I seem to be hit-or-miss with Heinlein. I have read and enjoyed Starship Troopers and The Glory Road; however I couldn't finish Job: A Comedy of Justice and was not impressed with Stranger in a Strange Land (SISL) ... It is simply NOT good Science-Fiction (even if it is a fair piece of satire).

The book is divided into five (5) parts ...

Part One [His Maculate Origin] was a good Sci-Fi plot that I actually enjoyed ... the premise being that of a lost human boy raised by non-humans (in this case Martians) along the lines of Tarzan of the Apes and The Jungle Book (which is thought to have been his original inspiration for the story). Next to nothing is actually revealed about Valentine Michael (Mike) Smith's time with his adoptive people, but the story keeps humming along with a little political intrigue and mystery. Unfortunately the plot begins to sink after this until it practically disappears by the end. The koolest concept here has to be the 'Fair Witness' characters ... A very limited version of human machine proxies that could easily be the precursor to the better developed Mentats of the Dune saga.

Part Two [His Preposterous Heritage] introduces what is arguably the true main character in the story and Heinlein's alter ego, Jubal Harshaw, who proceeds to introduce 'Mike' to all the ills of human society. This wasn't all that bad a satire actually, even when Jubal waxes on the sermon a bit too much (it had the feel of watching re-runs of "Abbott and Costello', 'I Love Lucy' or 'The Dick Van Dyke Show.') Mike really takes a back seat here so that Jubal can pontificate at will, but the humor of it all was still mildly entertaining. Presumably Jubal's female secretaries provide the strong gender examples that Heinlein is noted for ... They are also incredibly shallow and boring (or as presented in one discussion thread ... They differ by a haircut). There is absolutely NO character development for anybody except Mike from here on out; and as far a Mikey is concerned, all of his character development happens all at once as he is 'wondrously converted from Tarzan/Mogli into the next Messiah of humanity. We also get two main plot items ... The term 'grok' which became a cult classic in the late 60's and the revelation that Mike has a super power to go with his naiveté that just about blows any plot discipline out of the water for the remainder of the story.

"Thou Art G-d" saith the Man from Mars ...

The rest is a complete Grokk.

Part Three [His Eccentric Education] was an attempt to develop Mike a little further so that he learns the 'art of the con' that is apparently required to make a go of any religion. Mike needs this, because he wants to harness such shams to 'trick' humans into accepting his rather dubious views on human society (which social change has now exposed as mildly sexist and homophobic).

Part Four [His Scandalous Career] Here is where Jubal comes back on stage in order whip the reader with guilt to make it easier to accept Heinlein's free love society. That is really all that you find here. We get such gems as: "I can at least see the beauty of Mike's attempt to devise an ideal human ethic and applaud his recognition that such a code must be founded on ideal sexual behavior ..." Really? Even if accepted as true, Heinlein completely FAILS to explore this concept other then to say that it is obviously good. To support his claim, he gives us a voyeuristic look into his 'Nest' (aka Harem) where such physical contact is open, natural and without jealousy BECAUSE everyone is an equally great looking sex god following the true path to happiness. The problem? We the reader get NO insight into how Mike's disciples change their thinking. They just do ... Possibly because they now see the inherent 'rightness' of the concept once it is properly explained to them (the only instance we get of that is between Jubal and Ben Caxton and that is left unresolved at the end of the encounter).

Part Five [His Happy Destiny] After such a stinging rebuke of Christianity (specifically) earlier in the story, it seems surprising the Heinlein would so blatantly force the 'Passion of Christ' upon his protagonist here; and with very little rationale other then some need to highlight one of his more hypocritical definitions of 'grok' that includes consuming the physical body of a person in order to truly know him. Add to this a complete moral bankrupcy where it is okay to cheat, steal and kill as needed and I do not see any appeal what so ever to Heinlein's proposed utopia. Sure ... I get the fact that the story is not supposed to be realistic (it is supposed to be satire) and that it was not intended to be a guide to a practical utopia, but that just doesn't save the later half of the story from being so preachy and simpleminded that it not only obscures the "important questions" about contemporary social mores (specifically sex and religion), it actually fails to entertain with its long-winded monologs defending the 'rightness' of the title character's views on the subjects. While Heinlein may not have intended to provide convenient answers to the questions he thought he was raising, that is in fact what he did, displaying a remarkable ignorance of basic human psychology that ultimately dooms his 'social commentary' to failure.

I am delightfully surprised with Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" and the places in my mind it had taken me, placed me and left me. It is a really powerful novel; and also a very influential one as well. I can easily see how and why this novel was hip and cool to read during the so called "hippie movement" era. Which to my dismay I missed the 60's and 70's, for it was just before mine. I am very curious however, if this book is close to at all with the free lovin', peace and love ideology and attitude that supposedly many people had during this time? And if so, it somewhat gives me a better understanding of how all these people came to their belief system.
It is still radical to me; but the beliefs I have right now would be just as radical to the people in the 60's and in the 70's. I can almost grok it but not completely... maybe someday? But thou art God, and never thirst, my Brother's.

Ljudi koji kritikuju SF su oni ljudi koji pati od nedostatka, ne maste, vec osecaja za pravdu.
Autor koji sebi zada naucno fantsticnu temu i realizuje je koristeci sve alate realnog zivota ali u jednom prosirenom svetu, svetu gde se granice sire, jeste onaj covek koji ide ka napred, vizionar, naucnik, mislilac.
Ova knjiga je lako mogla biti smestena iskljucivo u primarni svet, Majkl je mogao biti dete iz nekog plemena duboko u dzungli, a ne marsovac. Radnja ove knjige je mogla biti radnja kakvog dobrog pisca realizma. Ali onaj ko ogranicava sebe i onaj ko pokusava da spiuta druge nije nista drugo do inkvizitor.
Neko kome je pravda stavljena u ruke bez dokaza o njenoj sustinskoj ispravnosti, mrtvo slovo na papiru, zakon donesen iz straha. Ovim zavrsavam svoju odbranu Naucne Fantastike i prelazim na samo delo.
Hajnlajn je mjstor, veliki pisac i jedan od oceva zanra. Ova knjiga dokaz je njegovog sirokog znanja i mogucnosti da na jednom visem nivou promislja stvari. Fantastika, politika, pravo na privatnu svojinu, sociologija, istorija, religija.... nema cime se ne sluzi, i nema sta ne sluzi njemu u ovoj knjizi. Ova knjiga je takodje dokaz da treba uzivati u procesu, u putovanju jer cilj svega i jeste ono sto radimo dok cekamo da se nesto desi. A to nesto u ovoj knjizi jeste po meni jedina slaba tacka romana, nemastovit kraj, usiljen i ocigledan nako mnogo stotina stranica GENIJALNOSTI!

Born to be different – there should be more men…or martians like Mr Valentine Michael Smith in this world. This open minded and even tempered martian raised man certainly shakes up the conventions, prejudices and orthodoxies of the earth born! It raises serious questions about gender, religion and the consumer culture. So many brilliant lines to “grok” and remember…“love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

This book is so surprisingly awful that it's concomitant fame is mind-boggling! Recommendable only as a kind of curiosity or perhaps insight into the murky vagaries of publishing and the popular will, "Stranger" is basically a free-love manifesto...with conditions. Women seem to be the most tradeable commodity, since the entire religious enterprise of the novel is predicated on wife-swapping (male homosexuality is a no-no, apparently, and skirted with elbow nudges and winks, while women having sex with each other is paraded as a galactic treasure), so it is likely a woman of any measure will find this book offensive.
So will fans of science fiction. Weirdly, it is touted as a sci-fi "classic", but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know who likes science fiction: it would be like recommending "Atlas Shrugged" to Jesus.
The only real sci-fi element is the titular idiot, a human born by accident on Mars who becomes a kind of laughable sex-messiah on Earth. Don't get me wrong: sex is awesome! But to get to the barely titillating bits, you have to endure hundreds of pages of tedious dialogue, mostly of an expositional, "philosophical" kind that'd sour any pansexual orgy and that no one would ever in their right mind engage in.
Baffling! I felt like a stranger in a strange land myself.
Let's pray for that rumored A.L.F. reboot, folks.

high expectation for this classic. kinda bored overall. yawn

Stranger is one of my favorite novels. In addition to being a gripping page-turner, it opens a lot of questions on the nature of love, family and human relationships. The characters of Mike and Jubal are among the strongest that Heinlein created, and as I think that's among his stronger talents as a writer in general, that's saying a lot.

2015: Reading this one with the kids was quite a ride. They both loved it.

n  "Un hombre por ascendencia, pero un marciano por medio ambiente"n

Esta es una de las reseñas que más me he pensado para hacer dado que esta dividido en dos partes muy bien diferenciadas, la primera transita en las connotaciones políticas y económicas que conlleva la existencia de Valentine Michael Smith, protagonista de la novela. Mientras que la segunda sección habla acerca de como Smith, tras haber estudiado a la raza humana, comienza la implementación de una "religión"en la cual combina los conocimientos y cultura marciana con la perspectiva humana de la vida.

n  "Llega un momento en la vida de cada ser humano en que debe decidir arriesgar <> en aras de una empresa dudosa. Aquellos que no aceptan el desafío simplemente son niños grandes; nunca podrán ser nada más"n

La primera parte es rápida en como avanzan los acontecimientos: cuando mencionan los días que han transcurrido te impresionas dada la cantidad de cosas que pasaron. Sí bien esta sección tal vez sería menos dinámica porque es ahí donde se lleva a cabo la presentación de los personajes, y la muestra de las bases bajo las cuáles Smith lográ entender y desarrollarse en este mundo, no sufre de eso dado que en todo momento algo está pasando pero no por ello toda la historia se siente saturada, sino que roza con convertirse en una compleja trama meramente política-

Dentro de esta sección se muestra una gran crítica al gobierno, la prensa y la manipulación de la información. Así mismo se muestra la necesidad de ser más de lo que se espera de uno. No obstante considero que lo bien que crece la trama decaé al momento de resolverse el conflicto principal de esta sección, si bien la idea es que se realice con diplomacia y sin complicaciones como lector sentí que esa última sección pecaba de ser apresurada. Sí el libro hubiera terminado ahí sin chistar pondría las cinco estrellas, esa presentación para mi fue fantástica, atrapaba, explicaba mucho sin tomarse demásiado tiempo pero sin meter el acelerador.

n  "Resulta muy difícil, casi imposible, desembarazarse de la educaciín impuesta durante los primeros años de vida"n

La segunda parte del libro es buena, de hecho tiene uno de los comienzos que más me ha gustado, con la presentación de una de las iglesias más populares del mundo en que se ubica la historia no obstante en esta sección el ritmno es completamente carente, tarda mucho en que realmente pase algo, lo cual se adereza con la voz de Smith diciendo que "aun no es el momento", pero cuando pasamos de "hay incorrección en las religiones actuales" a que realmente Smith y Jill se pongan las pilas para hacer algo. Pero cuando llegamos a este punto, a todos los sucesos que estan acarreando ya casi termina esta segunda parte. Menos dinámica pero más c0mpleja, esta segunda parte destaca por ser más liberal y polémica.

n  "El odio siempre se vende bien, pero, a base de repetirla comercialmente, la felicidad demuestra ser una mercancía más sólida"n

Con altas y bajas esta historia trata algunos de los temas más interesante se que podían tratar en los 60: monogamía, matrimonio, capitalismo, propiedad, pudor, diversiodad sexual, religión y ceremonias religiosas. Todos estos aspectos son tratados de una manera bastante fuerte sin que se pierda el objetivo o se torne ofensivo, y esta segunda parte cuenta con un final excelso, lleno de significado y completamente acorde con lo que predicó la novela durante toda esta sección.

n  "Temo a la oscuridad que avanza a buen paso; sólo temo perderte cuando ya esté muerto"n

En general la historia destaca por los conflictod que plantea, pero principalmente por el personaje principal: Valentine es carismático, inocente, agradable e inteligente, si bien muchas veces se siente acartonado o desesperante, su presencia logra hacer que el libro sea mejor.

El que sería el peor defecto de la historia es la falta de ritmo, en muchos tramos, especialmente en la segunda parte, la lectura se torna pesada, requiere ionteriorizar el porque Smith actúa como lo hace pero tiene la ventaja de que no es necesario ser erudito en los conceptos que plantea para entenderlo.

Los personajes secundarios están en general relegados a segundo plano, omitiendo a Jill que hace de la salvadora, Jubal que será el mentor, y Carxton que será quien conecte a todos con "El hombre de marte", pero incluso Jill y Carxton puedes ser iolvidados y la atenci´pon se centra en Jubal y en Valentine, que ambos vienen a representar dos lados de una misma monedad, unidos por algo más que el metal que los embroca. La interacción entre ambos es bastante personal e informativa, reflexiva y que ronda entre lo sombrío y lo cómico.

La conclusión sería que el libro es recomendado sólo si tienes interes en estos aspectos dado que muchas de las situaciones que plantea ahora ya no son desconocidas o tabu, pero en general carece de centrarse en los aspectos tecnológicos o cibernéticos que generalmentecaracterísa a la ciencia ficción.

Mars'ta doğmuş birinin dünyadaki macerasını anlatıyor temel olarak. İlk kısmı daha akıcı olan uzun bir roman. Siyasetten sanata, edebiyattan dine bir çok konuyu detaylı bir şekilde tartışmış yazar. Yazıldığı dönem itibarıyla (belki içinde olduğumuz zaman diliminde de) konuşulması sakıncalı görülen pek çok konuyu da ele almış. Din, ahlak, seks gibi konulardaki yorumları zaman zaman sıradışı, neden bazı kısımlarının sansürlendiğini anlayabiliyorsunuz. Din ve seks konusunda genel olarak izlediği açıkgörüşlülüğe rağmen diğer yorumlarda detaylı olarak açıklanmış bazı çelişkiler (tecavüzlerin onda dokuzundan kadınları sorumlu tutması, eşcinselliği kadınlar için olumlarken erkekler için kötü görmesi gibi) içeriyor.

Kitap içinde geçen sanat ve edebiyatla ilgili bir tartışma Heinlein'ın kendi eserlerine ilişkin değerlendirmesi olarak görülebilir mi?: "Ben, küçük de olsa bir sanatçıyım. Yazdığım pek çok şeyin birden fazla kez okunmaya değmeyeceğini biliyorum... hatta söyleyecek pek az şeyim olduğunu bilen, meşgul biri bir kez bile okumaz. Ama ben dürüst bir sanatçıyım çünkü doğrudan müşteriye ulaşmayı hedefleyen şeyler yazıyorum... ona ulaşmak, mümkünse acıma ve dehşetle etkilemek... ya da en azından ilginç bir fikir, gülünç bir öyküyle can sıkıntısını gidermek için. Ama asla bunları özel bir dilin içinde gizlemeye çalışmıyorum, diğer yazarlar tarafından 'teknik' ve benzeri saçmalıklar için takdir edilmek gibi bir derdim de yok. Ben, parasını ödeyen müşteri tarafından takdir edilmek istiyorum, ona ulaşabildiğim için bana para ödesin, yoksa bir şey istemem."

Definitely avoid the uncut version if you value your sanity.

A group of ten scientists are sent to Mars. The spaceship and crew lose communication with Earth. A subsequent expedition is sent out some twenty years later to rescue them.

The expedition discovers all ten original crew members are dead, but a child born out of wedlock to the Captain and a female crew member survived and was raised by the mentally enlightened Martian race and culture. The human child Michael Valentine Smith who has known nothing but the Martian language and culture is brought back to Earth as a young adult.

Our language and culture are introduced to the human being who has only known a Martian culture. The unfolding political intrigue and social adjustments are both entertaining and enlightening. Michael has an extremely high intellect and many capabilities lacking to his fellow human race.

The author allows us to view our culture and peculiarities from an intelligent human perspective who lacks the social background and biases we all grow up with.

If you enjoy understanding who we are and what makes us tick, you will enjoy this well written book and its perceptive insights.

As another reviewer noted, I was really into this book as a teen. But as the years have gone by, it's lost its sheen. Heinlein thinly veiled his political beliefs in his writing. He is indeed one of the golden age of scifi, but then again, it was a relatively small world back then where most of them knew each other. Sadly, the scifi community still has a bit of the good old boy stigma to it, but it is changing. I prefer books by Asimov, Clark and others, even though one would think I'd be attracted to some of Heinlein's military books, such as Starship Troopers. (By the way, had we forgotten to make tanks in the movie version? Armor always called the Infantry 'Crunchies').

I think it's a book to be read if you want to be up on the canon of classic science fiction (although this might be more fantasy than true scifi).