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From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Friday, by Heinlein, + more
Message-ID: <601@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Feb-84 15:10:21 EST
Article-I.D.: nsc.601
Posted: Fri Feb  3 15:10:21 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Feb-84 09:04:49 EST
References: <3454@tekecs.UUCP>
Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale
Lines: 42

>I completely agree with your assessment of "Friday" as
>drivel, although I must admit that my opinion is based
>on only the first 1/3 of the book, as that was all I
>could stomach. I think the worst aspect of the book was
>the endlessly monotonous dialogue, which displayed such a
>contrived and pre-adolescent attempt at "cuteness" that it
>made me wince.

I completely disagree with your assessment of "Friday". It's not Hugo
material, but I found that it had an aura of maturity and vision I haven't
seen in RAH since the Juvenile days (they may have been strident, but they
were good and he knew what he was trying to say). What REALLY suprised me
was the maturity he had in his sexually oriented material in Friday. Most
Heinlein either suffers from an Oedipus or a candystore complex; I found
Friday to be realistic about things while still being RAH (a difficult line
to tread).

>Speaking of bad sf, this gives me an opportunity to voice
>a dissenting opinion on Brin's "Startide Rising", another
>dog that, to use the words of Dorothy Parker, "should not be
>tossed lightly aside, but hurled with great force".
>Probably the worst attempt at depicting aliens that has
>appeared in many years. Second only to Gene Wolfe in the
>bad writing catagory.

I haven't read Brin yet, but having listened to him at Baycon, I am looking
forward to it. Also, I don't know how you can consider Gene Wolfe a bad
writer. It looks like we simply disagree on what makes writing good or bad
(which makes neither of us right or wrong, just different). I seem to like
everything you don't, which is why they publish such a variety of books
these days. Somewhere out there, every book you consider trash has someone
who likes it. It may only be the author or editor or publisher, but that
person exists.


-- 
From the house at Pooh Corner:		Chuq 'Nuke Wobegon' Von Rospach
{fortune,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui		Have you hugged your Pooh today?
					Go, Lemmings, Go!


I'm not worried. I gave myself up for dead before we started.