posted
So I've read a handful of his books and loved them all, and on a whim I just picked up The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and read it last weekend. And now I'm kerflummoxed. There are things about it I loved, but it left so many holes in my head that I'm having trouble resolving. I'd be grateful to anyone who has any insight.
Things I liked:
1. Heinlein's writing style. It's verbose, to be sure, and I actually quite like that with him. He seems to go to great lengths to relate large quantities of casual familial and friendly banter among his characters, occasionally tossing some tidbit of plot-relevant information in as an afterthought. This may turn people off, but I find I love the characters and the way they interact, and I'm in no hurry to get on to the next bit of plot.
2. Pixel the cat -- in the book he is literally the cat who walks through walls. By far my favorite character in the book. (I'm cat people for sure. )
Unanswered questions which left me upset at the end of the book:
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1. Gwen/Hazel tells Richard in the last chapter that she had to kill 'him' because 'he' was assigned to kill Richard. But I can't figure out who 'he' is from anything else in the book.
2. Richard mentions seeing "what's-his-name" come through the open wall during the last firefight, and makes some comment about this what's-his-name having been erased from the story and written back in, but again I can't figure out who he's talking about.
3. Does the author seriously kill off all three main characters at the end of the book (I'm including Pixel as one of them)? The last chapter suggests that they all die, but it isn't conclusive.
4. And if they do all die, was that really necessary? 'Cause it gave me some unfair amounts of heartache.
5. Speaking of the cat, why on earth is the book titled after a character which seems to serve absolutely no function whatsoever to the story? I can't figure out why Pixel is in the story at all (even though he was my favorite).
6. What was the organization Bill was supposed to belong to, and am I expected to buy that he really was some agent acting as a backwards homeless waif?
7. What was all that business about Enrique Schultz and the need to kill Tolliver? I was irritated at how casually it was dismissed when it had been the opening, attention-grabbing scene of the whole book.
8. What was with the Tree-San that they kept with them through so many horrendous trials, which subsequently disappeared from the story with no further mention (except an afterthought of Richard in his final moments)?
He did that a lot with this book. He would introduce people and events, then continue to treat them as if they were important, as if they filled some vital role that would be revealed later in the book. And then they would disappear from the story without further resolution. There was what seemed to be a token attempt (toward the end of the book, for about a page) to resolve several pressing events by associating them all with 'another group of time-jumping people,' but it felt to me like a throwaway.
The kerflummoxing part about it all is that in spite of all the things that bothered me, I couldn't stop thinking about the book for three days after I finished it, and I'm still trying to figure out why. Was Heinlein just a dottering old man by this time -- writing by whim without anyone or anything to make him keep things consistent? Or was it some cryptic literary genius, with messages or symbols or connections that are deeper then the apparent story, that I'm just now starting to understand? For example, maybe (to answer question #5) the cat who walks through walls is meant to be an analog to the organization (the Time Corps) which can slip in and out of any time and place at will. Maybe, some of the references about writers creating and erasing real characters are meant to imply some grand piece of irony about the author of the book itself -- as if Richard somehow knows by the end tht he is being written and manipulated by the Heinlen himself (could this be the answer to question #2?). I'm still trying to make sense of it.
Anyway, forgive my verbosity. I know this probably belongs in a live journal or something, rather than a forum, but I would love to hear some of your commentary.
Posts: 270 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'll take a swing at it, but it's from memory so forgive me if I fumble.
1. Gwen/Hazel tells Richard in the last chapter that she had to kill 'him' because 'he' was assigned to kill Richard. But I can't figure out who 'he' is from anything else in the book.
"He" would be the man at the table in the first chapter who tried to confront Richard and ended up shot.
2. Richard mentions seeing "what's-his-name" come through the open wall during the last firefight, and makes some comment about this what's-his-name having been erased from the story and written back in, but again I can't figure out who he's talking about.
Not sure, it's been awhile.
[i]3. Does the author seriously kill off all three main characters at the end of the book (I'm including Pixel as one of them)? The last chapter suggests that they all die, but it isn't conclusive.
Read To Sail Beyond the Sunset to find out.
4. And if they do all die, was that really necessary? 'Cause it gave me some unfair amounts of heartache.
Sweat it not.
5. Speaking of the cat, why on earth is the book titled after a character which seems to serve absolutely no function whatsoever to the story? I can't figure out why Pixel is in the story at all (even though he was my favorite).
I suspect as both an odd title and because Pixel was a popular minor character from previous books.
6. What was the organization Bill was supposed to belong to, and am I expected to buy that he really was some agent acting as a backwards homeless waif?
I believe that would be the opposing force to the one Lazurus Long and Co belong to, and I suspect he was only slightly smarter than he pretended to be.
7. What was all that business about Enrique Schultz and the need to kill Tolliver? I was irritated at how casually it was dismissed when it had been the opening, attention-grabbing scene of the whole book.
I think it was a blind alley, but not for you -- for Richard. It was just words in a trap to get him, a trap that was ruined by Gwen, who then went along with an investigation she probably knew was fruitless to maintain her own cover.
8. What was with the Tree-San that they kept with them through so many horrendous trials, which subsequently disappeared from the story with no further mention (except an afterthought of Richard in his final moments)?
Just another complication, and a way to show that Richard and Gwen were just pleasantly odd and personably honorable enough to care for the tree despite the hardship. Once things got going, though, there wasn't much room for it.
Been awhile since I read it, and I remember being puzzled over it the first time. Having read it quite a few more times since, and having read all the books prior and after it, it makes much more sense now.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Wow. Holy cow. Chris, muchos thank yous. That helps enormously.
I'm wondering how much of my confusion stems from the fact that I didn't know it was part of an ongoing series or story. In fact, I had no idea it was even related to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress until they landed on Luna and started talking about Loonies and the Revolution. Boy was that ever an interesting shock.
So can you tell me aside from To Sail Beyond the Sunset what other books are tied to this story? Now I'm dying to get my hands on them -- I want to read more about Pixel.
posted
I think Pixel might make his first appearance in Time Enough For Love, which as far as I can tell is the central one in this series of interconnected novels.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Also read The Rolling Stones after Methusalah's Children. Hazel features prominently in that story as well, though it's centrally about her son's family.
additing: Toward the end of his life, Heinlein merged a lot of his characters from his many previous stories into his last books. It makes it kind of fun to pick through those last books and try to figure out which short stories, novellas, and novels the characters appeared. There are lots of inside jokes that you just can't get without reading the original stories. Which essentially means reading everything else he wrote. If you can find them.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I really prefer the early preteen-wish-fulfillment era of Heinlein books (culminating with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which is my favorite of all his work) to the later dirty-old-man-wish-fulfillment era (which is epitomized to me by Stranger in a Strange Land, though it's probably one of the first).
But given that, he's still Heinlein, and even when he's bad he's good. I mean his books are always enjoyable even when they get downright silly.
I read this book years ago but don't remember enogh specifics to be much help, however, I wanted to post here some of my favorites of his books in case you are deciding which to read next.
Citizen of the Galaxy is awesome. I read it all the way through twice on first encountering it.
I also love Farmer in the Sky, The Rolling Stones (gotta love the interplanetary trajectory calculations on slide rules), Have Spacesuit Will Travel (talk about a cheesy title!), Star Beast, and lots of others I can't think of now.
Avoid the Menace from Earth, it truly sucks.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is really awesome. I can't say that enough.
Heinlein, especially late Heinlein, has tons of idelogical axe grinding in it. Somehow it's not offensive, though, but makes great reading, even though he's mostly wrong. <laughs>
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:1. Gwen/Hazel tells Richard in the last chapter that she had to kill 'him' because 'he' was assigned to kill Richard. But I can't figure out who 'he' is from anything else in the book.
The guy who gets killed at the beginning, Enrique Schultz, was killed by Hazel. Richard had said that killing in the presence of people who were eating was an offense against manners punishable by death. At the end Hazel apologizes for doing this and that's how we know what she's talking about; Richard then searches her purse and finds the dart gun she used. Go back and reread the beginning, now that you know; remember when Richard called it a tired plot and said if it was fiction Gwen would turn out to be the killer? She was!
quote:2. Richard mentions seeing "what's-his-name" come through the open wall during the last firefight, and makes some comment about this what's-his-name having been erased from the story and written back in, but again I can't figure out who he's talking about.
The only one that got erased was Sky Marshal Samuel Beaux, so I guess it's him, though for a while I assumed it was Bill for some reason.
quote:3. Does the author seriously kill off all three main characters at the end of the book (I'm including Pixel as one of them)? The last chapter suggests that they all die, but it isn't conclusive.
In fact, they *can't* die, or at least Richard can't, because Hazel reveals he is the father of Gretchen's baby due to a paradox. So he must escape and go back in time to make that happen.
quote:6. What was the organization Bill was supposed to belong to, and am I expected to buy that he really was some agent acting as a backwards homeless waif?
Heinlein must have been just making it up as he went. Yes, my understanding is that there are at least three other time-changing groups besides the Time Corps: the Time Lords, the Scene Changers, and the Revisionists. The first two were in the rolligon and super-doughtnut, the last is much more subtle but I wonder what their true plan was.
Apparently Bill really was that good an actor.
As for other books, here are the main ones to read:
Methusaleh's Children (intro to Howard Families and Lazarus Long) Time Enough for Love (Lazarus Long) The Number of the Beast (Hilda, Jake, Zeb, Deety, 2/3 of the book they meet up with Lazarus & company. This is pretty crucial to understanding of lot of Cat who Walks through Walls.)
The last book is To Sail Beyond the Sunset, but I recommend *not* bothering with it. It's almost entirely about Maureen, Lazarus' mother, and how she grew up in the the 19th century, and it's pretty much entirely about her sex life, and it's got some really disturbing incest. It only *barely* references the events in CwWtW, so you can skip it with no loss.
Other books to read for CwWtW are The Rolling Stones and then The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, for background on Hazel. tMiaHM is, IMO, Heinlein's finest work.
Posts: 454 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
To add a bit to Seatarsprayan's excellent guide, Methusaleh's Children is chronologically the last story in Heinlein's short stories belonging to his "Future History" series of short stories. He calls them something like "Timeline 3" (or 2) starting around The Number of the Beast or The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, I forget.
The Future History stories were my favorite fiction growing up. Do your best to find them all and read them in order, because it helps to set up the world that spawned Lazarus Long, and therefore also helps to add a little weight to the plausability of Lazarus' story.
Posts: 50 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Seatarsprayan, that bit at the end finally makes sense. Thank you. You guys are awesome.
Let me see how much of this I have straight. In the Future History series I've got:
Time Enough for Love The Number of the Beast The Cat Who Walks Through Walls Methusaleh's Children The Rolling Stones The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (I've read it, it's my favorite of his so far) To Sail Beyond the Sunset
Have I missed anything? I'm not absolutely set on reading them in any specific order, although I'd love to hear your recommendations (ie.: avoid reading 'x' before 'y' because 'x' won't make any sense to you until you've read 'y').
Tatiana, thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably end up reading most of his works before I'm through, but it's great having an extra thums-up or thumbs-down to have a sense of what I'm getting myself into.
Posts: 270 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'm with Tatiana, that his early work is much better than his later work. I loved The Menace from Earth, though, as well as Podkayne of Mars. But those are girl stories, and I've always been attracted to them.
One of my favorites is Farmer in the Sky.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Number of the Beast The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
A bigger list would be:
Life-Line The Man who Sold the Moon The Green Hills of Earth Methusaleh's Children Time Enough for Love
then
The Rolling Stones The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
then
The Number of the Beast The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
I fully agree that Heinlein's earlier works were better, he gets really preachy in later works, which is tiresome to me because he's mostly wrong, and uses the annoying tactic of writing a really obnoxious straw man character to have a stupid opinion so he can then explain how stupid it is.
I don't really recommend Stranger in a Strange Land, the first 2/5 are entertaining though.
Other books not too related to CAT but excellent:
The Puppet Masters The Door into Summer Double Star Starship Troopers Have Space Suit - Will Travel Space Cadet
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