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Summary: Another Heinlein Masterpiece
Review: I found this book in the personal library of a friend, and nearly had to be restrained from releasing my excitement at finding another Heinlein book. I have read all of his writing I could find! As the two main characters find themselves thrown about in the universe, or, more seemingly the universes around them, they realize the true weirdness of the cosmos, not to mention religion
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps, one of Heinlein's greatest works
Review: Though flagging behind "Stranger in a Strange Land" in mass appeal, perhaps to due upsetting religious sensibilities, "Job: A Comedy of Justice" has to be my personal favorite work by Heinlein. The protagonist, Alec Graham, is flung from reality to reality taking every available opportunity to make things worse, and doing so. A modern Job, his existence is being tested by God. Through love and suffering he eventually reaches a highly bureaucratic heaven to try and get redress for his grievances. ONLY Heinlein could have made this book with delicacy, humorous while making you question yourself and everything else. In my opinion, this book cannot be read once. You must read it and let it work on your subconscious for a few years. Upon re-reading it, the brilliance of writing and the eloquence of Heinlein's phrasing will astound you. This book can affect your life, even if the only message that comes to you from it is... "Take it Easy"
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Summary: Life-changing and thought-provoking
Review: I first read this book as a teenager. Perhaps this was the best time I could have opened the cover to Job, a time when I was questioning many of the things I had been taught. My mind was pliant clay where ideas were constantly clashing. I was a youth who suspected that society was rife with hypocrisy and lies.Why do we believe what we do? Why are certain parables regarded as examples of morality? Have we been conditioned to believe that great evils were in fact just and moral? What the heck is morality anyway? These are a few of the questions that Job will challenge you with. It is a book that left an indelible impression on me, and caused me to reject many of the things I had been force-fed as a child. If you are looking for Heinlein's typical science-fiction, you won't find it here. Instead you'll find a story spun from Heinlein's ascerbic wit that navigates the human system of beliefs and values, and does so with greater incisiveness than he's done in any other title.
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Summary: Utter Futility
Review: I personally did not find this tragedy to be a comedy, rather a well done work about utter futility. Heinlein deffinitly decided to stray from his beaten path in this book, and the result is very good. No Jubal Hershal/Lazrus Long types will you find in excess...just one pious man for whom life has turned utterly wrong, and his love. The various paralell universes turn out to be prety interresting themselves, the wonder of such things as street lights(people will actually obey a light?) or other minor things add to the story. As they move through elaborate tests, the world changing around them with no warning at random intervals they seek some kind of stability on which to stand. At every turn they work hard, save thier money, only to find all thier hard work for nothing, and themselves destitute once more. And why all the suffering? His "all-powerful" god wants to have fun with a wager, and send him all this suffering and pain. Unlike the biblical Job, our protaginist does not suffer from boiles and fevers and sickness. Finally, he comes to understand that the world of his creator is not as he had thought, and those enemies of his creator are not all bad.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Ride!
Review: Heinlein wastes no time in jumping right into the story. Alex Hergensheimer, on vacation in Polynesia, is challenged in a bet to walk through a firepit. Using his faith alone, he walks through the fire...and into another world. It is a world similiar to his own yet with subtle differences. For example, the boat he came on is no longer the same boat and Alex Hergensheimer now answers to the name Alec Graham. This is only the beginning of his journey through many worlds including a trip to the information booths of Heaven and the room service in Hell. And this book is, as the title suggests, a comedy.
The book is a fantastic ride of unexpected twists and turns. If you follow closely, though, you will predict some of them. Most of all, it is a fun and entertaining story that will keep you guessing what God will do next and what year William Jennings Bryan will have been President in the next world (the latter is not obligatory) For a good religious satire, a story of love, a comical examination of man and some sex thrown in to boot, read Job: A Comedy of Justice. It is also an excellent follow-up to Stranger in a Strange Land.
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