Helpful Score: 5
I KNOW I read this book when it was hot off the presses!! I can remember the brown cover, and I read it shortly after (before?) reading NUMBER OF THE BEAST. But this time round, every word was new to me!
FRIDAY is a sort of 'coming-of-age' novel, about a young woman who isn't quite what she seems, and how she comes to terms with her status in society. Of course, it wouldn't be Heinlein without political essays, highly probable inventions, cosmology, and LOTS of free love. Other than that, there really wasn't much of a plot. I was reminded of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. As Friday wandered from one vignette to the next, she seemed to come away with just a little more knowledge, and another lover or two. I would have to rate it below his earlier novels, but still worth reading.
FRIDAY is a sort of 'coming-of-age' novel, about a young woman who isn't quite what she seems, and how she comes to terms with her status in society. Of course, it wouldn't be Heinlein without political essays, highly probable inventions, cosmology, and LOTS of free love. Other than that, there really wasn't much of a plot. I was reminded of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. As Friday wandered from one vignette to the next, she seemed to come away with just a little more knowledge, and another lover or two. I would have to rate it below his earlier novels, but still worth reading.
Helpful Score: 3
I Could Fall In Love With This Gal..., January 1, 2006
Reviewer: K. David Krueger (Stayton, OR USA)
Heinlein has long been one of my favorite authors, and I was pleased that "Friday" didn't let me down.
"Friday" is an artificial person. She was bred in a laboratory from the finest genetic material available, and she works for a free-lance intelligence agency as one of their top couriers. Raised to believe she is less-than-human, Friday is constantly assaulted by "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", driven from situation to situation in an adventure that is as much a tale of her discovering her worth as a human as it is a futuristic spy thriller.
My wife takes exception to a couple of items about how "the Dean of Science Fiction" wrote his women, at least in this case. She (my better half) feels that Friday doesn't react as a real woman would to some situations... well, one in particular. Personally, I think he created a character that is interesting, often charming, professionally tough-as-nails, emotionally vulnerable, and quite lovable. And given the premise of her origins, I find I can accept how Friday behaves. (Then, I'm not a woman.)
Heinlein has created a character that the reader can not only cheer but empathise with... highly appealing on a number of levels.
I can re-read this novel every year or two and still be just as effected as the very first time. It's a story that feels like visiting an old friend. That's good writing.
Reviewer: K. David Krueger (Stayton, OR USA)
Heinlein has long been one of my favorite authors, and I was pleased that "Friday" didn't let me down.
"Friday" is an artificial person. She was bred in a laboratory from the finest genetic material available, and she works for a free-lance intelligence agency as one of their top couriers. Raised to believe she is less-than-human, Friday is constantly assaulted by "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", driven from situation to situation in an adventure that is as much a tale of her discovering her worth as a human as it is a futuristic spy thriller.
My wife takes exception to a couple of items about how "the Dean of Science Fiction" wrote his women, at least in this case. She (my better half) feels that Friday doesn't react as a real woman would to some situations... well, one in particular. Personally, I think he created a character that is interesting, often charming, professionally tough-as-nails, emotionally vulnerable, and quite lovable. And given the premise of her origins, I find I can accept how Friday behaves. (Then, I'm not a woman.)
Heinlein has created a character that the reader can not only cheer but empathise with... highly appealing on a number of levels.
I can re-read this novel every year or two and still be just as effected as the very first time. It's a story that feels like visiting an old friend. That's good writing.
Helpful Score: 2
This is about one of Heinlein's strong female characters. A good read!
Helpful Score: 2
It was a good read, I admit, kept me going through the whole book. But like most times when Heinlein tries to write a woman's inner thoughts, it comes across more as what a guy fantasizes a woman thinks about: Sex, sex, and, oh, yeah, saving the universe.
Helpful Score: 1
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Friday is a secret courier. She is employed by a man known to her only as "Boss." Operating from and over a near-future Earth, where chaos is the happy norm, she finds herself on assignment at Boss's seemingly whimsical behest. From New Zealand to Canada, she keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions to one calamity and scrape after another.
Friday is a secret courier. She is employed by a man known to her only as "Boss." Operating from and over a near-future Earth, where chaos is the happy norm, she finds herself on assignment at Boss's seemingly whimsical behest. From New Zealand to Canada, she keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions to one calamity and scrape after another.
Helpful Score: 1
Heinlein, but not at his very best. I read it some years ago and enjoyed it about 4 1/2 stars. It is interesting in the future that he concocts: the warring states of North America, artificial people, horse and buggy travel to avoid greenhouse gasses.
From the 1st three paragraphs it's classic Heinlein - enjoyably drawing you into the lead character's world, while simultaneously providing descriptive information about that world. You know it's a future Earth, and you know they have at least advanced travel technology....
Friday is a specialized courier - she can deliver whatever important messages there are and avoid detection or capture.
Her adventures during a time of turmoil, and her personal struggles to 'find and be part of a family' are really well described. Heinlein slides in a bit of sociological lecturing - Friday is an
AP, artificial person aka 'test-tube' baby who never had 'real parents' and she lives with a constant awareness of a society prejudiced against her... including her intelligence and her superior physical skills.
This one deserves to be more widely read.
Friday is a specialized courier - she can deliver whatever important messages there are and avoid detection or capture.
Her adventures during a time of turmoil, and her personal struggles to 'find and be part of a family' are really well described. Heinlein slides in a bit of sociological lecturing - Friday is an
AP, artificial person aka 'test-tube' baby who never had 'real parents' and she lives with a constant awareness of a society prejudiced against her... including her intelligence and her superior physical skills.
This one deserves to be more widely read.
I did not enjoy this as much as some of his others. This one felt R rated and the sexual promiscuity was really distracting.
Well written novel by one of the foremost science fiction writers of our time.
Fun futuristic sci-fi incorporating thoughts about computer security and Heinlein's unusual ideas about sexuality. A good read.
Engineered from the finest genes, and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. Working at Boss's whimsical behest she travels from far north to deep south, finding quick, expeditious solutions as one calamity after another threatens to explode in her face....
Not his best work but a fun read.
classic Heinlein
Friday is a superbeing. Engineered from the finest genes, and trained to be a secret courier in a future world of chaotic ferocity and intigue. She can think better, fight better and make love better than any of the normal people around her.
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
science fiction way in the future, Friday is memorable and what happens to her...
On of the best from one of the best.
Good SciFi except for Heinlein's characters always seem to be able to overcome each and every crisis.
Your standard redheaded Heinlein heroine who is superior to every man she meets but who realy wants to be submissive to a guy and have babies.
