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Citizen of the Galaxy - book review
'Citizen of the Galaxy' by Robert Heinlein is one of my favourite books, I've read it many times. It was written before I was born and yet it's dated remarkably well. The lack of mobile phones is about the only thing that feels wrong in this space-going society.
Thorby, a young slave boy, is bought by old Baslim, a crippled beggar. But there is much more to Baslim than meets the eye and Thorby learns much from him. Baslim quickly becomes a beloved father and mentor.
Eventually events force Thorby to leave Sargon and to travel with the Free Traders. The Free Traders are an interesting culture and the complexities of their social structure with its stress on knowing exactly whom you are related to and how is initially confusing to Thorby. When he finally leaves his second adoptive family, he is forced into yet another different culture - the one of his birth.
In some ways, this is the hardest culture of all for him to adapt to, but he comes to understand that the best way he can fight back at the slavers is in the way he least expected to.
It isn't an easy decision for him, and when I first read the book as a child, I disliked the ending - I was looking for 'happy ever after'. As an adult, I really like the ending. It deals with maturity and acceptance of responsibility, and understanding that to give freedom to others, you may have to lose it yourself.
Thorby, a young slave boy, is bought by old Baslim, a crippled beggar. But there is much more to Baslim than meets the eye and Thorby learns much from him. Baslim quickly becomes a beloved father and mentor.
Eventually events force Thorby to leave Sargon and to travel with the Free Traders. The Free Traders are an interesting culture and the complexities of their social structure with its stress on knowing exactly whom you are related to and how is initially confusing to Thorby. When he finally leaves his second adoptive family, he is forced into yet another different culture - the one of his birth.
In some ways, this is the hardest culture of all for him to adapt to, but he comes to understand that the best way he can fight back at the slavers is in the way he least expected to.
It isn't an easy decision for him, and when I first read the book as a child, I disliked the ending - I was looking for 'happy ever after'. As an adult, I really like the ending. It deals with maturity and acceptance of responsibility, and understanding that to give freedom to others, you may have to lose it yourself.
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There's quite a few other examples of him doing things (or being able to do things) because of what he's learned previously.
And, of course, there's the unanswered question of why Baslim would even think about buying him in the first place, except, of course, that it's required to establish what happens when he finds out who he really is...
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He'd never have bid a sum that allowed a slaver to make a profit, but a minim bid was within even a beggar's income.
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It just shouts Plot Device to me.
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There are just too many events in that book which appear to happen simply to ensure that something else can happen later on and that stretches my credulity.
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