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.
This is one of Heinlein strangest. Written when he was at the end of his life and edited by his wife, it makes me wonder what it would have been like had he lived long enough to make his own changes... Published in 1973, it amazes me that it wasn't banned.
Johann Sebastian Bach Smith is very old, very rich, very stubborn - and caught in the medical straight-jacket of extensive life support. So he conceives of having his brain transplanted - whether the operation is successful or not, he'll at least escape the straight-jacket. So far, an idea done many times before. Now Heinlein adds his own touch, as the 'donor' body turns out to be that of his young, extremely beautiful secretary, Eunice Branca, who was mugged and murdered. When Johann wakes up after the operation, he finds Eunice there in his head, ready to help him adjust to the new world of being very much a female. Is Eunice real, a product of 'body experience'? Or just a figment of Johann's imagination? Heinlein lays clues to this important question throughout the book, but you'll have to read it and make up your own mind...
Johann Sebastian Bach Smith is very old, very rich, very stubborn - and caught in the medical straight-jacket of extensive life support. So he conceives of having his brain transplanted - whether the operation is successful or not, he'll at least escape the straight-jacket. So far, an idea done many times before. Now Heinlein adds his own touch, as the 'donor' body turns out to be that of his young, extremely beautiful secretary, Eunice Branca, who was mugged and murdered. When Johann wakes up after the operation, he finds Eunice there in his head, ready to help him adjust to the new world of being very much a female. Is Eunice real, a product of 'body experience'? Or just a figment of Johann's imagination? Heinlein lays clues to this important question throughout the book, but you'll have to read it and make up your own mind...
A 500 Page Cerebral Exercise!, December 8, 2000
Reviewer: Kevin Spoering (Buffalo, Missouri United States)
A Mr. Smith is very old and not far from death, however, this Mr. Smith is extremely rich, so he pays to have his brain transferred to a young body whose previous owner died of massive brain damage. So starts this novel, with several surprises in store for the reader, which I will not mention here so as not to spoil them. There is much banter back and forth between a couple of the main characters which I found enjoyable and well done. A lot of this book, in fact most of it, explores man/women relationships, some may not like this and want a shoot-em up space opera, which this is not. This book is the near equivalent of a university course, say, Human Relations 101, expertly written. Heinlein was always great at looking at the human nature side of things. Another of my favorite authors, William Barton, also writes in a similar style and if you like these types of science fiction novels I do recommend him.
Reviewer: Kevin Spoering (Buffalo, Missouri United States)
A Mr. Smith is very old and not far from death, however, this Mr. Smith is extremely rich, so he pays to have his brain transferred to a young body whose previous owner died of massive brain damage. So starts this novel, with several surprises in store for the reader, which I will not mention here so as not to spoil them. There is much banter back and forth between a couple of the main characters which I found enjoyable and well done. A lot of this book, in fact most of it, explores man/women relationships, some may not like this and want a shoot-em up space opera, which this is not. This book is the near equivalent of a university course, say, Human Relations 101, expertly written. Heinlein was always great at looking at the human nature side of things. Another of my favorite authors, William Barton, also writes in a similar style and if you like these types of science fiction novels I do recommend him.
What happens when a rich old man finds his brain tranplanted in his secretary's body? Read on......
This book is better than Stranger In A Strange Land. Heinlein knows how to keep the action rolling and his characters are truly coming to life in this novel.
For me the unexpected is right up there with the Holy grail. I know Heinlein was deathly ill during the writing of this book, and it doesn't have the flash and polish of some of his others. Yet it stands alone among literary classics.
For me the unexpected is right up there with the Holy grail. I know Heinlein was deathly ill during the writing of this book, and it doesn't have the flash and polish of some of his others. Yet it stands alone among literary classics.
loved it 1970...loved it this week.
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.
