“Here, by the grace of God and an inside straight, we have a personality untouched by the psychotic taboos of our tribe–and you want to turn him into a carbon copy of every fourth-rate conformist in this frightened land! Why don’t you go whole hog? Get him a briefcase and make him carry it wherever he goes–make him feel shame if he doesn’t have it.”
This uncut version of Robert A. Heinlein's sci-fi novel is absorbing, if a victim of its own sprawl. Published in 1961, "Stranger in a Strange Land" is certainly a product of its time in its approach to religion, sexuality, and politics, but manages to challenge societal norms and conventions along the way.
“A confidence man knows that he’s lying; that limits his scope. But a successful shaman ropes himself first; he believes what he says – and such belief is contagious; there is no limit to his scope.”
Valentine Michael Smith is a human born and raised in a Martian community, and his arrival on Earth triggers a series of planet-defining events. As he connects with the hilarious Jubal Harshaw and a community of outsiders, Smith begins to "grok" the ways of humanity and naively point out the uncountable number of hypocrisies and inanities.
“He did not expect reasonable conduct from human beings; he considered most people fit candidates for protective restraint and wet packs.”
The novel begins to feel like simply a vehicle for Heinlein to question our underpinning beliefs in the guise of describing Earth to a newcomer, with the story losing steam as it devolves into commentary. A series of grammatical errors and bizarre punctuation can also slow the reader down at key moments, and the Ben-Jill dynamic got short shrift and deserved more airtime.
“He’s as weird as a snake's suspenders but sweet as a stolen kiss, too.”
Reporting indicates that Heinlein delayed the publication of "Stranger In A Strange Land" until he felt the culture had evolved enough to accept it, though it was later excluded from school reading lists. The author makes a number of bold plot choices that may bog down and confuse some readers, but the end product is a thought-provoking and worthwhile read.
“There was one field in which man was unsurpassed; he showed unlimited ingenuity in devising bigger and more efficient ways to kill off, enslave, harass, and in all ways make an unbearable nuisance of himself to himself. Man was his own grimmest joke on himself.”
