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Friday Mass Market Paperback – July 12, 1983
- Print length357 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDel Rey
- Publication dateJuly 12, 1983
- Dimensions4.18 x 0.98 x 6.86 inches
- ISBN-10034530988X
- ISBN-13978-0345309884
- Lexile measure890L
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
--Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
He was a four-time winner of the Hugo Award for his novels Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Starship Troopers (1959), Double Star (1956), and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966). His Future History series, incorporating both short stories and novels, was first mapped out in 1941. The series charts the social, political, and technological changes shaping human society from the present through several centuries into the future.
Robert A. Heinlein’s books were among the first works of science fiction to reach bestseller status in both hardcover and paperback. he continued to work into his eighties, and his work never ceased to amaze, to entertain, and to generate controversy. By the time he died, in 1988, it was evident that he was one of the formative talents of science fiction: a writer whose unique vision, unflagging energy, and persistence, over the course of five decades, made a great impact on the American mind.
Product details
- Publisher : Del Rey (July 12, 1983)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 357 pages
- ISBN-10 : 034530988X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0345309884
- Lexile measure : 890L
- Item Weight : 6.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.18 x 0.98 x 6.86 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,036,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,934 in Genetic Engineering Science Fiction (Books)
- #12,604 in Space Operas
- #19,931 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Robert Heinlein](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/fikrpquqhtcp6hkdjvu8oj37cp._SY600_.jpg)
Robert Heinlein was an American novelist and the grand master of science fiction in the twentieth century. Often called 'the dean of science fiction writers', he is one of the most popular, influential and controversial authors of 'hard science fiction'.
Over the course of his long career he won numerous awards and wrote 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections, many of which have cemented their place in history as science fiction classics, including STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and the beloved STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the storyline rousing and hard to put down. They also find the content thought-provoking, coherent, and prescient. Readers describe the characters as wonderful. Opinions are mixed on the writing quality, with some finding it well-written and others finding typos and archaic dialogue.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline rousing, swift, and optimistic. They also say it's a good story of acceptance, great classic SF, and a fun first-person romp. Customers also describe the book as a wonderful commentary on humanity at its best and worst.
"...Friday” is an outlier, though—a fun first-person romp through a near-dystopian late 21st century Earth with an engaging, chatty protagonist straight..." Read more
"...I liked the characters, I thought the plot line was fine, but the action ran at you time and time again like a blitzing linebacker...." Read more
"...but I stuck with the book and enjoyed the rest of this thought provoking story of what it means to be human." Read more
"...The themes and situations are more timely now than ever before, the devisiness both politically and socially today stands out to over emphasize what..." Read more
Customers find the content thought-provoking, intelligent, and convoluted. They also say the book is poignant, raunchy, full of adventure, and politically interesting. Readers also say it's totally relevant today, and easy to picture many things in Friday's world.
"...A quick read, and an excellent introduction to the eccentric, wonderful mind of RAH. Highly recommended." Read more
"...The descriptions are quite breathtaking...." Read more
"...(like me) Capability and intelligence are nice, but not being a jerk is also nice...." Read more
"...I did like the heroine. She seemed introspective, observant, intelligent, and aware of herself trying to fit in...." Read more
Customers find the characters wonderful and remarkable. They also appreciate the victimization and triumph of a remarkable female.
"...a near-dystopian late 21st century Earth with an engaging, chatty protagonist straight out of the Robert Heinlein Overachieving Characters Club. “..." Read more
"...I've visited Winnipeg several times.I liked the characters, I thought the plot line was fine, but the action ran at you time and time..." Read more
"...He never fails me. He always delivers a novel with interesting characters spiced with social criticism set in wonderful places that are certainly..." Read more
"...four-star rating. Wonderful characters, great setting, and an incredible ending,Peter D. Springberg, MD, FACP" Read more
Customers find the pace of the book fast.
"I enjoyed the story an read it quite fast. This only happens if I'm hooked on any book and this certainly did hooked me...." Read more
"...Having said that, it has interesting characters, an adequately paced and we'll told plot, enough of a whiff of mystery (and even some intrigue), and..." Read more
"...The story "Friday" moves swiftly from one dramatic incident to another, providing enjoyable reading." Read more
"...It manages to move quickly and avoids most of the "preachy" aspects that some attribute to his later works." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some find it well-written and fast-paced, while others find it full of typos, wordy, and annoying to read at times. They also say the book was scanned in and not proof-read, making reading annoying at times, and spoiled by sloppy editing and archaic dialogue.
"...This was apparently a bad OCR, as there were numerous instances of misspellings and improper punctuation." Read more
"...I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Richard Chwedyk in 2021 and written by Heinlein in 1981...." Read more
"...Note: As has been mentioned, the Kindle version has numerous typos throughout...." Read more
"...HOWEVER, the Kindle version SUCKS old rotten ostrich eggs. It's FULL of typos, some of which are not difficult to figure out, but when you come..." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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I liked the characters, I thought the plot line was fine, but the action ran at you time and time again like a blitzing linebacker. Friday was the only really well developed character, the rest of the characters were fairly disposable and transient. At times it was kinda preachy on the issues of libertarianism and, somewhat shockingly, on discrimination. Anyone who claims Heinlein is racist and/or discriminatory probably hasn't read him. Friday ended up having way more sex than I was expecting. She's oddly unemotional about the rape at the beginning of the book. I've heard it said it's because she doesn't regard herself as human. I'm not sure I buy into that. She's a little tentative about kissing a woman at first, but then seems to get quite into it. None of her relationships are what someone might consider 'conventional'.
My biggest complaint was the formatting of this copy. This was apparently a bad OCR, as there were numerous instances of misspellings and improper punctuation.
The world of "Gulf" and "Friday" is way different from ours. Many things are much more advanced yet the population of Earth is significantly reduced due to constant wars and diseases. People can travel to the Moon and the stars using the beanstalks but travel locally using horses and carriages. Plus ballistic travel between the continents from place to place in 30 minutes is common. Anti-gravity devices are used but incredibly expensive. And the USA has been broken up into several nation states along with Canada and others. And there are several colonies in other star systems using huge FTL space ships, much like the old ocean liners that carried both humans and cargo.
Friday Jones Baldwin is the biological daughter of the two secret agents who died at the end of "Gulf" on Luna preventing the immolation of Earth, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Greene. Of course, Friday's genes were significantly enhanced for intelligence, strength, speed, and disease resistance. And plus some genes from Kettle Belly "Two Canes" Baldwin, her adopted father and her boss. Due to to the common saying, "her mother was a test tube, her father was a sharp knife", Friday is an artificial person with almost no rights and not a human. But nobody knows that Friday is an artificial person as Kettle Belly adopted her and created birth records for her. Unless, she tells her secret.
Friday is a combat ready courier and secret agent. Her enhanced speed, strength, and training make her a formidable courier for moving valuable materials in the dangerous world that Heinlein has built. She can kill without remorse and loves freely, way too freely. In fact, Heinlein brought his concept of group marriages to "Friday" that he wrote about in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". He even destroys a group marriage to show how easily they can break up also.
As always, Heinlein dedicated this book to his friends and this book is dedicated to thirty-one strong ladies, including Roberta Pournelle, Judy-Lynn Del Rey, Ginny (his wife), Marilyn Niven, Joan De Vinge, Catherine Sprague de Camp, etc.
Warning, both "Gulf" and "Friday" have very detailed torture scenes in them. The descriptions are quite breathtaking.
The Heinlein apologist, Hugo and Nebula award winning author Jo Walton says this about "Friday" in a 2009 review, "The worst book I love: Robert Heinlein’s Friday". She complains that there is no plot but to me, the best plot is just life.
Top reviews from other countries
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Superb. I didn't want to leave that world.
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