Customer Reviews

Tramp Royale

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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You've read all his fiction, and you've played with the ideas. You like some and you don't like others, but they're all worth thinking about. You'd really like to get to know him better - the real man, not the political writer you can read in Expanded Universe.

Wouldn't it be nice if he had taken a year out of his life to wander around, look at the world, and write down what he saw and what he thought about it? Wouldn't it be fun to follow him around the world?

He did. You can.

This is, simply put, the best collection of Heinlein's thought you'll find. No, he didn't go to Russia on this trip, but his views on Latin America, South Africa and the South Seas are fascinating. Along the way he discusses bureaucracy, politics, freedom, politeness, and nature.

And no other writer could write a straightforward description of taking his wife into an establishment that turned out to be a whorehouse, without a trace of embarrassment, prudishness, or lewdness.

Most of his travel tips are dated, of course. On the other hand, if you ever travel through the Panama Canal, TAKE HIS ADVICE. Elsewhere, he describes a delightful and elegant way to frustrate a compulsive check-grabber. He also explains, in simple, straightforward fashion, what makes people eager to help some people when they are sullen with others.

But you're not reading it for travel advice. You're reading it to travel with Heinlein. Read a contemporary account of McCarthy's committee, or a 50s condemnation of apartheid. (Heinlein, never a coward, tried to convince South African whites that this system wasn't going to work.)

Heinlein's ready to take you around the world. Have a nice trip.

Tramp opens with Robert Heinlein announcing to his wife that they have a little too much money lying around and that they will be going on a round-the-world trip. After sorting through a great deal of consular red tape, they embark on a sea journey from New Orleans down along the west coast of South America. Thence, the Heinleins fly across the Andes to Buenos Aires, sail up the coast to visit São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and then cross the Atlantic to South Africa, with a call at Tristan da Cunha mid-journey. From there, they sail east, touring the island countries of the Indian Ocean, finally ending up in Australia and New Zealand. And in spite of Mrs. Heinlein's terror of flying, they make the last leg of their journey in airplanes, via Fiji and Hawaii.

While in each country, Heinlein sketches a general picture of life there as he sees it, fleshing it in liberally with anecdotes and opinions. Heinlein's perceptions are limited in Latin America and other places with a language barrier, but he does his level best to tell us what he knows; the language difference does not hobble his keen empathy. In my opinion, he does a superb job of capturing the painstakingly polite manner of speech and behavior of Latin Americans, even though his Spanish is largely limited to `por favor' and `gracias' (the latter phrase he mistakenly uses in Brazil, as well). In anglophone countries, on the other hand, Heinlein is in his element, thoroughly engaged with the people and situations he encounters, and more often able to transcend mere reporting.

In addition to the cultural commentary and travel tips, Heinlein gives readers a glimpse of his life with Virginia Heinlein, whom he refers to throughout the book as "Ticky." The repartee exchanged by the couple seems close to the kind of badinage Heinlein includes in his post-Stranger fiction, and I wonder if they really talked to one another that way, or if ! Heinlein is simply taking artistic license with their dialogue. Perhaps both are true. In any case, Heinlein appears to have had his hands full with Ticky, whom he describes as an anarchist, and who spends a good portion of the book rebelling against the status quo, as when, in one episode, she smuggles packs of American cigarettes past South African customs, tucked here and there about her person. Small wonder that Heinlein found it necessary to pack barbiturates.

Essentially, Tramp Royale is an Eisenhower-era period piece. Heinlein's description of the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore will not help today's traveler to the Far East, nor will his advice on politesse and pidgin Spanish necessarily save the 1990s tourist from falling victim to the current crime wave in Latin America. I also get the sense that Heinlein is not quite sure whether he wants to recount the tale of his 1954 round-the-world voyage, issue advice and guidance to the traveler, or expound on the political issues of 1950s America, using the countries he visits as foils. Heinlein manages to accomplish all three with occasionally unsatisfying, though eminently entertaining results. Tramp Royale may not fall into any one category, but it is as entertaining and thought-provoking as anything Heinlein ever wrote.

This is not, of course, a book that a reader new to Heinlein should pick up, but it is an absolute must-read for hard-core fans of RAH. Heinlein describes his experiences in a trip that began in the whorehouses (which he unflinchingly brought his wife into) of New Orleans to the tropical paradise of Hawaii, while hitting such interesting spots as the extremely isloated Trista da Cunha, Java, the contrasting "utopias" of Uraguay and New Zealand and others in-between. I found Heinlein's observations to be dead-honest, always interesting, and frequently enlightening. Of course, being Heinlein, he could not just stick a bunch of lifeless travel essays on paper and call it a book. Instead, you also get (throughout the course of the book) his views on politics, foreign policy, travel expenses and red tape, and lots more. He also gives many travel tips (some inevitably dated) to those who are interested. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the book to Heinlein fans is the inside glimpse you get of his private life. Much is shown about his relationship with his wife Virginia (who, for reasons never stated, he refers to as "Ticky") and you get to see the way he operated in a given situation. Of course, a casual science fiction fan could care less about this, but to the veteran of RAH's fiction (the target audience of this book) it is a treasure trove of Heinleinia.

This out-of-date travelogue, written in the 1950's by one of the most decorated science fiction writers and published posthumously, was clearly published for the ready market of Robert Heinlein fans thirsty for anything written by the Grand Master.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all Heinlein fans will too. His wit, pragmatism, and personality shine throughout the book-even when covering the more mundane subjects such as the quality of hotels to the red tape involved in traveling. I especially enjoyed getting a glimpse of his wife's personality as well. They make for some of the more humorous vignettes in this work.

The last chapter is probably the best where Heinlein takes off his gloves, so to speak, and allows himself to become a political pundit and talks about what he learned on his trip. This, for me, was the most interesting part of the book. Nothing there will surprise Heinlein's fans gleaning his political/social viewpoint in his novels, but it was fascinating nonetheless.

This book frankly is not for a general audience. I can't imagine that anyone not a fan of and familiar with Heinlein's works would find this book particularly interesting.

It's a must read for Heinlein fans. But of course, everything he wrote is a must read for his fans.

If you are a Heinlein fan, this book lets you take an enjoyable trip back in time half a century and around the world in the southern hemisphere in the company of the great writer and his wife, Ticky. Disregard the Publishers Weekly review above -- whoever wrote it is obviously a dirty rotten agent for the Klendathu. Hopefully, New Zealand has changed for the better since the 1950s, but probably Indonesia is still at least as bad. And some things never change: "I came back to the U.S. convinced that it was an even better country than I had thought it was. ... But I came back, too, convinced that our peril was very great and our friends very few. The extent and the viciousness of the propaganda campaign against us must be heard to be believed. ... Envy and hate are the inevitable concomitants of wealth and power; we have been uneasily aware of this and have tried to curry favor wherever we could. But it is not possible; we are hated not for our behavior but for what we are -- and they are not. ... England, in the days of her strength, paid no attention to what other peoples thought of her; she acted in her own best interests as she conceived them to be and ignored world opinion. We should learn from our predecessor at least part of this lesson: never let a decision be swayed by what the neighbors will think, for they will gossip about us whatever we do. Let us be honest and brave - but not politic."

This account of the trip taken across the Southern Hemisphere by Robert Heinlein and his wife was fascinating for me, although dated in its observations (it was written in 1954 afterall). He enjoys Chilean and Uruguayan hospitality, compares the Peron regime of Argentina to the Pendergast machine of Missouri, and admires Brazilian style capitalism. He travels on to South Africa, where he's appalled by apartheid, and encounters great hospitality and a entrepreneurial spirit he admires in Singapore. The squalor of Indonesia horrifies him, but he admires Australia's egalitarianism, while at the same time criticizing its "trade unionism gone wild". His most scathing criticism was for New Zealand, which he dubbed the "dreary utopia". Heinlein often mixed a dose of politics and social commentary in his works. This is no different. This book is a great read for Heinlein fans or those with politics somewhat right of center. Non-Americans or fairly liberal Americans will probably be put off by his constant statements on traveling abroad, foreign policy, international relations etc.

A very enjoyable book. Its setting in 1953-4, rather than dating the book, makes it an interesting time capsule, particularly if you have visited or lived in any of the places Heinlein writes about. He also notes features which were later to hold global attention, for example his remarks on Apartheid decades before it became chic to self righteously condemn it. RAH's contempt for that system is real and reads much more sincerely than the shallow posturings of many of today's "cause of the week" celebrities. His insights are penetrating and I wonder if one reason for the book not being published is his agent and publisher's concern about such a frank "warts and all" appraisal of the countries he visits. His prognosis for our future is bleak in view of the rampant poverty and overpopulation he observed in Asia. However, we are now living in that future and while the problems remain, they have been much less catastrophic than they looked fifty years ago. Perhaps there is hope... In every case his gimlet eye is refreshing, even when his crystal ball is cloudy. To his credit, Heinlein states up front that he is not qualified to make the judgements he makes, but he is unsparing in his observations and commentary. When his expectations and prejudices are challenged, he is honest enough to admit it and attempt to understand why. All in all, a fascinating view of how the world looked a half century ago. Have we done better, or worse, than an observer from RAH's perspective had a right to expect?

This book apparently languished unpublished from the early 1950s, when it was written. Some years after Heinlein's death, a publisher contacted his widow asking for any unpublished manuscripts, and accepted this one. Heinlein is incapable of writing a dull book. The only thing I can say against it is that it is dated, and that's hardly Heinlein's fault, given the lag between writing and publication. Again and again, I see things in the text that later turned up in his stories, almost word-for-word. Anybody seriously interested in how the man worked owes it to himself/herself to read this.

The name Heinlein invokes `science fiction'. Trouble is, as he stated in Expanded Universe, he wrote other things too, which everyone thought was hyperbole until some digging was done and the mysteries, romance stories, political how-to and world warning message essays were found. This book is part of that `other' group, a travelogue of his around the world trip he took with wife Virginia `Ticky' Heinlein in 1953-1954. But regardless of what genre he was writing in, Heinlein's style, very personable `voice', and clear thought processes were always present, and this book is no exception.

But why would anyone want to read about Heinlein's travels from fifty years ago? Clearly the world has changed a lot since that trip, and much of what he saw then no longer exists or has morphed radically. But if you are looking for a very perceptive look at other countries and cultures, this is it, with the added fillip of looking to see just where and how things have changed and where things are still much the same as they were then. I've done a lot of world traveling in the past few years, and directly observed some of these changes. Perhaps one of the most obvious changes is the condition of Singapore, which Heinlein found to be very vibrant but quite dirty, and is now still vibrant but is one of the cleanest cities in the world, due to some draconian self-imposed laws. The Raffles is no longer THE place to stay there, though it still has some colonial charm, but has been eclipsed by some of the newer hotels. New Zealand, which comes in for some of Heinlein's harshest criticism, has made many changes to make a tourist's stay there more pleasant and enjoyable. Hawaii, while still an enormously beautiful island, has really become over-commercialized with one of the highest price tags of vacationing anywhere.

But as a confirmation of how acute and accurate his observations were, I was living in Sydney, Australia at the time he visited there, and can verify one of his statements that British subjects who came there were not treated as well as Americans, as when I came there I had a strong British accent and was frequently mistaken for one, which led to my exclusion from some of the kid's activities (I was about age seven then) while some other American immigrants in my school were not. Seeing such a small thing in such a short stay says much about how well he listened and looked.

But Heinlein does not merely catalogue the sights and feel of the countries he visited, nor did he stay within the bounds of only looking at the `tourist' sites. He looks at the governments, rules and regulations, economies, customs, history, and what he observed about each country's `average citizen's' attitude. Obviously he did a fair amount of research for this book - there is simply no way he could have accumulated that amount of knowledge about each country during his short stays in each one, though equally obviously he took copious notes about his first hand impressions during the days spent on shipboard between countries (though he never mentions doing so, instead regaling the reader with what life on ship was like, from Captain's table dinners to some heavy party sessions).

Throughout all of this book, there is a fair sprinkling of humor, most especially when he details the activities and dialogue of his wife. Many people have accused Heinlein of having unrealistic female characters in his stories, but here we see the archetype of those characters in a real person, one who Heinlein was obviously very much in love with, right down to his `compromises' with her that were all `her' way. In fact, Heinlein's own character shines throughout this book, a better look at the man and his actual opinions than can be found almost anywhere else. As an odd sidelight, Heinlein and I were within a few miles of each other in Australia in 1954. In 1983, I moved to San Jose, CA and once again I was within a few miles of where he was living then in Santa Cruz. But I never met the man, my great loss, for this man was a giant in more ways than one.

This book may have limited interest for non-Heinlein fans, but it is very readable, with some commentary that is just as applicable today as it was then, and is possibly a gold-mine for Heinlein scholars, as many things that he uses as background in some of his later books had an obvious genesis in what he saw during this trip.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

A very enjoyable book. Its setting in 1953-4, rather than dating the book, makes it an interesting time capsule, particularly if you have visited or lived in any of the places Heinlein writes about. He also notes features which were later to hold global attention, for example his remarks on Apartheid decades before it became chic to self righteously condemn it. RAH's contempt for that system is real and reads much more sincerely than the shallow posturings of many of today's "cause of the week" celebrities. His insights are penetrating and I wonder if one reason for the book not being published is his agent and publisher's concern about such a frank "warts and all" appraisal of the countries he visits. His prognosis for our future is bleak in view of the rampant poverty and overpopulation he observed in Asia. However, we are now living in that future and while the problems remain, they have been much less catastrophic than they looked fifty years ago. Perhaps there is hope... In every case his gimlet eye is refreshing, even when his crystal ball is cloudy. To his credit, Heinlein states up front that he is not qualified to make the judgements he makes, but he is unsparing in his observations and commentary. When his expectations and prejudices are challenged, he is honest enough to admit it and attempt to understand why. All in all, a fascinating view of how the world looked a half century ago. Have we done better, or worse, than an observer from RAH's perspective had a right to expect?