Friday

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: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Some of you don't get it
Review: This is a great story. Sure it meanders along and never really ends itself...but it is more REAL than some of Heinlein's stories. How often in real life do you have adventures with beginnings, middles, and ends? Not often. We go through life walking in circles, with never a pre-determined end goal. So what if this book never reaches a proper conclusion, it makes it that much more real. Don't forget also, the "message" of this book is partially about bigotry, but also about the collapse of society in general. And when society falls down, all rules are changed. Look at how different the ending is to the beginning. In addition, if you think that Friday is only about sex...notice how little of it she ever actually gets? No wonder she's always [hot]. This book also contains some of the best quotes (Dr. Baldwin's quotes on religion). The primal message of this book is different from his others: when society goes down the crapper, dont fight it, or fight for the future, just run away and let it fall. This book should not be compared to other Heinlein books, not because it is inferior, but because it presents a different kind of story, in a different way, and is a great STORY as opposed to a lecture like some of his.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: I remember telling my grandfather that I was reading this book and seeing him flinch. "Heinlein's a good writer, but he's written some bombs and unfortunately you picked up one of his worst." This book was a chore to get through. Heinlein can't write women - even if they're artificial. The treatment of the rape is insulting. Not only does she feel totally fine about it (even marrying one of her rapists later) but then she cries when she gets lost in the woods or when she BURNED POTATOES. At that point I threw the novel around the room a few times and swore not to read anymore, but it was about 200 pages in, so...

Some might say that her reaction is fine because she's written by a man (which is absolutely ridiculous, plenty of men can write women - at least better portaits than this) or not a real human. But then why does the book INSIST INSIST INSIST that she's just like everyone else. Then why doesn't she ACT like it?

Some have argued that this is an adventure book but all of her doings profoundly bored me. There were some nice speeches on racism, but a lot of people have done it a lot better. Also, the supposedly most "influential" part of this book - the idea of America split into Balkanized states - was barely covered. After reading it I couldn't even tell how the different parts of America were so different. (Although the California section was somewhat amusing). I will say that the amount of sex in this book is greatly exaggerated. There really is very little.

I haven't read anything else of Heinlein. I'm open to the fact that he may be a good writer, but this book ranks as one of the worst things I've ever read. Annoying main character, boring adventures, and a world only half-focused. Thumbs way down.