Heinlein's "I Will Fear No Evil"

[triskellian]

I was talking to a colleague about science-fiction a couple of weeks ago. She claimed Heinlein as one of her favourite authors, and I confessed to having read nothing of his, put off by a possibly-unjustified impression of him being too interested in plot at the expense of character, and having misogynist tendencies. She claimed this wasn't true, and leant me I Will Fear No Evil to prove it. Yesterday, ill in bed*, I read the first two chapters. The characters are little more than props, and the main female character wears sexy clothes to please her elderly boss (and decides to make an effort to be extra-sexy tomorrow to thank him for a hefty bequest), doesn't mind being treated like a silly little girl, and, despite claiming to be happily married, throws herself into the arms of another much-older man at the first sign of danger, saying stuff like "Your arms are so strong. I feel safe when you're holding me", and then offers said older man a nude photo of herself. I gave up in disgust. Has anyone read it? Should I give the rest a try before returning it, or is it all like that?

*Hence no appearance at angry_marmot's party, and being off work today. secretrebel - want to come over and cheer me up?

Comments

"Our teeth grated and my nipples went 'spung!'"

[mr-snips.livejournal.com]

For reasons too embarassing to explain, I've actually read most of Heinlein's books, on the basis of which I can confidently divide his published work into three main strands:

The Crypto Fascist (Starship Troopers, Tunnel in the Sky, Sixth Column...)

The Spanking Novels (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, I Will Fear No Evil - particularly notable for the way in which the old man has his consciousness transferred into the body of a young woman, after which they share both her body and her spankings -, Friday - a book so repulsive I couldn't bring myself to give it to Oxfam for fear that someone else's mind might be contaminated...)

The Literally Unreadable (Time Enough for Lust, The Number of the Breast, The Cat who Craps Through Walls...)


With a special mention for The Door Into Summer, where as I recall the hero spends half the book hanging around with an eleven year old girl and then goes into cryogenic suspension for a few years so he can start sleeping with her.


"Comparable to John Norman at his best"


Neal


PS: Oh, all right, I quite liked Podkayne of Mars. And the spanking stuff would be fine if he had actually been writing AN Roquelaure style "erotic fantasies", rather than constantly going on about how all his supposedly realistic female characters can only find true personal fulfillment when stripping for their boss...

Re: "Our teeth grated and my nipples went 'spung!'"

[triskellian]

I Will Fear No Evil - particularly notable for the way in which the old man has his consciousness transferred into the body of a young woman, after which they share both her body and her spankings
And it was the suspicion of this sort of stuff to come which made me stop before it all got too terrible for words ;-(

Re: "Our teeth grated and my nipples went 'spung!'"

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Ahh, Friday. I threw this across the room about ten pages in, when the eponymous heroine (who had just been gang-raped brutally by prison guards) got up, brushed herself down and strolled off whistling, and there was a little explanation that if you were a female spy this sort of thing happened to you all the time and it was no big deal. Nice.

I was going to defend The Door Into Summer, but I don't remember the dodgy eleven-year-old girl bit. Maybe I was too innocent for it to seem odd.