Time travel type: Travel to the past via machine and travel to the future via cryogenics.
Likes: Pete, the cat ... and robots.
Dislikes: All the characters except the cat ... and robots.
Points of Particular Boredom: Business talk and the hero's pompous over-confidence in himself.
Plot summary: Why bother?

In this one, Heinlein takes on time travel, and produces an original look at the subject, even for today. One of the important characters in this book is Pete, short for Petronius, who is a cat and has a cat's real personality. For that reason alone, I'll keep this book. The description of how Dan B. Davis looses everything and everyone important to him, especially including Pete and Ricky, a little girl, makes for a great story. Will he overcome his losses? This is a sci fi story with tons of engineering in it. Perfect to hand that wanna be inventor. Heinlein anticipated velcro in this book although he called it something else. This has some great characters in it. Since he time travels 30 years from the 1970s to 2000, it has inevitably become dated but it still is a good read for the reasons listed here. The book was written in the 1950s so all dates were in the future when he wrote it, even though we are past both sets of major dates. It is a decent reminder of how long ago Heinlein was at his peak and is still read.

I didn't read this book with the intention of writing a review, so you'll excuse me if I don't go into great detail. Let me just summarize "the feel" of the book...

It is not very often that I read a book that makes me smile the entire time I'm reading it; this is one of them. From the hilarious anachronisms of the 1950's Futurist to the brilliant side-kick cat, Pete. (Cat lovers will appreciate this book on a completely different level than other readers). I was laughing out loud at least once every 20 pages or so.

It is only because I read some of the other reviews for this book that I felt the need to write a review myself. After seeing that a number of reviews that charge The Door into Summer (and sometimes Heinlein himself) as being both misogynistic and perverse, I felt the need to defend it (and him).

First of all, on the complaints that Heinlein's vision of the future (from 1956, remember) is sexist, misogynistic, anti-woman, etc.:

There are not many women in this story, true enough, which may be a mark against it in and of itself. Because of this, the heinous Belle stands out as being a particularly unlikable femme-fatale. Though I would argue that, had Belle not been foiled by Dan's foray into time travel, her plot would have succeeded and she would have made a respectable villain. She was well-equipped for it: calculating, edgy, violent, and un-emotional. But because the other women in the book (Jenny Sutton, the Girl-Scout Matron, and later Ricki) are fairly minor they do little to offset the influence of Belle and rather support the 1950's housewife stereotype. And Dan Davis' engineering vision of rescuing women from the drudgery of housework is a little dated, to be sure.

However, I consider these to be the faults of a novel written in the 1950's. I always find it best to approach a book with the understanding that it is a product of the time in which it was written. If a novel breaks through the conventions of its time, great! But it would be unreasonable to expect it every time one picks up a new book. Our modern sensibilities might be offended by some archaic ideas, but out-dated notions don't necessarily devalue an otherwise good yarn. (not to mention historically important works)

It's true that science fiction often pushes boundaries: of politics, religion, war, gender, sexuality, human nature, etc. But it is not necessary. And it is certainly not necessary to push all of them at once. The Door into Summer is not a book about gender roles. It reflects opinions common to the time in which it was written, but it does not address them specifically. It cannot be said to be particularly forward thinking on the subject, but at the same time it is a passive position. Heinlein is not actively or purposefully oppressing women in this novel, but he is describing a world very similar to the one in which he lived. Which, for me, is enough that I didn't hate the novel for its faults.

Heinlein has shown in this and other novels that he is not rigid in his notions on the future of gender roles. In Starship Troopers women make the best fighter pilots because of their superior reflexes and mental dexterity. In this novel, there are suggestions that--outside of the narrative--women are fulfilling more diverse roles than we see them in. Dan Davis, when discussing the merits of his engineering robot 'Drafting Dan', admits that most women don't care much for it unless they are engineers themselves! The offhand nature of this remark is indicative that it is not an alien idea to Dan. Perhaps his housekeeping robot is more liberal-minded than we initially supposed, if it has freed women from the role of housewives to pursue their dreams outside the home. Something to consider, anyways.

With that out of the way, I wanted to talk about the so-called perversion of Dan's unconventional (temporally speaking) romance with Ricki. Many people have commented on the "disturbing" nature of the love story sub-plot. And maybe it's because I've recently read Lolita, but I really didn't feel too put out about it. I actually found Dan and Ricki's relationship kind of cute, mostly because Dan falls in love with Ricki because she understands and appreciates his cat--which Dan feels is indicative of the kind of person she is (although she is only a child). It is important to note that there are no overtly pedophilic suggestions in this book, unless the reader supplies them (I'm sure there are those who will disagree)

When it comes down to it, Dan's romantic feelings towards Ricki are not directed at her juvenile self but at the woman he imagines she will become. It is not unusual, I think, to idealize and idolize romantically (particularly after one has had ones heart broken). Ricki is the only female that Dan has ever felt any connection with, and he values her friendship. It is only after Belle betrays him that he begins to think "if only Ricki were older". Not because he fantasizes about being with a child (obviously, he wouldn't then wish she were older) but because he fantasizes about being with someone he loves and trusts.

He cannot even be said to be taking advantage of her childish crush on him. He tells Ricki to wait until she's 20 to decide if she wants to be with him (he is, and will remain, 30). Ricki has 8 sobering years to decide if she still has feelings for Dan once she is an adult, during which he can supply no pressure. Thanks to the invention of suspended animation their love is possible without being creepy!

Ok, so that's a longer rant than I intended. But there it is. Thanks for bearing with me if you got this far!

2.5 stars. Not a bad book, but not one of my favorite Heinlein stories. Still, overall it was a fast, decent read and I didn't regret having picked it up.

second read - 9 October 2004 - ***. I last read this 1957 book when I was a teenager, and 2000 was still in the future. One of the more interesting things for me now is to compare Heinlein's visions of the two futures with the two realities.

1970 - While his history was very different (There was no nuclear bombing of American cities and relocation of the capitol to Colorado, instead there was an anti-institutional response to the Vietnam War), his vision of day-to-day life was pretty accurate. But in only 13 years, technology wouldn't and didn't advance that much. We did have a huge cultural shift compared to 1957, split along generation lines - and Dan Davis would have fallen into the older generation of that divide.

2000 - Heinlein's technological vision was of extravagant labor-saving electromechanical devices, while he completely missed the home computer and all the computer applications that are so prevalent in our lives now. I thought his Drafting Dan machine was particularly quaint, as I spent most of the 1980s developing software for a computer-aided-design (CAD) system. It seems crazy now to hard-wire buttons and circuits specifically for horizontal lines, and each other thing. However, his exploration of the problems of voice pattern recognition were right on.

As an engineer, holding patents and hoping for more, I still identify strongly with Dan's running commentary on the profession. I've seen this perspective in other older Heinlein novels I've re-read as well. It's possible that all those Heinleins I read had some unconscious influence on the teenage me. As for the Ricki romance, it now seems peculiar that a girl-scout-aged Ricki would make a commitment to plan to marry an adult Dan. But then, she's not much of a character - just a prize for Dan to win at the end. Pete the cat is a better developed character!

In summary, this was an interesting re-read for me, but I don't think the book has aged very well in the 47 years since it was written.

first read - 1 April 1971 *****. As a teenager, I was fascinated by the concept of two differently aged people using the Long Sleep to emerge at ages close enough to be married.

If ever I own a Cat his name will be Pete, for short.

ყველანაირ მოლოდინს გადააჭარბა

I liked it, but it was suggested to me I shouldn't give four stars to every single book I enjoy, so here it goes for Heinlein. I really had no issues with "The Door Into Summer", and Heinlein is still one of my favorite SF masters after this.

I enjoy books that feature engineers as protagonists, and here we have one proto-geek singlehandedly inventing robotics in the 50's and failing rather spectacularly in the human relations department. Later on, there's some time travel thrown in and some cryogenics, giving us a glimpse of what the year 2000 would look like to a 1950 citizen. It's interesting to note how we surpassed some of Heinlein expectations in the field of artificial intelligence and miniaturization, and still didn't invent regenerating teeth, disposable shirts or beard removal cream. There's something very similar to velcro replacing zippers, but with a rather fancy field energy source.

Heinlein prose is clean and fast, without his sometime annoying preaching and with some quality humor, courtesy of Petronius the Arbiter. Some of his sexual liberation stuff is included, like a nudist camp or an engagement with an 11 year old, but it doesn't take a central role to the story.


[edit for spelling 2015]

An enjoyable SF story from a Grandmaster.

The novel's protagonist, Daniel B. Davis, was a precursor to Hugh Farnham and even Lazarus Long somewhat, though Long was introduced earlier in 1941's Methusaleh's Children. Actually, Davis (and others) are thinly disguised Heinlein: fiercely individualist, libertarian, technically savvy, hard working yet innovative, resourceful, wise cracking, and with a horn dog libido that would make a porn star blush.

I wonder if Door Into Summer used some of the same notes and ideas that would later surface in Time Enough for Love? Door into Summer may be classified as a transitional book between the earlier juvenile works and his middle works (his apex, his high water mark) and then to the weird, time traveling and lusty later books. I think a better reviewer than me could even make the point that Heinlein had begun his ascendancy here.

**** 2021 reread -

I've thought about this wonderful book over the years and knew that it was time for a reread. Not sure why I stopped short with a 3 star rating last time but I've upgraded to a 4 star now.

The premise for the title is that he and his cat had lived in an old farm house that had eleven doors. In the winter time he followed his cat to each, with the cat hoping to find one would open not to the cold winter landscape but rather a portal that would open to summer. This idea is repeated several times to show that one is looking for a good result, one better than even rationally hoped for.

The premise of the book is fun as well. Engineer Dan gets swindled by his fiance and business partner and so he goes on "the long sleep". In the 1970 of this world, a person can be frozen to reawaken at a later time, while investments continue to grow with compound interest. When the sleeper awakes, it will be a later, more technologically advanced time and with a bundle of cash from a well managed portfolio.

That's the idea but Bob has plenty of fun cooked up for us, including some more traditional time travel. Heinlein fans may compare this his short story "All You Zombies" and fans of Poul Anderson's time travel canon will also like this.

ძალიან იდეალური წიგნი, საბაზეც კი სასიამოვნოდ წავიკითხე; + კატის ყოლას მოგანდომებს ადამიანს

Libro entretenido que plantea el poder viajar en el tiempo de una manera muy real. Lo curioso es que el año 2000 sea el futuro. Bien escrito y narrado. Interesante.

Recomendable.

Heinlein is a standard for old sci-fi. I think I may have read this before, but the reread was still enjoyable. Until the end. I always really get a kick out of vintage sci-fi where the author makes predictions for the future. It's especially fun when some of those predictions are almost correct. Heinlein foretells debit cards, for instance, even though he describes them in a cumbersome way.

What kept me from giving this little gem the five stars I feel the writing itself actually deserves is the "Ricky" story line. That aspect gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Dan's an engineer in the 70's and has a business partner, Miles, who has a step-daughter, Frederica. "Ricky", as she is called, is only 11 and the apple of Dan's eye. Okay so far, but towards the end of the novel this becomes creepy. Miles is tricked into screwing Dan over by Dan's fiance. Long story short, Dan takes the "Cold Sleep" for thirty years and ends up waking up in 2001 penniless, despite falling asleep a millionaire.

Dan goes back in time, convinces 11 year old Ricky to take the cold sleep when she turns 21 and then leave orders for her to be woken up when Dan will wake up... in 2001. He'll be 33, or thereabouts. She does as ordered and they end up married and living happily ever after.

I felt slimy just reading it. She was 11 for cripes sake when Dan convinced her to follow this plan. I would have felt less weird about it if Dan had met Frederica in 2001 as a 41 year old woman and fallen in love with her there, but that is not what happens! He only knows her as a child! She only knows him as an 11 year old girl and she still agrees to, and follows through with, his plan. Yuck!

If you take the Ricky portion of the story out, it was really amusing. Dan has a cat, Pete, that crops up here and there and offers great comedic relief. Pete is more like a person in a small fur-suit than a cat. He has a great personality, Dan treats him like a fellow man, and he laps up ginger ale! I got such a hoot out of Pete's character. When Dan arranged it so that he and Pete get more time together I was thrilled.

The inventions described in the tale were right in line with Heinlein's appeal to me. He may not have been as accurate as Jules Verne, but he is every bit as entertaining. I just have a hard time getting over the inappropriateness of the relationship with Ricky. Heinlein had a habit of inserting the love of his life into his stories, and I'm okay with that, but in this instance I feel he just took that a little too far to be acceptable. It pulled down the rest of the story.