Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
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Book Reviews of Starship Troopers
Book Review: Controversy and illusion
Summary: 5 Stars
I first encountered this story in October of 1959, when the first part of a two-part serial entitled _Starship Soldier_ appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I had just turned nine, so I didn't understand what I was reading all that well -- but I really liked the cover art for the second installment, in December, which was a stunning scene of the Mobile Infantry in combat, done by Emshwiller. My main memory of it at the time was that my father didn't think I could understand what I was reading; he asked me if I could explain "genetic impoverishment" (I couldn't).
I'm not going to give a neat plot synopsis here; most of the other reviews have that.
In the nearly 48 years since then, I have re-read this book more times than any other of my favorites. I don't know why this is, and it would probably be pointless to speculate on it. The point here is that I have come to see things about this story that others might miss.
This book represents a major watershed in Heinlein's career. _ST_ was his last juvenile novel, and it marks the beginning of Heinlein being a controversial figure. This book is one of the greatest bones of contention in the history of science fiction, with people arguing mightily (and seemingly endlessly) over it, dividing themselves neatly on opposite sides of the right-left faultline. Many opinions have been given on it, almost all of them quite worthless, a point which applies to those approving of the book as well as those disapproving of it.
This is one of Heinlein's strangest books, and one of his most convoluted. One has to read it closely (or many times, anyway) to really take note of it. The story is told from the first person point of view, a point which starts to take on significance when the reader realizes that there are entirely too many casual references to drugs and hypnosis through the
text, starting with the very first paragraph.
One might consider also that nowhere else in the body of Heinlein's work does he describe a society like that of _ST_ (a limited franchise democracy, with a decidedly right-wing, law-and-order ambience, complete with floggings and hangings). If he really were advocating this, one would expect to see this type of society depicted in many of his novels -- but it isn't. This is the only one.
And, of course, it's well-known that the opinions that authors put in the mouths of their characters are not necessarily the opinions of the authors. The opinions of Johnnie Rico's mentors and authority figures are not, I think, identical with those of Heinlein himself -- but that's sort of hard to tell, because Heinlein always maintained a closed front to the world, only displaying the sides of himself that he wanted to.
The one other thing I want to say about this book is the fact that you can keep on finding things in it that you hadn't previously noticed, even after many readings (that's also true of much of his other work). I noticed a new thing just a few months ago; this has to do with Heinlein's technique of showing rather than describing, and it makes for the sort of book you can read more than once. I won't go on about that; you can look for yourself, and maybe you'll find things that I've missed.
_Starship Troopers_, is one of the absolutely essential works that someone interested in Heinlein should read. The corollary to that is that, in order to have a valid opinion on Heinlein and his work, one needs to read more of his work than one book, or even half a dozen; depending on which ones one reads, that number would be around fifteen or twenty.
This book, of course, works on a number of levels. Whatever level you want to approach it on, I highly recommend it -- just don't stop here, because all of Heinlein's work deserves attention.
Book Review: Starship Troopers as Utopia
Summary: 5 Stars
In the annals of military science fiction, one book has always stood apart in my mind as the epitome of excellence. That book is Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. A controversial book to say the least, its also one of the best coming-of-age novels that SF has to offer. It may also be one of the most storied novels in the history of our genre as well; the controversy surrounding its submission by Heinlein to Scribner's is legendary. So legendary in fact that it would be a horrible waste of time for me to go over it yet again here. But the debate over the purpose of this book has raged quietly since it was first published in 1959. Most readers take this book as an exercise in jingoistic excellence, as full of the polemic of military virtue as a book of three hundred odd pages can possibly be. One thing though that it is actually surprisingly light on, at least by today's standards, is blood and gore, which is odd for a military-themed work. The reality of war is presented well: Dead civilians, crippled infrastructure, nuclear blast craters and dead comrades are sprinkled liberally throughout the book, and topics such as terrorism and the targeting of noncombatants are presented without the amorality being questioned at all. But by far the bulk of the text is dedicated to deep discussions of what it means to be an adult, and the ways that real men and women care for society, and make decisions about the use of force as an instrument of foreign policy. Without ever sounding preachy or descending to pandering or nagging, Heinlein did an excellent job of describing exactly what that meant within the framework of a military dominated government. If you ask me this book is clearly focused on the military and sociological themes, but what the book becomes is nothing short of a utopia tale. It is definitely another one of those ambiguous utopias, but Heinlein presented a society here that chose to focus on a military way of life to avoid certain problems that crop up in a society like our own where freedom is a birthright and rights are granted before people have a chance to consider the burdens of citizenship. As it happened, after that particular course was chosen for the ship of state an interstellar war broke out, so throughout the story the military government was just doing what it was designed originally to do; make war on an enemy...[...]Book Review: Interesting experiment (look up Rodger W. Young) on the net.
Summary: 5 Stars
As with any good sci-fi the story and descriptions of the latest gadget are important; however this is just the window dressing or vehicle to carry a message or concept to you with out sounding too preachy.
Basically this book is not fascist like the movie. It suggests that people should be responsible for their actions and have a stake in what they make decisions on. Never did it say that these people were smarter or better, just that when you have a vested interest your decisions tend to work or you will pay.
I was intrigued in the process that Johnny Rico was going through in the story. The movie does not phase me as it looks like cartoon hype. But the book was too close to home. I hope my memory is flawed as I remember every one of the people types that he described. Actually I think with the volunteer Army today it is closer to the book than was Vietnam where conscripts looked on it this as slightly preferable to prison. I know that this story is not about the military but it is too real to be ignored as just the story.
You could have floored me with I found out there were no naked women in the book. Dizzy Flores must have had a great Swedish doctor. This could have been a genuine attempt to update the story; however it distracted from the original purpose.
Basically after school Johnny Rico is whisked into the military by peer pressure and to finds out if he is more than just the factory owner's son. While going through boot camp he learns of different cultures and the intricacies of military life. Naturally he makes mistakes and learns from others mistakes. As he grows he learns what make the world the way it is. I will not contrast this book with the movie because I think you enjoy the story more if you find out what happens as it unfolds.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Book Review: Best of its class
Summary: 5 Stars
First anyone who has not read this book yet should know what it is not. It is nothing, even remotely, like the movie (the director didn't even read the book!). There is not a lot of action and not a lot of character development other than the main character and narrator Juan Rico. If all you want is action you will be disappointed, although there are some good battles. If you want copious usage of technology and theoretical physics that is mostly absent as well. What you will get is a heavy dose of politics and philosophy.
The book is a radical vision of a future society and how Rico learns what duty and responsibility truly mean; the science and action are just a backdrop. In the ST universe Earth is united under one government. Politicians are elected but in order to vote or run for office you first have to serve in the military or auxiliary support. Everyone is eligible to serve, so anyone who wants to can become a citizen instead of a legal resident. The idea being that by serving, which is highly dangerous and often fatal, you have demonstrated your commitment to your society over yourself.
Rico joins the Mobile Infantry largely because he does not know what else to do. As he goes through training and combat he begins to understand lessons he was taught in his high school "History and Moral Philosophy" class. Through Rico's eyes Heinlein discusses citizenship, violence, crime and punishment, duty, communism, child rearing, military training, war, history, and entitlement. ST is a quick read, most will finish it in a day or two, but it should be read more than once since it is so dense.
When I joined the Marine Corps in '92 Starship Troopers was on the required reading list, along with Ender's Game and others. To the best of my knowledge it still is.
Warning, if you are an anti-military lefty you will not like this book.
Book Review: An amazing book, but don't expect lots of battle scenes
Summary: 5 Stars
...because there aren't. This book has very little to do with the movie of the same name, other than some of the characters have the same name (but completely different personalities, not to mention different races), and the overall idea of fighting against an alien race known as the bugs.
This book is more about philosophy, why do we fight, why a volunteer army is important, and morality. Heinlein is one of the few people to admit that our Justice system is based on the principle of people wanting vengeance against criminals who have caused pain and harm to innocents. I believe he sums this up very in one particular line which states, "While a Judge's purpose is benevolent in nature, his rewards are supposed to make the criminal suffer". It also points out the failures in our modern society. In our society, people are punished more harshly than murderers sometimes. Disgusting.
Anyway, like I said, there aren't too many battles, but the few ones there are, are pretty cool. I find myself re-reading those parts because Heinlein also gets into the idea of fighting an enemy who won't roll over and die just because you throw a million nukes at their planet. Not gona work on the bugs pal. The technology they use is also really cool, the power armor in particular.
Bottom line, read this book.