Customer Reviews

Double Star

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The year is 1956. Eisenhower is in the White House, following a long line of military men to reach that post. And this slim book appears, presenting the wild idea of an actor, perhaps not even a very good actor, who manages to reach the position of head of state. Obviously an idea like this could only appear within the realm of science fiction! What a difference in perspective an additional twenty five years will make, as once more science fiction becomes fact.

The route Lorenzo Smythe takes to reach this post is, however, just a little different from that of the real-world actor. The Great Lorenzo, as he styles himself, is conceited, arrogant, out of work, and down to his last half-Imperial when he is offered the job of doubling for a well-known political figure. The job is so obviously beneath his dignity that he is ready to turn down the offer when the Martians take a hand, and Lorenzo finds himself involved in murder, kidnapping, and slicing both humans and Martians into small pieces to flush down the disposal.

Forced by these circumstances to take the job, Lorenzo is even more disturbed when he finds out the identity of the person he is supposed to double for, none other that the leader of the opposition party, Joseph Bonforte, whose politics, what little he knows of them, he despises. But his own inflated idea of his abilities allows him to steady down and start studying for the role, a role he will play for much longer than he could ever anticipate.

This book is a character study, carefully and artfully detailing how Lorenzo changes under the influence of having to pretend to be someone he is not, aided by the immediate staff of the man he impersonates. It is fascinating to watch him change from someone you probably wouldn't invite into your home, to confused and beginning to search for some moral basis to his life beyond 'the show must go on', and finally to a man doing his best not just for himself, but for all intelligent beings, truly becoming the man he is portraying.

The other characters here are pretty sketchy, mainly props to help move the plot and aid Lorenzo. This is most noticeable with Penny, Bonforte's personal secretary, who suffers from the typical Heinlein failing (at that point in his writing career) of portraying women as one-dimensional beings. However, this limited portrayal of these secondary characters does not detract from, but rather enhances by contrast the masterful portrayal of Lorenzo.

Heinlein makes good use of his own experience in running for the California State legislature, as he describes the mechanics of running a political campaign, just how decisions are reached, how dependent a politician is upon the quality of the staff he selects, so that these items ring with real-world ambience. This is also probably the first book that clearly showed his leaning towards what would now be called Libertarianism, but this exposition is fairly muted, unlike some of his later works. And it wouldn't be a Heinlein book without his side commentaries: here he covers monarchies, civil servants, patronage, media management, taxes, unions, truth and lies, prejudice and xenophobia.

Published at a time when a novel of character was practically unheard of in the science fiction world, this work, like so many others by Heinlein, expanded the boundaries of the field, another step in lifting it out of its self-imposed pulp ghetto and back to the world of literature. This is probably part of the reason this book earned Heinlein his first of five Hugo awards for best novel of the year, a record matched by no other author. The rest of the reason? It's a fun, fast, great read; a story that hasn't lost its power to engross, entertain, and expand your view of the world.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

I read this book over 10 years ago. I still remember it and I'm still fascinated by the whole theme of pretending to be someone makes you into that person that you were pretending to be. Less heavy handed than Vonnegut's Mother Night with the same theme, this Heinlein book is a delight on many levels. First the main character's smart aleck tone is highly entertaining. "If a guy walks into a bar dressed like a hick acting like he knows the place, you can tell that he's a space man". Heinlein's use of character voices is one of his strengths (like in Podkayne of Mars). Second, the role that this actor is playing becomes him and makes him into a responsible human being which is a nice idea in that a person can change and become a good person despite their best efforts to the contrary.

There are problems of course. The Martians aren't that fleshed out. The shift from jerk to statesman seems way too abrupt. Some may find the main character grating. But Heinlein's strength rest in that his storytelling doesn't allow you to dwell too much on his weaknesses.

The other two are _The Door into Summer_ and _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. Heinlein also wrote a handful of near-great novels as well as some third-tier stuff that I don't care about rereading. (And his nonfiction, unlike Asimov's, isn't worth the paper it's printed on.) But these three novels are magisterial, and as close to perfect as anything he ever wrote.

This time out, our "hero" is Lawrence Smith a.k.a. Lorenzo "Lorrie" Smythe a.k.a. "The Great Lorenzo", a self-important and out-of-work actor who, at least initially, isn't all that heroic. He's approached about a job, and it turns out to involve serving as a double for a famous statesman in a public appearance. The rest you'll have to read for yourself.

It's a fast-moving, well-paced, meaty story, and it raises all sorts of fascinating questions about personal identity, character, and such. And Heinlein handles it all very deftly. Smith (why _are_ so many of his characters named "Smith"?) contends at one point that in order for an actor to portray a character properly, s/he has to _become_ the character, and it's impossible to do so without coming to like the character somewhat. Well, that's just what Heinlein does here with Smith himself. (Another of Heinlein's Smiths would later describe this process as "grokking".)

Oh, there are a few soapboxy bits, but they don't interfere much with the story. For example, at one or two points we get a few pseudo-profound quotations from statesman John Joseph Bonforte that sound suspiciously like Heinlein himself at his tub-thumpingly silliest (or perhaps some lost excerpts from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, which may be another way of saying the same thing). But it's kept under control. (In other words, this is not _Starship Troopers_ or _Farnham's Freehold_.)

This is one of Heinlein's finest and most tightly constructed tales, and almost fifty years after its publication it still holds up well. This is the master at his best -- and his best was very, very good.

Heinlein was one of the best, and you would be missing out if you passed up the chance to read this, one of his many masterpieces. This story can still hold its own (despite being printed in 1957) against others in the genre- again, Heinlein was a master story-teller.
Enough people have given the summary of the book, but Heinlein wrote beyond the surface. The story is of an actor who truly discovers a greatness within himself that he at first only pretended to own. It's a story of humanity- in the politics the actor must represent- that humanity must not be doomed to repeat the same mistakes of seeing itself superior to other races, but instead try to learn to live in harmony. Like any good story it takes believeable characters and puts them in seemingly real situations in fantasy worlds, and tells us how we could only hope to act were we in such a predicament.
I'm lucky enough to own a first edition in great shape. I happened across it at a yard sale and had to pick it up. To me it was a "new" Heinlein novel as I hadn't heard of it. It's a light read, and although short, it's deep and fun. The plot loosely reminded me of a certain movie about an actor who impersonates the president... Of course this book was written LONG before that, and is much better. Read this book because it was written by Heinlein. Love it because it was well written.

This is a crisp story, with action and intrigue from start to finish. Lorenzo Smythe is one of Heinlein's most engaging characters, and a real departure from the typical Heinlein hero. He also goes through a lot of changes, as a good protagonist should.

Heinlein generally doesn't have a lot of good things to say about politicians, but John Joseph Bonforte (another critical character) is his exception that proves the rule. He's honest, capable, caring - in short a saint among politicians.

Another reviewer complained of too much politics, but that's rather silly in my opinion. The book is about the world of politics in the future, so it has to talk about it. But there is very little of Heinlein's trademark libertarian philosophizing. The book moves so fast, there isn't time for it.

This is Heinlein's only short work to win a Hugo award, and I consider it quite worthy of the honor. It's not one of Heinlein's series of juvenile novels, but it can be read by teens as well as adults. Get it - it beats 99% of the science fiction ever written, and practically 100% of the stuff being put out these days.

Lorenzo Smythe has to be one of the best examples of a character you love to loathe in the beginning, and winding up loving by the middle. The way that Smythe, like so many of Heinlen's first person narrators, reveals things about himself, sometimes inadvertently, is just as interesting as the stories he tells. "Double Star", as far as I'm concerned, is his Heinlen's virtuoso performance of narration, and a terrific plot to go with it.

I first read Double Star when I was a teenager. I didn't get some of the subtleties until much later, but what a great read for a teenager. My 14 year-old daughter picked it up as a last resort (sci-fi, yuck), and stayed up all night to read it!

Engaging charachters that speeds along. Not alot of gadgets or pure sci-fi, just an interesting story, interesting people set in an interesting time (the future). If you have any experience with politics, theatre, crime, soap operas or mysteries, you'll enjoy the read.

When compared to the body of Heinlein's later work (i.e. the mid-sixties to the late 1980s) _ Double Star_ hardly holds up. However, given the period in which this book was written it is truely a marvel worthy of its Hugo award winning status. I admire Heinlein for the way his hard sci-fi usually fools you to believe the events that are occuring. But in _Double Star_ Heinlein does less than he can to make the stroy believable. My understanding is that Heinlein kept the novel short to attract both adult and juvenille audiences. Maybe that's why he kept one aspect of the story very simple as well. The aspect I speak of is Lorenzo's transformation from pompous actor to a high ranking political official. What I mean by simple is that even in a science fiction story set far in the future, this transformation, which fools the public at large as well as many who are close to the senator, is accompshed with makeup! What I do like about the novel is the fact that Heinlein inserts a socially important message regarding prejudice. In the future realtionships between humans and martians parallel the race relations between whites and blacks during the time the novel was written. Heinlein is able to skillfully use the art of speculative fiction to draw this comparision, thereby creating an effective vision for social reform. In this regard the novel works well, and I would have liked to have seen more of it. It does, however, provide a blueprint for things to come from Heinlein, as he would elaborate more on issues of this nature at a later date. The novel could have been better even by 1956 standards. I believe it was lessened by Heinlein's conservative nature apon entering the world of adult sci-fi. Thankfully he loosened up as he entered the 60's. For fans of Heinlein _Double Star_ is a must read despite flaws.

As usual, Heinlein grabs the reader from the very first page. In this particular first page, it's his natural-seeming description of how a spaceman dresses, walks and otherwise behaves on ground.

I also love his take on acting - how one's affect, way of walking, etc. are arguably more important than superficial facial appearance.

I love his asides about political realities --> the behind-the-scenes machinery of "democracy."

On a certain level, Double Star is a rehearsal for his much-later Friday, one of my favorite Heinlein books.

Double Star is a pleasure to read, escapist fiction in its very highest sense. As I write this, I wonder why the heck am I giving it three stars instead of four? Mmmm, I'd say it's because I'm comparing it with other Heinlein books, and based on that high standard, I say it's a solid "good."

This is one of Heinlein's four Hugo-winning novels. A rather lightweight actor is shanghaied away from Earth and more or less forced to impersonate a kidnapped politician. As he understands what the politician stands for, he falls more willingly into the role. The politician is recovered, but in such condition that the actor must remain in the role, and when the politician dies, adopt it for life.

Lorenzo's transformation from lightweight actor to Churchillian libertarian politician is interesting to watch, and the science fiction is not essential to the plot--the Empire could, with some plot modifications, be in Roman times, or the British Empire, or in the twentieth century.

Two problems: We see two sorts of characters we encounter too often in Heinlein's later books here--the two-dimensional female (Penny) and the yammerhead (Bill). It strains credibility that someone like Bonforte would tolerate someone like Bill near him for several years (sure, he does good work, but surely there would be thousands of nicer competant people available to a high-level politician), but the plot needs a bad guy close enough for the readers to focus on. But we see too many Pennys and Bills in the later Heinleins. Second problem: Heinlein's parliamentary system is ill-thought out. Wouldn't the Grand Assembly be heavily dominated by Asians? Yet, all of Bonforte's associates are American or English. (I don't think we even see an Asian, other than the Emperor's attache. Where's Quiroga from? South America?) How is it, in a Grand Assembly where the districts must have the population of New York City (say, 800 members, 8,000,000 per district), that there can be "pocket boroughs"--districts for space pilots, and university women, and a district for Lapland? And, would these districts be content to have their representatives be Mr. Bonforte's secretary and crew?

Still, a great book.