{"id":4096,"date":"2007-11-02T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-03T00:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=4096"},"modified":"2010-04-20T19:54:37","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T00:54:37","slug":"book-report-farnhams-freehold-by-robert-heinlein-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/02\/book-report-farnhams-freehold-by-robert-heinlein-1964\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Report: Farnham’s Freehold by Robert Heinlein (1964)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike some<\/a>, I haven’t read much Heinlein. As a matter of fact, as I review a list of his books on Wikipedia<\/a>, I can’t say I’m sure I have read any, although some of the titles sound familiar from my middle school Del Rey paperbacks-in-library-binding days.<\/p>\n

I can’t say that now, certainly, and I do have a couple more on the to-read shelves, so I’ll get my old school sci-fi thing going on.<\/p>\n

This book, ca 1964, revolves around a nuclear conflict and a nuclear family plus a friend who duck and cover into the father’s bomb shelter when the bomb comes. The family has its problems, from a headstrong son with Oedipal issues to the hard-drinking suburban wife, but the confident and resourceful father holds the family together with the force of his will. A third nuclear strike on a military facility near the home sends the bomb shelter to another place or time.<\/p>\n

So the first forty-eight percent of the book details the family’s survival in an unspoiled world, the next forty-eight percent of the book details what happens when the family discovers it’s 2000 years in the future, and four percent of the book at the end details a denouement or dedeusment of sorts.<\/p>\n

The prose is lean and the plot is definitely event-driven, so I enjoyed it, but I guess one could knock it for thin characters. However, if you’re a growing lad, this is good science fiction to get you in the mood for the release of Star Wars in fifteen years.<\/p>\n

So it’s not as hard science as Niven, but it’s not as dense as some of the stuff of his I’ve read, and it’s not 500 pages either.<\/p>\n

Books mentioned in this review:<\/b><\/p>\n