| This is Robert Heinlein's first novel. He didn't do well with it, so he put it in a drawer. It was unearthed long after his death. The book has a forward by Spider Robinson that describes how the book was unearthed. It also, although a novel in theory, explores Heinlein's political, relationship, and monetary theories rather deeply. The book begins with the protagonist waking up to discover he has left early 20th century earth, and traveled through time to late 21st century earth. As this is mainly a thinly veiled attempt at Heinlein fleshing out his socio-economic theories, it does not spend a lot of time explaining the hows and whys of time travel. It also does no apologizing for some obvious flaws. What this book DOES do is give you an understanding to where Heinlein began developing the plots he would use, in his writing, for the rest of his life. It also has an afterword that goes into more detail on his monetary theories. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - very upbeat FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Time Travel: - largely forwards/future Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Time Travel story? Yes Cultural problems, alien culture Yes Culture clash- - one person from different culture of other persons Descript. of chases or violence - 0 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 10 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 80 % Intense exploration of society's culture? Yes Story largely takes place in - Distant future Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Main Adversary Identity: - none How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - almost none Setting Terrain Takes place on Earth? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death scientific jargon? (SF only) - a moderate amount of scientific explanation How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog |
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