “cut” version. Normally I would have been disappointed to realize this; I hate to miss out on any content. But In this case my reaction was, “You mean, there could have been *more*? Yikes, I dodged a bullet.”
Catherynne M. Valente, on the other hand...
I’ve barely had any time to read the Valente book, just a few pages to see what it’s like, but I really like what I’ve read so far and the way it has stories within stories within stories. I’m hoping to have time to curl up with it for a longer reading session this evening.