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Rating: 
Summary: 4 and 1/2 Stars
Review: A lot of reviewers seem to have misunderstood this book. It is not meant to stand on it's own. I've never understood the type of reader who, when choosing which book to read first when encountering an author new to them, randomly pick a book off the shelf. This is usually a recipe for disaster in science fiction, and Heinlein is no exception. For everyone's convenience let me hereby make a list of...BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE READING THIS ONE IF YOU EXPECT TO LIKE IT OR HAVE IT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL: Methuselah's Children, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, and The Number of the Beast. (Characters from The Rolling Stones, Stranger In A Strange Land, and The Man Who Sold The Moon, among others, also appear, or are mentioned, but reading those books is not necessary to understand this one.) Clearly, this is a book for the hard-core Heinlein fan. Newcomers to the author should definately start elsewhere. As for this book itself... how good is it? Well, if you've read all the books I've mentioned, quite good. It starts out as a very fast-paced and cleverly told adventure story (reminiscent to 50's-era Heinlein) on a seemingly unrelated note to the books mentioned above. However, mid-way or so through, the plot changes abruptly, as The Number of the Beast did. This sudden switch is a bit annoying, because the events of utmost signifigance in the first part of the novel are not resolved until the very end of the book, and a few minor ones are not resolved at all (wait for the next book, To Sail Beyond The Sunset.) (This segment of the story is not, however, abandoned completely as some reviewers have incorrectly stated, but rather resolved at book's end. I am forced to believe that some of these reviewers did not finish the book.) In hindsight, it probably would have been better had Heinlein finished up the story started early on in the book in a more standard fashion, and then have the events in the latter part of the book fleshed out and expanded in a different book. But Heinlein was always an idiosynctric writer, and Cat is no exception. Don't be turned off by the other reviews. If you are a Heinlein fan, and have read the books I mentioned, you will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: It's all about the possibilities
Review: I agree with the other reviewers who note that this should not be your first Heinlen book. With that said, this and many of his books are about the possibilities we all forget about as we grow older. The title of the book comes from a particular scene in the book when the main character learns a little more about the cat, Pixel. It seems Pixel can walk through walls because he doesn't know you can't! If only we all approached life without those preconceived notions about what we can or can't do! This reminder makes this one of my favorite Heinlen books.
Rating:
Summary: An involved and interresting read for the Heinlein Fan
Review: I came here and read the reviews before undertaking this book and I decided to take the suggestions of a few of the reviewers here and put aside this book for a while to read some others before this one. I'm very glad I did so as the book would have been totally confusing without having read the previous works. So, a list of books you should read before this one: Time Enough for Love, Methusla's Children, Glory Road, and The Number of the Beast. Without reading these books the second half of the book will make no sense and the new charachters coming in will serve to confuse you. Now, that out of the way...this book is an excellent adventure tale as the protoganist is pulled and bounced around by forces outside his control and byond his understanding. However, he soon finds himself leaning of the reasons behind his troubles and gets recruted by none other than Lazurus Long, to work as a special agent on a rescue mission. All in all an enjoyable book, and I can't wait to read the next book "To Sail Byond the Sunset"
Rating: 
Summary: A Regrettable Read
Review: I could not finish this book. In fact this is the only fiction novel I have ever not finished. I've read hundreds. It does start off interesting as other have said, but everything from the prose to the plot falls apart during the middle. The banter with the main characters wife gets very old... Il just stop here and say I agree with every criticism writen before my "review" and would not recomend this book to my enemies.
Rating: 
Summary: Bizarre
Review: I'm starting to have trouble understanding why I like the works of Robert A. Heinlein so much. They're certainly fun to read, with a prose style that is somewhere between Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut, but some of the lesser read works (such as this one) are so self-referencial that they're almost unreadable to anyone who hasn't read a specific book in the Heinlein cannon. Case in point--I just finished The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, but I haven't read Number of the Beast. I think that was a mistake. Why? Ok. The first two-thirds of this book is basically a humorous detective story. The last third is where Heinlein starts preaching, using many old characters from his other classic science fiction novels. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the change in tone, combined with the few characters I did not recognize and the odd gimicks that didn't make any sense really brought my opinion of the book down a lot. From several hints at the end of the book, it seems that Number of the Beast would have cleared some of this up for me. Oh well. But I still had a blast reading the novel (hence the four stars). The story is fast-paced and included just enough of Heinlein's politics, such as his strangely deferencial, yet somewhat insulting opinion of women and gays, to make me enjoy reading it. I think the more Heinlein I read, the more I "get it." And that's the basic problem with recommending the book. If you haven't read much of his other stuff (especially the future history stories, Time Enough For Love, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and (it seems) The Number of the Beast), don't attempt this one. Otherwise, you've obvisouly gotten the hang of Heinlein already, so you won't be dissapointed with The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this unless....
Review: It's too bad that the publishers couldn't put a disclaimer on the cover of this book. I just read a reviewer that said he read 'Starship Troopers' and thought he'd try another Heinlein because he liked Starship. What a shame. To appreciate Heinlein a reader must start at the beginning of his career (or near it) and then move on.
I am glad the movie sparked so much interest in Heinlein, he remains the greatest sci fi writer of all time. The only way to win an arguement that he isn't the best would be to argue that he really didn't write sci fi in the first place but rather a weird combination of social/polictical/religeous adventure stories that span past/present and future.
I loved this book. Every bit, even the confusion. I'll admit I wasn't happy with the ending, but that is only because I wanted it to end differently, not because it was poorly written. BUT, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, either you love Heinlien already and you will read this, or you should start elsewhere and fall in love with his work for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful...but not for everyone
Review: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls was my first Heinlein book, read when I was 13, interestingly enough because I was so into quantum physics that I read everything I thought might be remotely related. I was intrigued and delighted, simply assuming there was more to the ending than I understood. I was right. To fully enjoy this bit of sci-fi joy, you have to read more of Heinlein. It opened a whole new world to a science-obsessed teen-age girl, with an admittedly open-minded attitude towards so-called moral issues. I've re-read it more than once as an adult and get more out of it every time. I agree with a previous reviewer in that this writer requires thought and analysis. This is something almost entirely lacking in too much of the reading public today, at least looking at the bestsellers lists. I will admit that this isn't the best of RAH, and for the average reader, not the one to start with. But, oh, what a great step into a wider world.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible start followed by literary suicide
Review: The early to middle portions of Heinlein's novel were extremely entertaining with unbelieveably comical dialog. I even managed to be charmed by the more than somewhat confusing plot and blatant sloshing about of intentionally incomprehensible technology. The self-terminating mistake? A horrific cut and paste ending that was more closely resembling of the eratic "art" of an easily bored two year-old suffering from ADHD than a fitting end to a fantastic literary journey.
Rating:
Summary: A Regrettable Read
Review: There are very few books among the 1000+ I have read that I regret reading. This book is one of them. First, the "witty banter" style of conversation is overdone to the point of invoking feelings of nausea within the first ten pages. Second, the pace is wildly off--a hundred pages could go by with little happening and then in the next few pages so much happens (with little explanation) the reader is left confused and reeling. The story starts out interesting, then gets a bit dull (quite a chore at that point to keep reading as one must endure the ridiculously florid dialogue.) A little before the middle, it suddenly gets very interesting. If the whole book were like this part of the story, it would be a masterpiece. Unfortunately this lasts only a few pages and then the story gets slower and slower over the second half of the book, and right before the end a lot of new characters are brought in to the story for no apparent reason. Then the climax of the story is skipped, that is, left out; and the last few pages give a murky, unclear view of what happened in the missing climax, making clear only the point that it ended in tragedy. The book left me feeling cheated. On the other hand, the attempt was very original, and for that I applaud Mr. Heinlein. It's easy enough to repackage old formulas, coming up with a new approach takes artistic ability and guts; therefore I give it two stars. If you decide to read this book, I hope you see this review, or other reviews which have said similar things, so that you can be prepared to read it with the proper attitude: Approach it as a study of an interesting literary experiment, and try not to become emotionally involved in it.
Rating:
Summary: Better than you've heard, but don't start with it
Review: This isn't by any means Robert Heinlein's finest work, and I highly recommend _not_ reading it as one of your first few Heinleins. But you'll want to get around to it eventually, because (a) you should read it before you read the marvelous _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_, and (b) it's really not that bad. Oh, you have to be really into Heinlein in order to appreciate it. As in _Friday_, the cool intrigue at the beginning peters out partway through and never quite comes back. (It does get resolved to a degree at the end, but in my view not very satisfactorily.) So you have to be prepared to enjoy a few hundred pages of character interaction and dialogue. If you like the way Heinlein handles such things, you'll like this; otherwise not. Me, I like Col. Colin Campbell a.k.a. Richard Ames, and I like Gwen Novak, so I enjoy their company (and their arguments, and their lectures). Some readers have had misgivings about the ending, but I don't mind it; besides, if you have trouble figuring out what happened, you'll find out in _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_. The real problem here is that the first two-thirds of the novel is two-thirds of a good novel, the last third is one-third of a good novel, but they're the good parts of two different novels. You'll see what I mean if/when you read it; I can't explain it any further without giving things away. But do read it if you like Heinlein; it's better than you've heard.
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