Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.

The Short of It

Plot: Michael Smith, the Man From Mars, struggles to understand Earth culture.

Page Count: 408

Award: 1962 Hugo

Worth a read: No
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Fail
Technobabble: Minimal
Review: Started out enjoying it, probably to about the halfway mark. Interesting fish-out-of-water tale. And then we went for a BA in religion with a concentration in polyamory, pedophilia, and just a whole bunch of sex - and not a lot more. Grok Count: 487 (1.2/page)

The Medium of It

Spoiler Free!

Valentine Michael Smith straddles the line between Martian and human, and for much of the book this is demonstrated beautifully. His struggles to understand human interaction, his fundamental otherness, his innocence, all come together to create a compelling main character. 

There are a number of other characters who are moderately well executed; none have depth, exactly, but they are nonetheless interesting. This does not apply to any of the women in the book. Heinlein was married three times, which is surprising - the way he writes women, I assumed he had never met one.

The plot meanders, so pacing stumbles as well, going all over the place.

I would not really advise reading this one; perhaps, because it maintains some cultural relevance, but otherwise skip it.

If you are going to get it, though, click below! I'll get a few cents, grok it?

This is the clicking spot!

The Long of It

Spoilers Ahead!

Can you grok it? I do not know that I fully do. 

We follow the re-education of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised on Mars. His initial struggles to communicate are well done; linguistic issues, concepts lost in translation, and never having interacted with women all keep him isolated. Far too relatable!

The first half - his captivity and escape from the hospital, his increasing humanity, his interactions with Jubal Harshaw - it's all well and good. We see more and more of Michael's powers; telekinesis, erasure of people and objects, localized awareness of everything that's going on. These are explored a bit too much; there are plenty of skeptics among the characters, so each power has to be displayed multiple times for it to be believed in-universe.  Those of us reading know that Michael is doing exactly as he says, so pacing in these sections drags.

The best scene in the book is the meeting with the Federation of Free States. The alien-ness of Michael comes through, and the talents of his allies are showcased well.

And then things go off the rails.

It starts innocently enough; Michael helps teach Martian to others. Before you can say, "Please Robert, not this again," Michael has created an orgy based global religion. That's the remaining 150 or so pages of text. Orgies interspersed with monologues. It's not engaging; for smut, it's pretty bland. Apparently he was a nudist and was in an open marriage, fully devoted to free love more broadly, so he was writing things consistent with his world view. 

I also feel like it's worth noting that he cares so little about his female characters that their appearances and mannerisms shift until they're effectively one person at the end.

And then there's grokking. The word "Grok" is used to mean the understand fully, on an intuitive level. It has a few other meanings, but that's what it boils down to. It shows up on average more than once a page (see math above). There are other words and phrases that come up constantly: "Thou art God" comes to mind.

What could have been a good novella is instead a laborious book.

Read the Wikipedia page on this book and call it good.

Never thirst, Stranger.

And don't forget to read a book!