Rating: 
Summary: Lack of Depth Sinks Story
Review: Reading through the other posted reviews of Starship Troopers, I am surprised by the high marks given, yet at the same time I'm not. Starship Troopers is a very "thin" book; much is hinted at, implied, suggested, but never fully realized. I think that this ultimaly works in the books favour as it aparently allows the reader to fill the gaps with whatever they want (hence the high ratings). As written, however, the book is hardly substantial.(BR) The background is sketchy, we never get a really good sence of how society evolved from our present system to the qusi-military state RH presents.(BR) Characterization is next to non-existent, we don't even know the narraters name until several chapters into the book and he never develops as a real person. This makes Rico very difficult to care about or take any real interst in.(BR) He serves, essentially, as a mouth-piece for the author, allowing RH to step full stage and expound his own social-political dogma (and dogma is the only word that can apply, as RH is soheavy handed in his pontifiction. This overall lack of depth and detail tends to invalidate this work as a "novel" - the plot serves as a minor device to frame RH's philisophical arguments and that's a shame; there are some really great ideas here, concepts far ahead of thier time and I'm sure astonishing to thier 1959 audience. The boot-camp sequence, perhaps the strongest in the book, rings true, bringing back to memmory my own 8 weeks of Navy boot so many years past. If RH had just reversed his approach, used the political retoric as a backdrop for the plot, Starship Troopers could indeed have become a true classic. To thoe interestd in a more intergrated military SF novel, I recomend "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
Rating: 
Summary: An unforgettable novel about values
Review: I recently reread Starship Troopers in light of several other reviews, and the promised film version. I can't agree with reviews that call it one of the finest novels ever written, but it is surely one of the finest SF novels (ranking with Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as Heinlein's best). Starship Troopers bears rereading because its core questions about duty and citizenship and personal responsibility are more important than just combat SF... but it isn't bad combat SF. One review suggested, and I agree, that ST should be read with Haldeman's Forever War, somewhat similar in theme with a different perspective. I will watch the movie, even though it seems to be brainless special effects bug-bashing
Rating: 
Summary: Prophetic picture of a multi-ethnic mono-cultural army
Review: One thing I'd like to add is that Starship Troopers offered a brilliant preview of what our Army has become in the last 15 years: a successful multiethnic institution. The soldiers in the book come from practically every society on earth. The narrator, for example, is a Tagalog-speaking Filipino named Juan Rico. As military sociologist Charles Moskos has pointed out, the reason the U.S. Army succeeds in getting people from a diverse variety of ethnic groups to work together is because it is NOT multicultural: it's monocultural. It imposes a very distinct militaristic culture upon its recruits. And it offers a unifying goal: victory. (Sports teams are similar.) This offers lessons for the rest of our society, especially our elite universities, which are having so much more trouble dealing with ethnic diversity than the military or college athletic squads.
Steve Saile
Rating:
Summary: One Great Book!
Review: Like many I read this book as a pre-teen. It fascinated me then, and after a recent reading in my thirties, it fascinated me again. The book requires little in commentary, being quite simply, enjoyable
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the plot?
Review: I kept waiting for the plot to start! Heinlein's ideas about citizenship are intriguing, but clumsily presented. There are pages and pages of exposition of these ideas by teacher characters in the book. This type of presentation is way too didactic; it bludgeons the reader over the head. I hope the movie is better
Rating:
Summary: The #1 best
Review: Ok- I read this book in the eighth grade as well (see below)and I firmly believe it to be the best book I have read to date, with"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" coming a very close second. Regardless of the lukewarm review Amazon gave it, this book probably has more "10" reviews than any other book. It would take you hours to read all these. Amazon, get someone who doesn't just skim surface content to write your reviews- this book is deeper than the Marinas Trench. This book is about a non-white boy growing up in a society where voting rights are given only to those who serve the state for a term of duty. The jobs include- soldier, space Navy, equipment testers, caterpillar-hair counters, guinea pigs, etc. The basic premise behind this is that only those who have served the country should be allowed to determine its course. The boy, whose name is Juan, joins up with the Terran Mobile Infantry at 18. These are the guys that land on planets and do the actual fighting. The 1 1/2 year boot camp training program hardens him and gets him ready to fight. There is a lot of philosophical discussion, which as far as I am concerned, is one of the best parts. I hope they keep that part in the movie. This one is definitely worth reading
Rating:
Summary: SuperTroopers (and good citizens too)
Review: I originally read Troopers when I was in eighth grade. Ihaven't looked back. I am now on my third (or forth?) paperback copy,after 20 years and just as many reads. The story of Jonny Rico and other young men (and women) coming of age in a terrible war is a classic yarn. The story opens with Johnny participating in a combat landing on a heavily defended planet. He has been given more responsibility than he has ever held before and he does his level best. Everything doesn't go as planned... The next scene finds him as a young man, trying to decide whether or not to enlist in the Federation armed forces. He could stay home, accepting his rich father's generosity, and lead a comfortable, if not politically active, life. He could, however, join up, risk his life, and earn the right to vote. The balance of the book places Johnny and his comrades in situations which are increasingly more demanding, both physically and emotionally. Johnny learns the price of the freedom, the reality of war, and the necessity for leaders to act responsibly. This book has been labeled fascist, sexist, political drivel. It is, in fact, a first class study of leadership, personal resposibility, and the value of the individual as a force for change in society. The U.S. Marine Corps knew what it was doing when it placed this book on its reading list for young leaders.
Rating:
Summary: Unexpected Depths in a Good Read
Review: This is yet another in the long string of solid reading broughtto us by Robert Heinlien. This book has enough battle scene thrillsto keep the most action loving reader happy, with enough depth and humanness to the characters to let the rest of us enjoy the book as well. Heinlien was adept at making you think about why the people were doing the things they do. There are always small commentaries about why these people are out there. He also manages to include some fair jabs of social commentary as well. His ideas about child rearing and democracy in particular seem to come out here. I really enjoyed this book, and I think that anyone from 12 to 200 will find something in there to like.
Rating:
Summary: Let's be realistic here. . . .
Review: This is not one of the classics of English or Americanliterature. This is not a book for the ages. It isn't even the bestbook Heinlein even wrote, fergoshsakes! However. . . . it isn't absolute dreck. It isn't fascistic. It won't cause you to beat your children. Robert A. Heinlein graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy during the years between the World Wars, and served for a number of years as a naval officer. He probably would have had a fairly distinguished career, and retired at least a Rear Admiral, except for the unfortunate fact that he contracted tuberculosis, and was forced to accept a medical retirement from the Navy. The Navy's loss was science fiction's gain. I mention RAH's military career deliberately; indeed, I think it's impossible to understand _Starship Troopers_ without knowing that Heinlein was a professional military man long before he became a writer. Read the book reflecting on this background. _Starship Troopers_ is the extended meditation of a professional military officer on the meaning of citizenship, and of what obligations should be required of citizens in return for the benefits of citizenship. Once one realizes this, this novel can be appreciated properly, in all its depth and richness.
Rating:
Summary: On of the first!
Review: I had Starship Troopers on reserve prior to publication andread it the day it arrived in the mail directly from thepublisher. Guess that shows how much I enjoyed Heinlien's books, having read all publihed titles up to that point, from about the age of twelve, starting with Red Planet. The fact that over 35 years later I'm still interested enough in the book to be typing this shows that I believ Heinlein is the best of all Sci-fi writers and that Starship Troopers is one of his best.
|
