Robert Heinlein’s Hugo Award-winning all-time masterpiece, the brilliant novel that grew from a cult favorite to a bestseller to a science fiction classic.Raised by Martians on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith is a human who has never seen another member of his species. Sent to Earth, he is a stranger who must learn what it is to be a man. But his own beliefs and his powers far exceed the limits of … exceed the limits of humankind, and as he teaches them about grokking and water-sharing, he also inspires a transformation that will alter Earth’s inhabitants forever…
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This is an essential read for anyone who claims to be a science fiction fan.
A timeless treasure. Worth the reread after40 years (since the first time I read it). The Oxford English Dictionary summarizes the meaning of grok as “to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with” and “to empathize or communicate sympathetically; also, to experience enjoyment”. A great summary of the book itself.
No one writes like Heinlein ! This is one of his classics. If you have never read it, you must!
Grock
I read this many years ago and thought it might be fun to read again. While enjoyable and certainly ahead of its time, it felt a bit outdated and read like so many other science fiction novels of that time period.
One of Heinlein’s best. Definitely not standard SF for the day. Became a favorite of the Hippies and counter-culture of the ’60s, and many of its terms wound up in everything from the lyrics of Jefferson Airplane to Webster’s Dictionary. Heinlein’s stated intent was to stand many accepted beliefs of the day on their heads, and he succeeded.
The story is weird. A baby is born on a spaceship that goes to Mars. His parents die. Everyone dies. The child is raised by the Martians. Twenty-five years later, a spacecraft lands and makes contact with the Martians. The crew finds a single survivor, Valentine Michael Smith who is ordered by the Martians to go back to Earth.
Smith has never seen a woman. A nurse gets past Smith’s guards and shares a glass of water with him. She does not know but that makes her his “water brother”, which is a special relationship given that water is very scarce on Mars.
Smith is very wealthy as legal precedent considers him the owner of Mars. But that puts his life in danger. The novel is mostly about how Smith evades the authorities and deals with his new environment. The story is full of sex, religious narratives, political machinations, and intrigue.
Smith forms a new church that revolves around sexual elements plus some unusual philosophy and scientific concerns. The idea is to shape humanity so that the Martians are dissuaded from destroying the planet as they had the fifth planet that is the source of the asteroid belt. After that, the novel gets weird.
I loved it. But I understand why some people will not be interested.
The story of a Man not raised as a Human who takes on every cultural norm and questions them while finding a better way.
one of his best works
This book inspired my generation and added a word to the language. The story of a man orphaned on Mars and raised by the Martians with learned psychic powers and an — unusual — viewpoint.
A classic that should be on everyone’s list.
Read it long ago. I’d have to read it again to fully grok it. The conclusion seems ambiguous to me. Does Valentine go to his place or the others’ place? Would like to hear some theories.
A classic
Maybe the best adult SF written by RAH
Read this about 50 years ago. A sci-fi classic
This book is one that has to be read by all. It is a classic for a reason. There are a lot of lessons you learn easily from it and you will understand what it means to grok only after reading this.
One of the great sci fi novels of all time. Smith teaches us a lot about ourselves from the Martian perspective.
Thought Provoking, Original, and will challenge one’s view of social norms.
great book
From my 2016 review and still feel about the same.
I’m not sure yet what to say here for my review. Perhaps more time to digest it is in need. My initial thoughts are that it was an alright story. Not at all terrible, but not really the earth-changing story I’ve been led by others to believe, at least not to me anyway. I much preferred Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Stranger did indeed keep me enthralled by the events taking place and wondering what would happen next, not to mention to what end it was building to. Fair to say it is the last ten or so chapters that are really throwing me off. Thankfully, the 2nd to the last chapter helped me enjoy the ending better. As I said, perhaps in time I will have a change of mind but for now, I have to rate it 3 out of 5