Friday

No cover

Robert A. Heinlein: Friday (1999, Tandem Library)

School & Library Binding

English language

Published Oct. 6, 1999 by Tandem Library.

ISBN:
978-0-8085-2200-3
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

Engineered from the finest genes, and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. Working at Boss's whimsical behest she travels from far north to deep south, finding quick, expeditious solutions as one calamity after another threatens to explode in her face.... Fabulous Heinlein world of fascination and intrigue.

8 editions

Solid social sci-fi

4 stars

The fiction is okay, not Heinlein's finest – but the social aspect feels eerily relevant today. Just two quotes (the novel is from 1982!):

"Pick one. A theocracy ruled by witchburners. Or a fascist socialism designed by retarded schoolboys. Or a crowd of hard-boiled pragmatists who favor shooting the horse that misses the hurdle. Step right up! Only one to a customer!"

"Only in California will you find the clear-quill, raw-gum, two-hundred proof undiluted democracy. The voting age starts when a citizen is tall enough to pull a lever without being steadied by her nurse. <...> Three years ago a grassroots economist noticed that college graduates earned, on the average, about 30 percent more than their fellow citizens who lacked bachelor's degrees. Such an undemocratic condition is anathema to the California Dream, so with great speed, an initiative was qualified for the next election, the measure passed, and all California …

Subjects

  • Science Fiction - General
  • Fiction - Science Fiction
  • Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)