Starman Jones

As noted in previous entries, this is the first of run of three re-reads in a row for me. So I already knew that I was going to rate this one highly. I remembered loving it before. I briefly thought that I'd even place it above The Rolling Stones. I thought better of that, but this is still an excellent book. It has some of the nautical-adventure-but-in-space aspect that I attributed to Space Cadet, but without the naval academy component of that at all.

I think the elephant in the room here is that the main character, Max Jones, has a kind of super-eidetic memory: he can recall everything. Some of the main characters in previous stories were very talented or had technical skills and knowledge that would really stand out, but they were generally relatable characters as ordinary kids. But in this case, the main character basically gets a superpower. And it's central to the plot. Even after having read the book twice, I don't really know how to feel about it. Starman Jones is a great story and that story doesn't exist without this detail: it's too crucial. But it also makes the the previous six books seem more grounded in comparison, and I'm not sure how to evaluate that. Max is also one of my favorite characters among all of the Heinlein juveniles so far, and I don't know what that says about me either. Oh well.

Another fascinating aspect of this book is that there's a dystopian setting here. The blow is softened because Max makes it aboard a ship and almost all of the rest of the book takes place aboard that ship and on a remote uncharted planet. But we're shown enough of the Earth in this story to see that at least most of the planet is controlled by an oppressive guild system. Technically, the version of Earth in both Red Planet and in Between Planets seems pretty oppressive too, but that's in the context of controlling distant colonies and quelling rebellions. This is pretty different. Max had only ever been on Earth, but his prospects were vanishing to a pretty bleak point just because the system wouldn't give him a chance, and he had to cheat the system to get away from that. Reminds me of the Future History series as well as some of the stuff in Friday. Heinlein definitely liked exploring the theme of Earth going bad and of civilization needing to move to other worlds in order for humanity to survive, or at least for humanity to prosper. The future of the human race was among the stars, not languishing on Earth. Or something.

The superb use of dialogue I noticed in The Rolling Stones is present in this book as well. And ultimately, ranking this one is made or broken by the supporting cast: Sam Anderson, Eldreth Coburn, Doc Hendrix, Captain Blaine, etc. And now that I say that, I think I've got to conclude that while Sam and Doc Hendrix are successful in this regard, I've got mix feelings on the character of Eldreth. Her proficiency with 3-D chess seems a little too blatantly to have been concocted as a vehicle to teach Max a lesson that he's not necessarily smarter than girls, while her naivete feels a bit forced as a foil to emphasize Max's rugged upbringing and the street smarts it has bestowed on him. It feels nitpicky, but I say this with the previous book in the series being The Rolling Stones, which did a better job in comparison. Despite my nitpicking, Eldreth's character works well enough to make the story run smoothly and her dialogue is strong. However, the various members of the Worry Hole gang feel a bit too flat. They blend together too much, especially given how much time Max spends there.

The planet "Charity" and its symbiotic ecosystem is fascinating. I'd remembered the planet from my first reading, but I'd forgotten just how intriguing it was and how rushed and sparsely detailed the description of the settlement there actually was. There's just enough to make it seem like the story is moving to some interesting phase where Max and the ship's crew might have some interesting dynamic going on with the "colonists" in the new settlement, only for that to almost immediately get derailed.

It's between this book and Space Cadet for second place behind The Rolling Stones for now. And it's a close one. The supporting cast in Space Cadet is more balanced, but less ambitious. I'll give the nod to Starman Jones over Space Cadet, but only barely. So yeah, this one is really good. What's the "Critical Reception" say?

Groff Conklin in 1954 found the novel to be "a richly textured and thoroughly mature tale" and the best of the seven Heinlein juveniles available

Second best, I say. Also, kind of weird that most critics agree with me about the excellence of Between Planets and this one, but weren't as keen on The Rolling Stones.

Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas praised it for its "good character-development, rousing adventure-telling, and brilliant creation of several forms of extra-Terrestrial life".

Honestly, after a second reading, I want a kind of sequel in this same world just for the sake of exploring more of that "Charity" planet, even if it's not the same characters.

P. Schuyler Miller ranked it "close to the best in mainline science fiction".

It's a very strong one.

New York Times reviewer Villiers Gerson declared Starman Jones to be "superior science-fiction. ... carefully plotted, lucidly and beautifully written".

Agreed.

Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels, Jack Williamson described Starman Jones as "a classic example of the bildungsroman pattern" and noted that "with its bold symbolism, the book makes a universal appeal". Despite "coincidence and occasional melodrama" in the plotting, Williamson concluded that "the novel is a fine juvenile [which] reflects hopes and fears we all have known".

I think I grasp what he means by "coincidence." The plot is moved forward by a couple of remarkable coincidences. I don't know that I disagree about "melodrama" except that I'm actually not sure what he is classifying as melodrama here. It's too vague a term.

Damon Knight wrote that in Starman Jones "Heinlein is doing something more than just earning a living at the work he does supremely well: he's preparing a whole generation – the generation that will live to see the year 2000 – for the Age of Space that's as real to him now as it will be, must be, to them."

Wow. Looks like that review is from 1967. I've got to say that in 2025 it probably hits differently. Damon Knight is dead, but he actually did live to see the year 2000. I wonder what he thought at that time.

Up next is The Star Beast, which I distinctly remember being one of my favorites.