Double Star

Rating:
Summary: I see an early Hugo trend here
Review: Reading through the Hugo's chronologically, I've just finished Double Star. As with "The Demolished Man," this book could succeed totally independent from the sci-fi genre. It is a pleasurable analysis of politics. My first Heinlein book, and I enjoyed it. I've noted that I'll be reading several more of his novels that have won the Hugo. Interesting side-note to see his development of the character Penny. So 50's ish. Would never fly today!

Rating:
Summary: Straightforward and quietly enjoyable
Review: Standins and doubles for politicians and celebrities are nothing new. Usually, though, their duties are pretty simple and short-lived, and it's what they do for a living. This is an interesting story told first-person about a situation in which nothing is normal and none of the usual conditions apply. Heinlein takes the opportunity to insert some sly governmental criticism. Nothing about the story is really inevitable, but it appears that way when looking back on it.

Definitely a 'G' rating for this.

Rating:
Summary: The book was fun to read and hard to put down.
Review: The idea of a person having to impersonate another person has always been an idea that intrigued me. In this book Heinlein really explores this idea. Although we would think this is impossible in the grand scale that Heinlein talks about but at the end of your reading. You probably will ask yourself, "Why not?"

Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's top three
Review: The other two are _The Door into Summer_ and _The moon is a Harsh Mistress_. Heinlein also wrote a handful of near-great novels as well as some third-tier stuff that I don't care about rereading. (And his nonfiction, unlike Asimov's, isn't worth the paper it's printed on.) But these three novels are magisterial, and as close to perfect as anything he ever wrote.

This time out, our "hero" is Lawrence Smith a.k.a. Lorenzo "Lorrie" Smythe a.k.a. "The Great Lorenzo", a self-important and out-of-work actor who, at least initially, isn't all that heroic. He's approached about a job, and it turns out to involve serving as a double for a famous statesman in a public appearance. The rest you'll have to read for yourself.

It's a fast-moving, well-paced, meaty story, and it raises all sorts of fascinating questions about personal identity, character, and such. And Heinlein handles it all very deftly. Smith (why _are_ so many of his characters named "Smith"?) contends at one point that in order for an actor to portray a character properly, s/he has to _become_ the character, and it's impossible to do so without coming to like the character somewhat. Well, that's just what Heinlein does here with Smith himself. (Another of Heinlein's Smiths would later describe this process as "grokking".)

Oh, there are a few soapboxy bits, but they don't interfere much with the story. For example, at one or two points we get a few pseudo-profound quotations from statesman John Joseph Bonforte that sound suspiciously like Heinlein himself at his tub-thumpingly silliest (or perhaps some lost excerpts from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, which may be another way of saying the same thing). But it's kept under control. (In other words, this is not _Starship Troopers_ or _Farnham's Freehold_.)

This is one of Heinlein's finest and most tightly constructed tales, and almost fifty years after its publication it still holds up well. This is the master at his best -- and his best was very, very good.

Rating:
Summary: What Price, To Play the Boards?
Review: The year is 1956. Eisenhower is in the White House, following a long line of military men to reach that post. And this slim book appears, presenting the wild idea of an actor, perhaps not even a very good actor, who manages to reach the position of head of state. Obviously an idea like this could only appear within the realm of science fiction! What a difference in perspective an additional twenty five years will make, as once more science fiction becomes fact.

The route Lorenzo Smythe takes to reach this post is, however, just a little different from that of the real-world actor. The Great Lorenzo, as he styles himself, is conceited, arrogant, out of work, and down to his last half-Imperial when he is offered the job of doubling for a well-known political figure. The job is so obviously beneath his dignity that he is ready to turn down the offer when the Martians take a hand, and Lorenzo finds himself involved in murder, kidnapping, and slicing both humans and Martians into small pieces to flush down the disposal.

Forced by these circumstances to take the job, Lorenzo is even more disturbed when he finds out the identity of the person he is supposed to double for, none other that the leader of the opposition party, Joseph Bonforte, whose politics, what little he knows of them, he despises. But his own inflated idea of his abilities allows him to steady down and start studying for the role, a role he will play for much longer than he could ever anticipate.

This book is a character study, carefully and artfully detailing how Lorenzo changes under the influence of having to pretend to be someone he is not, aided by the immediate staff of the man he impersonates. It is fascinating to watch him change from someone you probably wouldn't invite into your home, to confused and beginning to search for some moral basis to his life beyond 'the show must go on', and finally to a man doing his best not just for himself, but for all intelligent beings, truly becoming the man he is portraying.

The other characters here are pretty sketchy, mainly props to help move the plot and aid Lorenzo. This is most noticeable with Penny, Bonforte's personal secretary, who suffers from the typical Heinlein failing (at that point in his writing career) of portraying women as one-dimensional beings. However, this limited portrayal of these secondary characters does not detract from, but rather enhances by contrast the masterful portrayal of Lorenzo.

Heinlein makes good use of his own experience in running for the California State legislature, as he describes the mechanics of running a political campaign, just how decisions are reached, how dependent a politician is upon the quality of the staff he selects, so that these items ring with real-world ambience. This is also probably the first book that clearly showed his leaning towards what would now be called Libertarianism, but this exposition is fairly muted, unlike some of his later works. And it wouldn't be a Heinlein book without his side commentaries: here he covers monarchies, civil servants, patronage, media management, taxes, unions, truth and lies, prejudice and xenophobia.

Published at a time when a novel of character was practically unheard of in the science fiction world, this work, like so many others by Heinlein, expanded the boundaries of the field, another step in lifting it out of its self-imposed pulp ghetto and back to the world of literature. This is probably part of the reason this book earned Heinlein his first of five Hugo awards for best novel of the year, a record matched by no other author. The rest of the reason? It's a fun, fast, great read; a story that hasn't lost its power to engross, entertain, and expand your view of the world.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Rating:
Summary: A truly masterful work in two areas not normally SF.
Review: There have been a lot of Science Fiction books written by a lot of people on a lot of themes. Many many many have featured Interplanetary Space Travel, as this one does. Many have themes of alien contact, which this does. Many address political struggles, which this does.

But very few actually have a political campaign -- in a Parliamentary System, not an American Congress style system -- as its central conflict. And no others I can think of use Theater as a central theme as well.

Heinlein's protaganist is a method actor with sideruns into vaudeville -- those who believe the two are incompatible haven't worked in the trade, which I have. Lazlo comes across as an "authentic" actor. Self-important, delusional about his own importance in the universe, opinionated and terribly terribly refined and effete. But it never falls into parody (I worked with many Lazlos during my time as an actor, and was one more than once). Its hook -- later stolen wholesale for the movie "Dave" -- involves Lazlo being pulled into a role he doesn't want -- the impersonation of a kidnapped Minister of Parliament, and one of the most influential politicians alive. Complicating Lazlo's immersion into the role are his dislike of the man's politics and having to work with his staff, who revere the object of Lazlo's study and resent Lazlo's intrusion into his role.

This book won a Hugo award and deserved it. It's a fun ride and highly enjoyable. Pick it up and lose yourself for a while

Rating:
Summary: This overlooked book is one of Heinlein's best
Review: This book is very difficult to characterize. It is, at once, a arguement against racial prejudice, a facinating psychological analysis of what it is to be an intellectual adult and an exciting book of political intrigue.

I first read this book when I was very young, and I enjoyed the plot and wondered about some of the ideas. I have reread it a few times down the years. Each time I re-realized how much it influenced my understanding. It shaped the questions that I have needed to answer over and over again in my life.

I hope that this book will bring add to your life. It will add questions rather than answers.

Rating:
Summary: banal and dated
Review: This Hugo award winning novel shows its age. Characters are using slide rules and fingerprints to prove their points. Not to mention the Martians running around Earth and Mars. Very talky not much else going on. Lots of fiction very little science or imagination. More of a character study of a man's blossoming from a self-centered oaf to a world leader. Really a pretty basic fish out of water becomes a hero story. Not a whole lot of literary value here. I consider this book a waste of time. Not even a good escape novel.

Rating:
Summary: The actor becomes his charachter
Review: This is a book which I took a while getting around to read. For some reason the subject matter, combined with the cheesy cover picture just didn't do anything for me. However, since I'm on a current mission to read everything I can find by R.A. Heinlein I picked it up to read. It was better than I was expecting.

An actor is tricked into accepting an unlikely assignment. Since he's out of work, and a bit desperate to do something he takes the job, and soon finds himself wishing he hadn't. He is to take the place of a very public political figure. In what comes to be the most challenging acting job of his life, he pulls the job off with flying colors. Through his study of the charachter he must incorperate a personality which goes against his own in many ways, and in some ways he finds it almost more than he can handle.

Through the course of his job, Lorenzo finds himself pushed further into playing his role, making dicisions, becoming this person. Like many novels by Heinlein, science fiction is merly the genre which allows situations to take place which otherwise could not....allows a normal guy to be faced with abnormal situations, and to grow because of this. Because of this, his stories are not only highly entertaining, but introspective as well. Double star examines what makes a person who he is by showing what is involved in assimilating another person and portraying them. It shows how a person can make a consious choice to be who they want to be, and take on the nessicary responsibilities to become a more honorable person.

I would reccomend this, as well as a number of Heinlein's novels as tools for a person who is working to better themselves and examine thier role in life.

Rating:
Summary: Richly deserved its Hugo award
Review: This is a crisp story, with action and intrigue from start to finish. Lorenzo Smythe is one of Heinlein's most engaging characters, and a real departure from the typical Heinlein hero. He also goes through a lot of changes, as a good protagonist should.

Heinlein generally doesn't have a lot of good things to say about politicians, but John Joseph Bonforte (another critical character) is his exception that proves the rule. He's honest, capable, caring - in short a saint among politicians.

Another reviewer complained of too much politics, but that's rather silly in my opinion. The book is about the world of politics in the future, so it has to talk about it. But there is very little of Heinlein's trademark libertarian philosophizing. The book moves so fast, there isn't time for it.

This is Heinlein's only short work to win a Hugo award, and I consider it quite worthy of the honor. It's not one of Heinlein's series of juvenile novels, but it can be read by teens as well as adults. Get it - it beats 99% of the science fiction ever written, and practically 100% of the stuff being put out these days.