n  Qui donc se mêle de bouleverser ainsi la vie du pasteur Alex Hergensheimer alors qu'il regagne son cher Kansas après un long  voyage? Dieu ou Satan ?
Tout commence par un épisode de très païenne magie lors d'une escale en Polynésie...
Et quand il se retrouve à bord, l'honorable pasteur découvre que tout a changé, y compris lui-même : pour ses compagnons, il est Alec Graham, homme d'affaires, et pour Margrethe, la jolie stewardess, un parfait amant ! Plus dangereux encore : il se retrouve à la tête d'un million de dollars fort mal acquis.
Quant au temps  historique, là, c'est le total chamboulement. Dans quel passé... ou quel futur est-il ?
Sentant se perdre son identité et son âme, Alex s'affole, craint l'approche de quelque Armaguedon... n  n   
n  n  n    http://www.amazon.fr/Job-comedie-justice-Heinlein-Robert/dp/227722135X/n  n

This was... a weird book. It starts off strong with lots of comedic value and crazy shenanigans, so it managed to capture me right away and I thought it was fantastic. I also liked the style of writing, e.g. you never quite knew if everything was in the character's imagination or if the Rapture was real, until the last few chapters. I also liked the fact that the main character was questioning a lot of things throughout the book.

That being said, Heinlein's sexism comes through pretty strong, which is really unfortunate. The book was published in the 80s, and Heinlein is clearly a progressive man for addressing such issues as the consequences of space travel, and polyamory. But, similar to "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Time Enough for Love", Heinlein's outdated beliefs regarding women pervades the book until it becomes somewhat obnoxious, and overall detracts from an otherwise enjoyable story.

I'm a big fan of Heinlein's early stuff. I just wish he'd stuck with that. :(

REALLY disappointing. I'd heard good reviews of this book and I like religious ideas in fiction. So, I was hopeful.

The SF content wasn't impressive. Alternate universe hopping-only not very interesting hops. The visits to heaven and hell were a little interesting.

The religious content was REALLY weak. Basically, yeah, Job was treated like crap by God(indirectly, by having the Devil do the work). The original story was FAR better done. One interesting thing, because of the perspective. I don't know what religion Heinlein was, but he WASN'T a fundamentalist Christian. He used the main character to play the "Devil's Advocate" though. Also, it's strange to say the "Devil's Advocate" is the person supporting the side of fundamentalist Christianity. Overall, the book is pretty critical of Christianity, though. At least a literal/fundamentalist interpretation.

As for his characters, Heinlein's characters are pretty much the same as always. Lots of idealizing their romantic partners. Heinlein always seems like a teenager talking about "oh-so subversive" sexual practices. Well, maybe when Heinlein was a teenager, they were. But, at least he doesn't GO ON about the sexual stuff. He brings it up a lot, but stops talking about it relatively quickly. I'd say it's pretty bad if you make sex a boring subject.

I can say this was at least better than Number of the Beast and Fear No Evil. That's not saying much, though, since I'd give them the lowest rating possible.

I didn't absolutely hate this on my re-read (re-listen on audio?) at least I didn't hate it as much as the first time I read it as a teen who had little interest in religious satire. Not that I'd recommend the book to anyone who was interested in Heinlein for the first time. Heinlein should be experienced as a science fiction author - not a fantasy hack. I really hated Heinlein's other fantasy book Glory Road and didn't actually finish the meandering wank-fest. In comparison this book ticks along, though the deus-deus ex machina at the end was pretty disappointing. I suppose Alex's multi-world journey from religious bigot to religious moderate was gonna have to have lots of intervention, but in the end he gets turned into a lucky pet dog who gets his bone.

Heinlein gives full vent to his horny ways, he is really invested in having his main character have lots of guilt free sex, which is fine, if predictable. You can see why many sf authors shy away from exploring sexual mores and arrangements for fear of falling into just such an embarrassing trap. But there is also a real WTF moment where a wife suggests that her husband have sex with their daughter, continuing Heinlein's disturbing habit of making light of incest and pedophilia. (Oh, there is an explanation for who exactly these people are later in the book, but I just take that as authorial hand waving).

Funnily enough the main problem that I have with the book is that Heinlein never really convinces me that the main character Alex is the bigot, racist, and misogynist he is supposed to be at the start of the book. (Heinlein makes a point of springing all this upon the reader a good ways into the narrative, probably so he doesn't immediately alienate readers.) But the problem is that Alex sounds exactly like all Heinlein heroes (including Friday) far too reasonable, level headed and logical to be a religious nut. Heinlein has a distinctive voice which you either love or hate, but his weakness as a writer is that he can rarely vary that voice.

So let me end with my earlier review before the re-read:

Late period Heinlein. You've been warned.

I’ve not read a lot of Heinlein and mostly know him by reputation - his early work is foundational to science fiction, then in the 60s, it becomes Libertarian and polemical - but what about a latter-day cosmic satire like Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)? It concerns Alex, a character who is tested by reality shifting around him and his lady love, a sure sign of a coming Apocalypse, and a Biblical one too, despite the quantum machinations of Who or Whatever. I’m rather glad I casted Alex sympathetically, because as it turns out, he’s a holier-than-thou hypocrite, his initial world quite Puritanical. Heinlein’s aforementioned reputation haunts the book, and it would take its conclusion to know exactly what was irony and what was sincere - beyond the Born Again world view of the protagonist, there’s the casual remarks about wife-beating and - on the other end of the quantum spectrum - worlds where sex with under-age kids and incest is not just allowed, but prescribed(???). The female characters are all either well-educated sex objects or dumb shrews. Heinlein refuses to use contractions so the dialog is wooden. I hear there are references to past books, and I think I’ve clued into some of them, but can’t be sure. That’s a lot of hurdles for the modern reader - modern, even in 1984 - to clear, but the prose is clear and the mystery intriguing enough to make this science-fantasy retelling of the story of Job a page-turner. I mostly wish it had gotten to the point faster.

Storyline: 1/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 1/5

A lot has been written about Heinlein’s different writing phases. With varying numbers of periods and labels, I think that it generally goes something like this: there was his earlier years, writing for adolescents with the Juveniles, then his middle years where he produced his best and most mainstream work, and then his later years where he couldn’t be bothered to care about the mechanics of a good book and just wanted a vehicle for his ideas. Job: A Comedy of Justice unquestionably belongs in the last grouping. This is one of his iconoclast books, and I’d be alright with that had he put time into pacing the story and researching the theme he was writing on. But he didn’t. So the book hurries into strange and eventful happenings, rushing us into the weird and dramatic before the groundwork is laid. And that pace would continue, the book never waiting for the background to be developed, instead hurriedly proceeding on to the next shenanigan. And perhaps that could have been forgivable had he had something interesting to say about Job as a Biblical character or about the Christian religion. But mainly Heinlein just wanted to be contrary and blasphemous, having a little fun on his way to expressing his libertarian ideas. And those libertarian ideas were probably the best part of the book. I would have liked to have seen them put into a good story. This was not such a story.

An odd duck.

I loved this book back when I bought it (the early 80's), but this reread has me pondering. At the time, I think I enjoyed the transgressive nature of the book (a Heinlein take on fundamentalist Christianity), but this reading left me wanting a deeper examination.

While the plot lifts loosely from the plot of the book of Job, the book as a whole does not refer to the dialogues of Job. And really, the bulk of Job is the discussion between Job, his friends, and (finally) God. The plot is a stepping off point for the discussion. But Heinlein's version is mostly plot. The questions of unfairness are - for the most part - simply answered by pointing out that God is a manipulator with little compassion for his creation.

Second, our main character is a fundamentalist Christian with some frightening views on race, gender, and society in general. But, he is also a Heinlein protagonist with the flexibility and openness of mind one would expect. It's a strange confluence. It's as if the character has the correct attitudes and beliefs for his role, but a very different temperament. The emphasis on moving through parallel worlds (this book's version of the torture of Job) highlights that perhaps the beliefs and attitude are simply environment, that if you were plunged into a libertine world, you would be a libertine. But even at the end of the book, that point isn't clear.

It's fun, and the parallel worlds are interesting, but it left me thinking that so much more could be said.

Високата оценка за тази класика се подразбира. Не знам дали сама щях да избера да я чета и в какъв момент би било, но по стечение на обстоятелствата се случи сега. Нямах никакви предварителни очаквания, но ми беше представена като "много забавна, голям смях пада", което впоследствие премина в "сатирична е". Не я намирам за никак забавна, но сатирична - определено е. Първо ми се наложи да превъзмогна вътрешното си усещане, че съм пълен невежа, поради абсолютно повърхностните ми познания на Библията, историята, политическата картинка на нашия свят, физиката, историята на изобретенията (телефона, самолета, дирижабъла, компютъра, пишещата машина, бръснарското ножче и тн). Въпреки това невежа като мен схваща иронията и подигравката при умелото прехвърляне от една реалност в друга. Неизбежна беше аналогията с Марк Твен, "Писма до земята", където има нещо сходно, поднесено в друг стил и по различен начин, но не по-малко присмехулно, хитро и сатирично (та чак саркастично).
Това усещане за писател в пъти по-начетен от моя читателска милост, имах и при Тери Пратчет (особено в "Ерик"), Братя Стругацки, Хулио Кортасар (някои неща). Заради същото не посягам към класиките на Умберто Еко и към Одисей (макар да съм убедена в качеството на превода на български).
Героите са плътни, достоверни. Диалогът е жив и най-вече при него добиваме представата за брилянтния превод на български (изумена съм, браво!). Такава плътност на характерите и сходен подход в описването им ми навяват тези в "Шантарам", "Сянката на вятъра", "Изворът". Явно Хайлайн е бил вдъхновение за мнозина.
Мисля, че най-сериозният ми пропуск тук е Библията. Вероятно половината очарование на тази сатира ми убягва поради този пропуск. Общата култура не стига. Главният герой толкова много я цитира, тълкува и тн, че читателят не успява да го обори (сам за себе си). А главната героиня е достоен противник във всеки спор. На човек му се иска всички мъже да са така съобразителни спрямо грешните души на половинките си и по такъв не натрапчив начин да се опитват да ги спечелят на своя страна. Виждаме любовта от съвсем различен ъгъл.

Job: A Comedy of Justice is one of the few instances where Heinlein has stepped outside of his usual hard science fiction to the realm of fantasy. The story follows a religious protagonist and his Danish companion who lost everything and continued to lose everything in the same vein as the Book of Job. It has the typical touch of Heinlein such as strong female protagonists, satire, strong philosophical themes and mild comedy. It was a lovely book to read although some of the plot elements were quite repetitive, it seemed slow but it served important purposes in the later part of the book.

I really enjoyed the central theme of the book: Heaven is created by individuals like you. So make your own heaven in the midst of suffering.

Well, this book was a bit odd. I love the idea of the book. It's an interesting story following one Alex Hergensheimer as he is sent from world to world against his will. He is convinced it is a sign of the end times, but others are not so sure. What the book does well is discuss ideas on religion, society, government, and so on. It has some interesting points to make and makes them in a humorous way. However, what it doesn't do right is really make anything of its characters. Most of the time they are nothing more than mouthpieces to bring up different topics of discussion. Alex's entire character is he was a religious man who worked for the church, and he really, really, REALLY, loves the woman Margrethe. His religious background is used to make him a good character to bring up, discuss, and analyze subjects concerning Christianity, the Church, Protestants, and various related topics. He loves Margrethe because it gives him a goal. It feels like all character development is done for the sake of moving the plot along or for allowing the author to talk about what he wants to talk about. It's an interesting book, with interesting ideas, just not interesting characters.

In "Job: A Comedy of Justice" the protagonist, Alexander Hergensheimer, finds himself randomly drifting from one alternative universe to another. After his initial shift, he's joined by a lover, Margrethe, who knows him from her world as Alec Graham. The couple stay together through many other ill-timed world shifts, and are only separated when Hergensheimer finds himself in heaven. When faced with the question of what he's willing to do to be reunified with the woman he loves, the novel really gets interesting.

As you might have expected, the name of the book is the Biblical name "Job" (i.e. rhymes with lobe)and not "job" as in an occupation.

Each time the couple shifts, they are poor anew. That is, while geography remains the same, history and money are different from one world to the next. Hergenshiemer washes dishes because he can't engage in his trade by training, preacher, in these worlds.

Just as Dante inadvertently convinces us that the first circle of hell is preferable to heaven (who wouldn't prefer the company of Socrates and Virgil over that of Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart,) Heinlein creates an afterlife that is a good deal more complex but also more just than the Biblical version.

I recommend this lesser known Heinlein book. It's both humorous and thought-provoking.

The storyline of the book revolves around a basic premise: what if God messed with your life constantly, would you be able to stay sane?
Heinlein takes the idea of a man beset by God-created problems and takes it into the realm of alternate realities. The main character is forced to deal with the idea of reality and ultimate truth in a journey that starts somewhere in the early 1900s, and ends with Judgment Day, a visit to Heaven and Hell, and a destination at the end of the book somewhere in between (spoiler: it's Texas).
Heinlein's usually light wit and humor disappeared towards the end of the novel as he got really sucked into trying to prove the idea that all religion is created equal and that Christianity doesn't have a corner on the market of goodness.
As someone deeply religious, I wasn't offended and laughed a lot, but I also wasn't too happy with his portrayals of Jesus as a meddler and God as an ambivalent deity.