First Published: 1966

Rating: Excellent

"I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect--and tax--public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure."

Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress seems to be one of those books that people either love or hate. Me, I'm in the love camp--this novel clicks for me on so many different levels that I couldn't possibly describe them all.

The plot is relatively simple. The moon is an ex-penal colony, "governed" by the Earth-appointed Warden and the Lunar Authority. Mannie is a one-armed computer engineer who contracts with the Authority, and who discovers one day that the supercomputer who runs most of the city is alive.

Well--alive, sentient, Mannie doesn't really care to split the difference. The point is that the computer known as Mycroft Holmes--a.k.a. Mike--can think, talk, and play practical jokes. And when Mannie somehow ends up heading a revolution to free Luna from the Authority with the help of Professor Bernardo de la Paz and Wyoming Knott, it's Mike who ends up in charge of the whole shebang--ultimately taking on the persona of Adam Selene, chairman of the revolt.

The novel ends up being a story about both the Lunar revolution and the nature of humanity--pretty heady reading, but well worth the effort.

The first thing readers notice about The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is the style it's written in--first person, clipped sentences, no articles, and a dialect reminiscent of Russian. Many people find this a distraction. For me, it's just another reason to love the book--it sets the mood for the story, and for Mannie's character, in a way that "normal" narration just couldn't.

Speaking of Mannie--I love him. He's a great character, and subsequently a great lens through which to view Lunar society. His willingness to befriend a sentient computer and his musings about the nature of the soul--and whether it matters if Mike has a soul--provide an excellent frame for the Lunar revolution.

One of the things I love the most about this novel is its take on marriage and family. Women are respected and admired, and given ultimate authority in matters of sex and marriage. It's a necessity given the unequal gender ratio of the Lunar colony, as are the polyandries and multiple marriages that are the societal norm. Heinlein takes the time to show not only how the society functions in such matters, but why it works in such a way, and all the customs fit into place so well that it just makes them all the more intriguing.

One thing that doesn't work so well in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is the tendency toward long passages on the nature of revolution. Granted, the manner in which the revolution occurs is interesting, and on the first read such passages are vital to understanding the story--but on my first re-read I found myself skimming over some paragraphs, and later skipping them entirely.

Many of the novel's elements wouldn't stand up in a real society. But that's a non-issue--they only need to work well within the context of the society Heinlein creates, and they do that beautifully. Any science fiction fan who has yet to read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress should bump it to the top of their reading list--it's a  gorgeous novel, and a must-read in the sci-fi genre.

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