Customer Reviews

The Cat Who Walks through Walls

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

A lot of reviewers seem to have misunderstood this book. It is not meant to stand on it's own. I've never understood the type of reader who, when choosing which book to read first when encountering an author new to them, randomly pick a book off the shelf. This is usually a recipe for disaster in science fiction, and Heinlein is no exception. For everyone's convenience let me hereby make a list of...

BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE READING THIS ONE IF YOU EXPECT TO LIKE IT OR HAVE IT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL: Methuselah's Children, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, and The Number of the Beast. (Characters from The Rolling Stones, Stranger In A Strange Land, and The Man Who Sold The Moon, among others, also appear, or are mentioned, but reading those books is not necessary to understand this one.)

Clearly, this is a book for the hard-core Heinlein fan. Newcomers to the author should definately start elsewhere. As for this book itself... how good is it? Well, if you've read all the books I've mentioned, quite good. It starts out as a very fast-paced and cleverly told adventure story (reminiscent to 50's-era Heinlein) on a seemingly unrelated note to the books mentioned above. However, mid-way or so through, the plot changes abruptly, as The Number of the Beast did. This sudden switch is a bit annoying, because the events of utmost signifigance in the first part of the novel are not resolved until the very end of the book, and a few minor ones are not resolved at all (wait for the next book, To Sail Beyond The Sunset.) (This segment of the story is not, however, abandoned completely as some reviewers have incorrectly stated, but rather resolved at book's end. I am forced to believe that some of these reviewers did not finish the book.) In hindsight, it probably would have been better had Heinlein finished up the story started early on in the book in a more standard fashion, and then have the events in the latter part of the book fleshed out and expanded in a different book. But Heinlein was always an idiosynctric writer, and Cat is no exception.

Don't be turned off by the other reviews. If you are a Heinlein fan, and have read the books I mentioned, you will enjoy this book.

No one is a big a Robert Heinlein completist as I am. I even own the hardcover of "Tramp Royale." I've read and reread my Heinleins happily for years. Including "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls."

Sadly, it is a completist who will get the most enjoyment out of this book.

The first half of the book is a true adventure, and is very well told and paced. It features the tight characterization and dialogue that made Heinlein's reputation, along with the hard science fiction that Heinlein championed and told so well. After the first half... it slips. Badly. It slows to a crawl, it becomes nearly opaque, and the heart of the book -- Richard's banter with his wife -- is almost completely missing.

There are many cries about Heinlein's physical condition at the time he wrote "Cat." His latter years were in poor health, to be certain. But this health did not affect his writing (save for a condition he underwent around the time he wrote "I Will Fear No Evil," which precluded his editing the novel, which suffered for it). Indeed, two of his more successful later books -- Job: A Comedy of Justice, and Friday -- were both worked on and written in the neighborhood of this one. "To Sail Beyond the Sunset," Heinlein's last (and much much better) novel that was a sequel to this shows his acuity as a writer continued. My assumption is that Heinlein had certain events he wanted to set up for "To Sail..." and therefore wrote this book.

Nevertheless, I have read it several times, and do enjoy it. Fans of "Time Enough for Love," "The Rolling Stones," "The Number of the Beast," and "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" will want to read this. Fans of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" will likely want to give it a look. But newcomers to the Grand Master should go elsewhere -- "Starship Troopers," "Double Star," "Stranger in a Strange Land," or "Citizen of the Galaxy," to name some -- to cut their teeth on this seminal Science Fiction author's work

This isn't by any means Robert Heinlein's finest work, and I highly recommend _not_ reading it as one of your first few Heinleins. But you'll want to get around to it eventually, because (a) you should read it before you read the marvelous _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_, and (b) it's really not that bad.

Oh, you have to be really into Heinlein in order to appreciate it. As in _Friday_, the cool intrigue at the beginning peters out partway through and never quite comes back. (It does get resolved to a degree at the end, but in my view not very satisfactorily.) So you have to be prepared to enjoy a few hundred pages of character interaction and dialogue.

If you like the way Heinlein handles such things, you'll like this; otherwise not. Me, I like Col. Colin Campbell a.k.a. Richard Ames, and I like Gwen Novak, so I enjoy their company (and their arguments, and their lectures).

Some readers have had misgivings about the ending, but I don't mind it; besides, if you have trouble figuring out what happened, you'll find out in _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_. The real problem here is that the first two-thirds of the novel is two-thirds of a good novel, the last third is one-third of a good novel, but they're the good parts of two different novels.

You'll see what I mean if/when you read it; I can't explain it any further without giving things away. But do read it if you like Heinlein; it's better than you've heard.

(It's also a sequel of sorts to _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_, which you might want to read first, mainly because you'll want to read it anyway, since it's the finest SF novel ever written by Heinlein or anyone else.)

there was hardly any mention of Pixel the cat, it was alot of dialog, tried to resemble a fast paced action book, but I found myself skimming over alot of the text after a while.......for a female I like action and for the plot to move along........there was too much about dumb sexual innuendos about swinging, and multiple partner sex.I felt like the over tone to the book was "well ok we all have alot of sex with LOTS of different people in the future" it was too focused on that ...I liked "Stranger In a Strange Land" alot better. By the time I was through with this book I kind of felt almost like he was just slapping stuff on a page.

I am a great lover of the words of Heinlein. But this book has got to be one of his worst. While it has some very interesting quantum physics threads, and some interesting character as aware entity moments, it does not hold together. The relationships of the main character and his children (near the end of the book) are confusing and more explicit than needed/wanted. The 'mysteries' the main character was trying to solve fell apart like wet tissue paper. I was dissapointed that the ending did not allow resolution of many issues the book tried to explore. What was heinlein thinking?

I've read a lot of Heinlein and I consider him to be hit and miss but generally readable. This book is atrocious.

The beginning 3rd of the book is very good despite some back and forth dialog that gets a bit too snarky too often. Then comes a scene of intense peril which is ruined entirely. Heinlein is so hellbent on proving his scientific knowledge to the reader that the scene is barely readable much less enjoyable. All sense of atmosphere disappears in a cloud of thick explanations about physics and ballistics. I only bring up this scene because it seems to be the turning point where a good whodunnit turns into a tiresome misdirected mess.

From here on out you suffer through ~250 pages of overly verbose dialog that's supposed to be clever. All people, especially women, are sex fixated and everyone is vowing to marry and sleep with everyone else in group marriages. Even more unfortunate is that it all just comes through as being awkward. I don't mean awkward because it assets cultural norms that defy my upbringing. I mean awkward because like most sci-fi authors, Heinlein has no inkling of how to write effective sex or romance. It's the kind of awkward reminiscent of when early adolescents fool around - all the while blushing, giggling, and not being able to unhook a bra. All hormones and no grace. Just plain awkward.

Next flaw: Heinlein has fallen so in love with his worlds that he forgets there's supposed to be forward momentum. In one scene about 3/4ths of the way through the book, an event of tremendous importance occurs. In the middle of it, he muddles everything up by introducing new minor/meaningless characters and taking time to describe their ancestry and last names. Hello! Can we get back to the plot point? (Especially since it's the first plot point we've seen in over 50 pages!) We aren't even learning anything interesting about the characters themselves. Only how they fit into the world he spent so much effort detailing.

Next: the computers. Yes, I'm a computer geek. (Big shocker: a computer geek reading Heinlein...) but this is not a rant about how he messed up a computer detail or how the computers of the future ought to contain X or Y feature. This is much more fundamental: sassy self-aware computers. All the self-aware computers are just as sassy, opinionated, prone to verbally-sparing, and sex-obsessed as the humans are. Worse: the personalities aren't original. These computers, as well as all of the females in the book, except for the main 1 or 2, are carbon-copies of the personalities of the girls in "Stranger in a Strange Land."

Next: Everyone's favorite character: Robert A. Heinlein. This is one of the few gripes I have about ALL Heinlein books: there's always 1 or 2 characters (or 3 or 4 in Starship Troopers) who are always right, who's opinions are beyond reproach, and who deliver exhaustive monologues about unconventional theories which are clearly nothing more than Heinlein expressing his own views. These are your "Heinlein" characters. They are him and they are never anything less than victorious. In this book there are some particularly silly and over the top instances of these speeches, opinions, and characters.

Plot: yes, there was a plot - albeit neglected for most of the book in favor of aforementioned snappy dialog (mostly about sex) and in favor of discovering the world he invented. The main plot is something that happens in the first chapter and is resolved in the last chapter. Sadly, it has little to do with anything in the rest of the chapters. The mystery would be entirely obvious with about 80 pages remaining until climax except that since the rest of the book has nothing to do with the beginning/ending plot, you forget about it altogether. In fact, you're kinda surprised when it gets resolved at all.

If you are a fan of good sci-fi, I highly recommend Heinlein - except for The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. I've only once EVER read a book where I'd gotten more than half way through and stopped. This was going to be #2 except that the next book I wanted to read hadn't yet reached me by mail.

I haven't read Heinlein in a while, so for some explicable reason, when I started back I chose this book.

Thanks to reading other readers reviews I'm not giving up on Heinlein, as this book almost lead me to do.

The book is a recounting of events by the main character, Richard Ames, aka Colin Campbell. He finds himself like a snowball in an avalanche taken in by a series of events he does not fully understand. The first half of this book describes how he and his wife(Gwen) deal with the situation. It is entertaining and fast paced. Their banter and their relationship is interesting to follow.

However, the book makes a major shift when the "real" plot behind this book kicks in. The author becomes enamored with details. These details are negotiable as well, what is fact one minute is fiction the next. Too many characters are introduced and their inter-relationships are way too hard to follow.

This last half of the book, deals with getting the main character to join this group that got him in this mess to start with. Until the last 10 pages, you do not think he is planning on participating and even then, you are not sure what has happened. A spotty attempt at explaining previous events is done in less than two pages and even then, you have no idea what precipitated those events. The ending is depressing.

One thing struck me and this is my own commentary from reading Heinlein as an adult versus when I was a teen, is how sexually obsessed he seems to be. Enough said, not a soap box. As a teen, it did not stand out, as an adult it does. Also, it was interesting to see with all the new age technology described here, ballistic tubes, time travel, etc., there is not one cell phone.

On occasion ~ "Expanded Universe" and this book, for two examples ~ Heinlein has expressed the opinion that to write is a disease which may only be excised through the process of writing something. Anything. Unfortunately, the latter was his choice in preparing this book, so what we have here is going on four hurndred pages, some large number of thousand words (Heinlein always could produce), of something which may have provided relief for the author, but gives none to his reader. The first half reads like the Heinlein of old, almost; looks as though it is going to be a fine adventure story along the lines of "Harsh Mistress" or "Spacesuit" with a pair of brand new heroes who are as attractive as any he's ever produced. Sadly, partway through, he succombed to the desire to tie everything together (always a Heinlein weakness) with every other book he ever wrote. Thus, in come Lazerus Long, the Burroughs, Boondock, Jubal Harshaw, and the rest, and out go intelligent story-telling, character development, and the reader's pleasure. All of a sudden the plot hinges on the rescue of what is possibly my favourite (certainly in the top five) Heinlein character ~ Mike, the computer behind Adam Selene ~ from Lunar City, in a different time-line, a different section of the multiverse all together. I take second place to no one in my desire to see Mike again, but not this way; never this way. Unfortunately, a secondary frustration with this book is that Heinlein himself is caught up in the time-paradoxes he creates, and doesn't seem to realise it. He shows people erased, shows a memory fading, as a result of a history change, but doesn't realise that the Burroughs themselves ought to have been erased, since they can be shown never to have existed in their own timeline. This is a minor quibble, though, compared with the greater disappointment of seeing a wonderful, strong, genius may not be too strong, talent wasted on this dreck. And that's not even mentioning the cat....

This book shares much in common with "Number of the Beast". Both begin with the hero pursued by unidentified nasties. He quickly acquires a loving but mysterious wife, then runs for his life for a couple of hundred pages, with you turning pages quickly to see how it turns out. Then it gets weird.

Heinlein's love late in his life of multipersonality soliphism (we made the universe up between us.) overwhelms the story and plot, characterization, and everything else just dissolve. Lots of potential wasted.

I am a Heinlein fan. I have read something like 5 of his books and have either loved or at least enjoyed every one of them. That is why this book, the Cat Who Walks Through Walls, surprised me so much. It is among the 5 worst books that I have ever read, period.

It starts great in the manner of a sci-fi murder mystery. Half way through, though, the first half of the book is thrown out the window and is rendered pointless. A group of time travelers wants the lead character to help them with a dangerous mission. Why? They never really explain. However, they manage to save him from almost certain death in an ambush led by someone trying to collect some reward money by bringing him in.

The next 150 pages are spent trying to convince the main character that he should join them in their cause to correct time for the advancement of the human race (yawn). He says no all the way until the second to last chapter. I was wondering how this was going to end, since it was leading to a rather weak finale and I had all of 8 pages to go.

The final 8 pages explain that the main character actually DID do this mission, the mission had gone bad, and now he was dying. However, if the people who had managed to mortally wound him, his wife, and his cat returned (who were they??) he was going to take at least 6 of them out with him.

The first rule in writing is "show me, don't tell me". In this case, Heinlein managed to do neither! He didn't show or tell how things got to their ending! You find out after the fact that it had gone through. 150 pages of boring conversation, 8 pages of post-mission analysis. What about the 50+ pages that could have explained the actual mission?! That would probably have been good reading!

Heinlein, what were you thinking?