My second Heinlein book and it was too much like the first (Starship Trooper, which I liked). Sadly, this book does not hold up to its counterpart, despite also relying on the journaling writing technique. The whole premise was weak, closely related to Gataga, altogether unclear what the big deal was in this case.
Will give Heinlein two more reads, but I am worried that he will not be one of my science-fiction authors. ( )

Emancipace ženských hrdinek v žánru fantasy a SF je záležitostí teprve posledních let – R. E. Heinlein se do ní však pustil plnou vervou již před více než 25 roky. Friday je profesně zcela sebevědomá, špičková tajná agentka se specializací bojový kurýr, což znamená, že musí být schopná dopravit zásilku odkudkoli kamkoli. A to žije ve světě, kde je Severní Amerika rozdrobena mezi desítky nacionalistických ministátečků (už jen ty pasové a měnové problémy!) a zahraničněpolitické kotrmelce jsou na pořadu každý sudý měsíc… Plné profesní nasazení si ovšem kompenzuje neustálými trablemi v osobním životě a zkoumáním, jaký sociální model (od obligátního páru přes skupinové manželství až ke kolektivnímu svazku, kde je soužití výsledkem složitých právních smluv!) pro ni bude nejvhodnější. A to se ještě musí definitivně rozhodnout, zda skutečnost, že pochází z předem v laboratořích sestaveného a vylepšeného lidského genomu, je její hlavní klad nebo největší nedostatek… První vydání románu R. E. Heinleina, jednoho ze tří, které dokončil v osmdesátých letech před svou smrtí v roce 1988.

Heinlein is called the "Grand Master of Science Fiction" for a reason. This book was foundational to my appreciation for the genre. ( )

Read this waaaay back before achieving sentience, and unlike many Heinlein novels remembered nothing from it. With good reason! Nothing really happens.

The narrator of Friday is an artificial person (vat-grown, i.e. a clone without an original), and is the same as every other "strong female" character in Heinlein's less memorable, post-70s novels. Don't believe me? While reading Friday, try to determine how the narrator differs from any of the other significant female characters. She doesn't! They all have the same matter-of-fact approach to life, the same open and bi-curious sexuality, the same self-reliance and accompanying individualist/libertarian streak. Sure, it's a welcome break from the standard female characters of sci-fi novels of the time, but it doesn't hold up if you read two or more of Heinlein's later novels.


The panning of this forgettable novel by recent readers implied some sort of misogynist rape fantasy, which didn't strike a bell and isn't the sort of thing Heinlein would write. The narrator is briefly gang-raped and tortured during an interrogation at the opening of the novel: it happens off-screen, the narrator clearly has been trained in Spy School to deal with it, and in typical matter-of-fact manner she decides this would be horrific if it happened to a man or woman without her special training, and it was unpleasant, but all in the line of duty so let's move on.

There seems to be some expectation among the aforementioned readers that this is going to be a rape-revenge story along the lines of I Spit On Your Grave (which, at about 90 minutes of agonizing, exploitative rape and 10 minutes of quick, clean revenge, is an odd pick for the you-go-girl crowd -- but I digress), and it isn't, because the rape/torture doesn't traumatize the (again, trained to withstand brutal interrogation techniques) narrator and has very little to do with the subsequent plot (except for providing handy if awkward introductions to new characters). It doesn't fit well, and perhaps it shouldn't have been included in novel at all, but its depiction is hardly salacious, and the widespread condemnation of the act in the novel, combined with the lack of any lasting harm to the narrator, make it difficult to ascribe its presence to some sort of misogynist authorial intent.

Anyways, it's just a bad novel. Steer clear of the ones from [b:I Will Fear No Evil|175325|I Will Fear No Evil|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1303411477s/175325.jpg|45662] onward. ( )

Don't remember this one well, but I remember thinking I would've been told I wasn't old enough if they'd known what was in it. Was shocking in the early teen years :P ( )