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A review by a_kt
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A grandiose tale about a rag-tag penal colony on the moon getting together to revolt against big Government - whoops I meant the "Federated Nations" on Earth. All so that they can sell wheat for a fair price on the free market-whoops I mean for freedom...
Listen, Robert Heinlein is a bit of a source of internal conflict for me. This is the first work of his I've read in it's entirety, after having listened to the first 2/3 of Stranger in a Strange Land before falling off of it after it gets a little... New-wave religious on you. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a helluva ride, packed with all sorts of biting social and economic commentary, Nosferatu-esque technological predictions, and extremely poignant Government criticism. The thing is though..... I don't really... Agree with most of it??
The actual plot of Moon is lacking. The plot revolves around all of the main characters of the book, sorry - main *male* characters of the book discussing why laws are useless, why taxation is theft, why self-reliance is the only true way of life, why government oversight is just a fancy term for blatant corruption, and so on and so forth. It's basically every Facebook talking point your libertarian uncle who is obsessed with Penn and Teller loves anthropomorphized and made into a moon-crimin-revolutionary.
Meanwhile all the *female* characters in the book are very busy... Erm *checks notes*... Being beautiful, ethnically ambiguous, sassy, stubborn yet ignorant props to be talked about by the men. Seriously. One of the main three progenitors of the moon revolution is a woman named Wyoming, who is introduced to the reader by giving an impassioned speech about free will and the need to fight against tyranny, she then spends the entire rest of the book... Just kind of... Being around?? Oh yeah, did I mention this book makes *liberal* use of child brides as a plot point and tries to make it seem like a normal and good thing?????
Parts of this book are baffling. The social commentary is so dated and ham-fisted yet it pats itself on the back *so hard*, it makes the Earth-based government look so unapologetically bad while the main character nonchalantly makes the moon seem like a lawless utopia. There is literally not a shred of nuance to be found anywhere in this book.
All of that being said, I did finish it. So there are parts of this book I did enjoy. I see a lot of people complaining about the strange dialect the main character narrates in, but honestly I found that to be one of most endearing parts of it. The inclusion of the sentient super computer, Mike, was probably the most interesting aspect of the plot, but sadly Mike is only really around for the first and last bits of the book. He is introduced as this interesting (and humorous) concept, and ends up becoming the glue the keeps the revolution together. I liked Mike. I liked some of Mannie's witticisms.
I'd say if you're interested in reading this book, do yourself a favor and read Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed first (or instead of) to get a much more well thought out description of a real anarchist utopia in contrast with a late-stage capitalist society.
Listen, Robert Heinlein is a bit of a source of internal conflict for me. This is the first work of his I've read in it's entirety, after having listened to the first 2/3 of Stranger in a Strange Land before falling off of it after it gets a little... New-wave religious on you. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a helluva ride, packed with all sorts of biting social and economic commentary, Nosferatu-esque technological predictions, and extremely poignant Government criticism. The thing is though..... I don't really... Agree with most of it??
The actual plot of Moon is lacking. The plot revolves around all of the main characters of the book, sorry - main *male* characters of the book discussing why laws are useless, why taxation is theft, why self-reliance is the only true way of life, why government oversight is just a fancy term for blatant corruption, and so on and so forth. It's basically every Facebook talking point your libertarian uncle who is obsessed with Penn and Teller loves anthropomorphized and made into a moon-crimin-revolutionary.
Meanwhile all the *female* characters in the book are very busy... Erm *checks notes*... Being beautiful, ethnically ambiguous, sassy, stubborn yet ignorant props to be talked about by the men. Seriously. One of the main three progenitors of the moon revolution is a woman named Wyoming, who is introduced to the reader by giving an impassioned speech about free will and the need to fight against tyranny, she then spends the entire rest of the book... Just kind of... Being around?? Oh yeah, did I mention this book makes *liberal* use of child brides as a plot point and tries to make it seem like a normal and good thing?????
Parts of this book are baffling. The social commentary is so dated and ham-fisted yet it pats itself on the back *so hard*, it makes the Earth-based government look so unapologetically bad while the main character nonchalantly makes the moon seem like a lawless utopia. There is literally not a shred of nuance to be found anywhere in this book.
All of that being said, I did finish it. So there are parts of this book I did enjoy. I see a lot of people complaining about the strange dialect the main character narrates in, but honestly I found that to be one of most endearing parts of it. The inclusion of the sentient super computer, Mike, was probably the most interesting aspect of the plot, but sadly Mike is only really around for the first and last bits of the book. He is introduced as this interesting (and humorous) concept, and ends up becoming the glue the keeps the revolution together. I liked Mike. I liked some of Mannie's witticisms.
I'd say if you're interested in reading this book, do yourself a favor and read Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed first (or instead of) to get a much more well thought out description of a real anarchist utopia in contrast with a late-stage capitalist society.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexism
Moderate: Colonisation and Classism