I cannot believe this book won a Hugo award, even taking into consideration the times and political climate when it was written.
With my theme of outer space, I was pretty sure that heinlein was going to come into play. I don't know why but I've not really been able to appreciate his work, even when I am taking it with a grain of historical context.
The original cover, is, however, very nice. I will say that.
Starship Troopers- as far as my read goes- is a book written by a man, about men, and essentially for male readers.
Our Main Man, Johnny Rico enlists in the Army, pretty much by accident, when he comes along for his friends enlistment. He works his way up through boot camp and to officers school, all the while occasionally fighting an alien spider/bug like species. Johnny's father is inspired to sign up for the military as well, to discover if he's a "real man" and with the added bonus of being awarded voting rights if he completes his term of service. The entire novel really read like the author's experience in the 1950's military with a few space suits thrown in for decor. There are a lot of detailed moral and political messages throughout the book which may have seemed more prescient at the time, but now currently seem quite out of date.
With this novel heinlein was credited with creating the Military Sci-fi subgenre. I honestly just kept waiting for the Science part to appear, because, this story could have been told without space travel and it would have been pretty much the same. my entire face through the whole thing was set in a glum frown. I read this for a book challenge the prompt was 'A book that had a film made about it", and because I do one day hope to read all the Hugo award winners. I must say I've now read 3 pre-1970 Hugo award winners and they were all... kinda terrible. I also note my Dad telling me he really had never been able to get into Sci-Fi, and yeah... if Starship Troopers was what was on offer, I totally understand.
I should note here, that- the 1997 film, which was loosely based off the novel- and the novel- are two different animals. The 1997 film is a set up to mock the actual novel for it's gung-ho military stance.
Overall - heinlein is known as an innovative writer who was apparently ahead of his time, a nudist, and into some unconventional relationships. For whatever reason, this doesn't translate into Starship Troopers. I wondered if I had missed a point, but I see that this book was controversial at the time because it was considered to possibly be promoting fascism, and indeed, I suspect it might have been though heinlein would have stated that was not the case.
The only reason I can see to read this book is if one is interested in the evolution of science fiction over time. I loathed my time with this book. I felt as if I was in a recruitment propaganda meeting and I honestly didn't like it.
I have looked about and read some interpretations of this work and was hoping that maybe I missed the mark, but no... it seems this was just what he produced.
Should you read this? If you are interested in the development of American Science Fiction, yes... Otherwise... please pick something else up- anything else.
STATS
First Published 11/5/1959
Pages: 264
Available as an Audio Book : Yes (10 hours)
Trigger Warnings: violence, sexism, war
(this is not a full list, read responsibly)
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