★★★ (of 5)

• Full Title: Red Planet
• Author: Robert A. Heinlein
• Year: 1949 (mine was 1990 reprint)
• Pages: 196
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Publisher: Del Rey (by Ballantine Books)
• ISBN 0-345-34039-6 (1990 paperback)
• Wikipedia page
• Author’s Wikipedia page

 

Summary

If memory serves me correctly, this was the very first Heinlein novel I read, in 1984 or so. (I followed it quickly with Space Cadet and Rocket Ship Galileo.) One of Heinlein’s early juveniles, it is, as the title implies, concerned with Mars.

Two boys — Jim Marlowe and friend Frank Sutton — are sent from their small, migratory colony to boarding school near the Martian equator, and Jim takes not-pet Willis. (Willis is a ball-like critter with three legs and three eyes, native to Mars. He can mimic human speech and record conversations for later playback, but otherwise thinks and acts like a very young child.) At school, Jim and Frank run afoul of the new (very strict) headmaster, who confiscates Willis. While trying to get Willis back, the boys learn that the corrupt administrator of the Mars colony plans several calamitous actions, so the boys leave school to warn their families. In the end, there is a mini-revolution, assisted by the Martian natives — who are friends with Jim and Frank.

This book is noteworthy because it was originally changed against Heinlein’s wishes, and only changed back in 1990, the version I have, published after his death. One change regards the length of time it requires a Martian to arrive at adulthood (I’m not sure what was controversial about that part), and the other change was to a discussion about the right to bear arms and whether that was reason enough to overthrow the government.

 

Praise

Like his other juvenile novels, the plot moves quickly and without delay. Action is succinctly described; (almost) anything unnecessary to the story has been cut away or was never included. Dialog feels natural (for the 1940s), and the character arcs of Jim and Frank are impressive for such a short book — their attitudes and behavior change subtly throughout, marking their increasing age and maturity. (Though I think Space Cadet contains far better examples of character arcs.)

 

‘For Its Time...’

Science/Technology: In 1949, no one knew just what to expect on the surface of Mars; Heinlein wrote as if the air was thick enough to breathe with the assistance of a respirator mask (it isn’t) and as if there were actual canals with water in them (there aren’t). And of course, it doesn’t look like Mars hosts even microbial life in reality, much less the leafy plants and sentient beings described here. Otherwise, the science and tech seem reasonable, and Heinlein’s solution for building the settler homes (of blown polymers) is fairly ahead of its time.

Racism: As in Space Cadet, the author goes out of his way to make it known that the Mars colony is multicultural and of mixed ethnicities. Specifically, the colony includes humans from Tibet and Bolivia, known for their adaptations to thinner atmosphere at high altitudes. Additionally, he uses the humans’ relations with the Martians as a metaphorical stand-in for race relations (as was fairly common in those days).

Sexism: Here Heinlein does slightly better than in a couple of previous books, giving Jim a younger sister who’s intelligent and “almost” as good with a gun as Jim. There are multiple named women characters with speaking roles. Still, women are relegated mostly to the roles of wives and caretakers, while the “real” work of the colony is done by men.

 

Points Off For...

I think he tried to do too much in this book, knowing it would have to be crammed into 200~ pages. In a single book, he tried to write a coming-of-age story, a colonization story, a revolution story, a politically-themed rant, and a mystery/thriller. While individual sections of the book are internally consistent, the work as a whole is not.

Also, near the end, so much has to take place to wrap up the story and answer the questions that Heinlein is pressed for time and gives a bare-bones outline of the final activities. (As an editor, I would have recommended filling this section out a little and cutting somewhere else.) It’s a helter-skelter rush to the finish.

 

Extra

There are foreshadowings here of later themes that Heinlein would eventually get to. Doc McRae is a prototype for the irritating and longwinded Jubal Harshaw that shows up in quite a few later books (and McRae, at times, also seems a bit like Lazarus Long, a later favorite Heinlein character). The Martians here are the same ones mentioned in 1961’s Stranger In A Strange Land, though here they play a greater role instead of being mythical background creatures. Doc McRae’s politcal speeches, though relatively brief, are early versions of what would become standard fare from Heinlein’s overly libertarian characters in later decades. The mini-revolution of the Martian colonists is eerily similar to the much better one in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (1966).

Conclusion

Though enjoyable with caveats, there are enough weak spots in this book that I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone.

 

 

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