Rating:  Summary: My favorite Heinlein book ! Review: If you are here you already know the controversy this book causes. While this is arguably not his best work by far, it is my very favorite Heinlein book, never the less. I've read just about every book he's written and this one has the best, most entertaining story line. It is a no-brainer with a lot of action, a lot of humor and a lot of sex. And, just like ALL of his other books, it has a prejudiced and chauvanist viewpoint. Bottom line - if it causes this much argument, isn't it worth your time to read it and make up your own mind about it ?
Rating:  Summary: Great comic-book read Review: The book is a fun read with a strong female protagonist. Friday is a kind of super-star, wunderkind, genius, similar to Modesty-Blaise. The book is plot-driven action with lots of cliff-hanger. But then Friday's support team begins to shatter and the author seems to lose his way as well. The book devolves into a character study and Heinlein just cannot make it hold together. Friday becomes a person who yearns to be barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. This goes beyond the usual science fiction requirement for suspension of dis-believe and into the land of defective b-s detector. But still better than average intertainment.
Rating:  Summary: An excellent story told with typical Heinlein flair. Review: A must for anyone who appreciates Heinlein's off-beat humour. Friday is a strong, intelligent, highly skilled professional, a testament to the skill of the genetic engineers who "created" her. But she's also a lonely woman with a desperate need for acceptance - which she seldom finds among "real" humans. Her search for a place where she belongs and her battles against the prejudice of others are inspiring. A fast moving action-adventure with a sting in the tail. This book offers a scathing commentary on prejudice and glimpse of a future that may not be as far away as it seems.
Rating:  Summary: Go get it! Read it! Friday is the precursor of Aeon Flux! Review: I get *really* sick of women who say, "Gee, science fiction doesn't have enough strong women!" and when a book like Friday comes along, with a strong, strutting, active woman in it, they all retire to their Sunday punch and chew on Heinlein for "skewed sexuality." Friday is in the grand tradition of powerful female fictional characters dating from (at least) the middle ages--Nicolette, who defends a french city from the Saracens; Spenser's Britomart, the female knight; Howard's Red Sonja. Et cetera. Heinlein says more about human prejudice and incapability to see beyond social codes in this novel than he had since writing _Stranger in a Strange Land_
Rating:  Summary: Heinlein's last great standalone adventure! Review: Robert Heinlein spent the last twenty-five years of his life and career much as he spent the first twenty-five -- pushing the envelope of what Science Fiction was and could be. This ruffled a lot of feathers, as Heinlein didn't keep rewriting "Methusulah's Children" time and again, but instead experimented with the form. These experiments were most clearly seen in "Number of the Beast," "Job," and "Friday." And "Friday" leads the pack as a good read that works on deeper levels if you go to look for them.
What is "Friday" about? Well, you could say it's about the adventures of the lead character, Friday "Marjorie Baldwin" Jones, a Courier and Spy in a balkanized future that should frighten people. You could also say it's about the implications of Cloning Technology, from years before sheep replication. You could also say it's about the meaning of family and the search for belonging. And you can draw a clear allegory from it as it addresses Prejudice in all its irrational ugliness. Friday is an Artificial Person. Gene-engineered to be at the peak of humanity (and beyond). But AP's are hated. Denied of souls by the churches. With ugly myths that spring up about them.
And one of the truly great subtexts that forms in the course of "Friday" is Friday's deep seated belief in her own inferiority, even as she snorts at her oppressors. Friday's own acceptance of herself, mirrored by finding a place where she belongs and a life she likes to lead, fuels this book's spiritual core.
And, if that sounds boring to you, there's also lots of sex, violence and death. And Scientologists, Hare Krishnas and fundamentalists get involved in a three way war with Canadian Mounties caught in the middle. This has something for *everyone.
Rating:  Summary: "Friday" foretells the future of the Internet and Cloning Review: If any book can be said to be tracking steadfastly towards an accurate prediction of the future, it is Heinlein's "Friday." Written over nine years ago, it addresses the issues presented by the Internet, cloning, international companies, and may yet fortell other events in the future. It is an interesting and rewarding read, even for those who would not normally touch Science Fiction. Adventure, edge of your chair suspense, a heroine who is a role model for women and someone everyman will love, it's got it all. Put it in your basket and read it more than once. Then pass it to a friend
Rating:  Summary: Great book (a little sexist maybe, but I forgive him) Review: This book is an excellent example of Heinlein's combination of rip-roaring science fiction and social commentary. Despite his objectification of women, this is a book you can really sink your teeth into.
Rating:  Summary: Capable women coping w/a difficult world **** Review: As a friend, aunt to my daughter, or fellow rigger in any theater or concert hall or arena , Friday is an exemplary woman. Not only does she have augmented phyisical resources, but also well rounded emotional & smarts as well. Brittney can go fishing w/Friday anytime. love dad.
Rating:  Summary: Heinlein's best work troubles the soul as only great SF can. Review: Disguised as a fast-paced adventure tale, "Friday" considers
what it means to be human -- intellectually, physically, socially, & sexually -- in a morally bankrupt society. Bringing together the most thought-provoking themes that RAH
explored throughout his distinguished career, "Friday" removes
the limits on human potential ... but finds frailty still. The protagonist, Friday, drives the action through
the first-person view of the only convincing female character
that Heinlein has put on paper. The disturbing future in which
Heinlein places her is all too plausible. Heinlein's technological forecasts have always been prescient, but the sociology in most of his classics has not aged well. "Friday"
is the exception that you'll see emerging in your 21st-century online news.
Rating:  Summary: An excellent starter for the new Heinlein reader. Review: One of the difficulties in reading Heinleins works is managing the
cross-references to other Heinlein books. But "Friday"
is a great standalone book. A top-notch adventure story
with special emphasis on charater relationships (the Heinlein
specialty). Don't plan on sleeping much until you have this
one finished--it's difficult to stop turning the pages.
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