Okay. This one was a wild ride. It pretty much starts out with a horrendous torture scene which the victim seems none too concerned about. Then it changes location, seemingly several times within the first half hour of reading. Space. The Midwest. New Zealand. Canada. And on it goes, a merry chase around North America in search of...what?
Friday Jones is an artificial person and has never felt quite human. This is used to explain her resilience in the face of torture, and also her propensity for leaping into bed with everything that moves. I don't think she quite believes that herself, even though she appears to view sex as a sort of sport.
So it's a search for identity, which she does eventually find. Her route to peace is brazen and twisted, full of betrayals and losses and then compensated by a number of incredible coincidences that come together at the end to give her everything she ever wanted.
I did not like the victim mentality and the perceived cheapness in which she held herself, reinforced by the fact that she ended up marrying one of the dudes who tortured her in that early scene. I mean, really?
What I did like was the speed of global travel. Anywhere on the planet by semi-ballistic rocket in 45 minutes? Yes please! As usual, Heinlein has crammed the setting with every possible futuristic invention.
I got through it sure enough, but every time she met someone new and bedded them it was like "here we go again..." Still, I can see why people like it.
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