Status
Available
Call number
Publication
G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York, 1964). 1st edition, 1st printing.. 315 pages. $4.95.
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Hugh Farnham is a practical, self-made man, and when he sees the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he builds a bomb shelter under his house, hoping for peace and preparing for war. But when the apocalypse comes, something happens that he did not expect. A thermonuclear blast tears apart the fabric of time and hurls his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings. Farnham and his family have barely settled down to the backbreaking business of low-tech survival when they find that they are not alone after all. The same nuclear war that catapaulted Farnham two thousand years into the future has destroyed all civilization in the northern hemisphere, leaving Africans as the dominant surviving people. In the new world order, Farnham and his family, being members of the race that nearly destroyed the world, are fit only to be slaves. After surviving a nuclear war, Farnham has no intention of being anyone's slave, but the tyrannical power of the Chosen race reaches throughout the world. Even if he manages to escape, where can he run to?.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member exfed
My reading of Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold confirms my earlier conclusions that he was a very unique SF author. Its not great literature, but its entertaining! In this novel we get a bomb shelter, nuclear was, survivalists, time travel, reversed discrimination, drugs, sexual liberation,
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cannibalism, and a know-it-all protagonist. Its a glimpse into 1960's thinking and cultural values that just don't exist anymore. Show Less
LibraryThing member hroethgar
The single worst work in Heinlein's body of work.
LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
Hugh Farnham and his family manage to survive a nuclear attack, but something about their position in relation to the blast sends his shelter two thousand years in the future. At first they believe that there are no other people in their world, but they then discover that with the Northern
This is an interesting examination of war, survival, and social injustice. It is often accused of racism, but I don't think that the concept that whatever race finds itself in a vast majority and at an advantage might set itself up as the ruling race is racist. However, the cannibalism is rather unnecessary: after all, it's not like Hugh wasn't already plotting escape when he found out about it, and unlike the rest it isn't equivalent to horrors of slavery as practiced by historical Western civilizations.
Heinlein initially had the best excuse to drop in incest that I've seen in one of his novels, and it's Heinlein, so you know there has to be at least a passing mention. The best you can hope for will be that it will make sense in context. In this case, the woman speaking is in a world where for all she knows at the time, there are only three men, one her brother, and one her father. Karen seems to be only mildly racist, but she is enough of one that she asks what's worse "Incest? Or Miscegenation? Or should I be an old maid?" Since there isn't any society to make things awkward for an interracial couple, there is no downside to her marrying Joe, so we have to assume racism in that she even considered "miscegenation" to be a problem. Given that, she thinks that she's debating the lesser of two evils, with one possibility being incest. In context, that makes sense. If Heinlein had just not thrown in the sentence where she says that her father could have had her any time he wanted "for years," meaning before as far as she knew there were only three living men and two were her relatives, he might have actually not been annoying with it for once. The world that the book begins in appears to be the world as it was when this book was published, so it's not even as if we're having a woman from a different planet in a different culture saying that.
Also, the cover of this edition is a colossal bloody spoiler, albiet one that I didn't really understand until the last chapter.
All that said, I'd say this is a must-read. It may or may not make you angry once you read it, but it deserves to be read.
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Hemisphere largely wiped out in the war, the country has been resettled by the new Chosen Race with the remaining white population as slaves.This is an interesting examination of war, survival, and social injustice. It is often accused of racism, but I don't think that the concept that whatever race finds itself in a vast majority and at an advantage might set itself up as the ruling race is racist. However, the cannibalism is rather unnecessary: after all, it's not like Hugh wasn't already plotting escape when he found out about it, and unlike the rest it isn't equivalent to horrors of slavery as practiced by historical Western civilizations.
Heinlein initially had the best excuse to drop in incest that I've seen in one of his novels, and it's Heinlein, so you know there has to be at least a passing mention. The best you can hope for will be that it will make sense in context. In this case, the woman speaking is in a world where for all she knows at the time, there are only three men, one her brother, and one her father. Karen seems to be only mildly racist, but she is enough of one that she asks what's worse "Incest? Or Miscegenation? Or should I be an old maid?" Since there isn't any society to make things awkward for an interracial couple, there is no downside to her marrying Joe, so we have to assume racism in that she even considered "miscegenation" to be a problem. Given that, she thinks that she's debating the lesser of two evils, with one possibility being incest. In context, that makes sense. If Heinlein had just not thrown in the sentence where she says that her father could have had her any time he wanted "for years," meaning before as far as she knew there were only three living men and two were her relatives, he might have actually not been annoying with it for once. The world that the book begins in appears to be the world as it was when this book was published, so it's not even as if we're having a woman from a different planet in a different culture saying that.
Also, the cover of this edition is a colossal bloody spoiler, albiet one that I didn't really understand until the last chapter.
All that said, I'd say this is a must-read. It may or may not make you angry once you read it, but it deserves to be read.
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LibraryThing member duhrer
I ran into a friend at a conference in California, he recommended "Farnham's Freehold" by Robert Heinlein, but pointed out that he had repeatedly failed to make it through the work (I now understand why, in addition to race issues, there is a conversation between father and daughter that most would
The work deals (as much of the best Science Fiction does) with the end of the modern world and the beginning of something new. Heinlein in particular has used this device at least three times (in this work, in "The Doorway into Summer", and in "For Us the Living: A Comedy of Manners"). "Farnham's Freehold" reminded me most closely of "The Doorway into Summer". The main character in each travels back and forth through time, allowing a dual comparison in which the man of the present makes sense of the future and in which the man of the present, aware of the future, returns to make sense of the past.
The future in which Farnham finds himself inverts the historical race division of the United States such that whites are now slaves whose lives are controlled absolutely by "The Chosen" (who are the dark-skinned ruling class primarily of African descent). Whether you enjoy this book may boil down to the spirit in which you believe the work was written. If (as I do), you believe the work is a study in the tendency of power to corrupt, and the willing ignorance of the dominant culture of the abuses their power lends itself to, then the work is enjoyable. If instead you believe (as I have read elsewhere) that the work is an exercise in validating negative stereotypes, then at best you probably won't get much out of it, and at worst you may actively dislike the work and by extension the author.
If you want to find more discussion about the book, I'd suggest starting with the "Farnam's Freehold" entry in Wikipedia.
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read as "creepy").The work deals (as much of the best Science Fiction does) with the end of the modern world and the beginning of something new. Heinlein in particular has used this device at least three times (in this work, in "The Doorway into Summer", and in "For Us the Living: A Comedy of Manners"). "Farnham's Freehold" reminded me most closely of "The Doorway into Summer". The main character in each travels back and forth through time, allowing a dual comparison in which the man of the present makes sense of the future and in which the man of the present, aware of the future, returns to make sense of the past.
The future in which Farnham finds himself inverts the historical race division of the United States such that whites are now slaves whose lives are controlled absolutely by "The Chosen" (who are the dark-skinned ruling class primarily of African descent). Whether you enjoy this book may boil down to the spirit in which you believe the work was written. If (as I do), you believe the work is a study in the tendency of power to corrupt, and the willing ignorance of the dominant culture of the abuses their power lends itself to, then the work is enjoyable. If instead you believe (as I have read elsewhere) that the work is an exercise in validating negative stereotypes, then at best you probably won't get much out of it, and at worst you may actively dislike the work and by extension the author.
If you want to find more discussion about the book, I'd suggest starting with the "Farnam's Freehold" entry in Wikipedia.
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LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
This isn't my favorite book by Heinlein, but it certainly isn't my least favorite (that honor is held by "The Number of the Beast" or "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"). I give it 4 stars - should be 3.5 - because it has a lot of good ideas running through it, although it isn't as well written as
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many of his novels. Written at the height of the cold war, back before the civil rights movement, he shocks us a lot, perhaps too much. The typical American family isn't perfect, uses legal drugs, lusts after women they shouldn't. Worse, he-man Hugh has screwed up his parenting & family responsibilities so badly that his son likes being a mama's boy, eunuch, slave, kept-man better than a hot-blooded, man-of-freedom like his dad.Whites are so unprepared & pampered that after the big war, blacks control the world with high tech, but they aren't doing much better than anyone else ever had for all they're technology. Their society is a back-biting as ours. They keep slaves & even eat them, since they believe they're so much better than the slaves - a different race. The table turned severely on the complacent Americans of the 1950s! Show Less
LibraryThing member Audacity88
Excellent storytelling characteristic of Heinlein's mature work. The protagonist has the machismo characteristic of that author's heroes, but the defects that follow from this arrogance are, in this novel, displayed fairly evenhandedly – particularly in the relationship between the protagonist
of Heinlein's novels.
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and his son.of Heinlein's novels.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
The cover contains a great big spoiler all on it's own. It's an interesting novel. When compared to some of the other books in this genre it's interesting to see how different ideas have riffed off each other.
Farnham is prepared for the coming nuclear war, he's not prepared for the time travel
It's sexist, somewhat racist, wish-fulfilment SF that is somewhat annoying in places but as one of the seminal works of SF worth reading just to see where some of the later ideas are coming from.
This is a problem with some earlier SF, they reflect their time and are now quite dated but still if you want to understand some of the tropes of the genre you have to read them. It scores an extra half-point for it's place in the history of SF.
Farnham is prepared for the coming nuclear war, he's not prepared for the time travel
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that happens to himself, his family and some guests. At first they think they're the only people on the planet but then they discover that in fact they aren't. This is where the story takes a twist that just doesn't satisfy. When the rulers of this world fid them it becomes a story about revenge slavery and the ending didn't satisfy me.It's sexist, somewhat racist, wish-fulfilment SF that is somewhat annoying in places but as one of the seminal works of SF worth reading just to see where some of the later ideas are coming from.
This is a problem with some earlier SF, they reflect their time and are now quite dated but still if you want to understand some of the tropes of the genre you have to read them. It scores an extra half-point for it's place in the history of SF.
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LibraryThing member keylawk
An American family survives a nuclear attack. Hugh Farnham was prepared.
LibraryThing member sferguson
I found it impossible to like this book, of course, despising the protagonist is never a recipe for an enjoyable read. That is not to say that the book is valueless, it is up there with the best of them for stretching the mind of the reader, but most do so in an enjoyable fashion, not so in this
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case. Show Less
LibraryThing member Jacks0n
Ok, I'll confess that I didn't finish this book. In fact, I didn't get very far. I've read Heinlein before (Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress). And I enjoyed those. I'm also at least politically sympathetic to libertarians.
That said, Heinlein was way too preachy, and I just
That said, Heinlein was way too preachy, and I just
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hated this book - all 50 pages or so that I read of it. It just seemed preachy, which Heinlein can be even at the best of times. Did I repeat that it was preachy? I guess I did, but that's the way Heinlein wrote it... repetitious. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're either a hardcore Heinlein fan or a hardcore Libertarian. Show Less
LibraryThing member clark.hallman
The cover of the Baen Books 2006 edition of Farnham’s Freehold proclaims this book to be “Science Fiction’s Most Controversial Novel.” I not sure that is accurate, but I do believe that many readers would describe the book as controversial. It begins during the Cold War era with Hugh
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Farnham, his alcoholic wife Grace, his lawyer son Duke, his college-aged daughter Karen, Barbara - Karen’s friend from college, and Farnham’s negro servant Joe, in the Farnham home. Hugh is obsessed with the possibility of nuclear attack by the Russians and is regularly checking the radio and TV for warnings. Of course the warning comes and they all retreat underground to the Farnham bomb shelter. They survive the nuclear blasts, but somehow are transported 2000 years into the future. The highly-structured culture they discover is strictly based on slavery. The controversial issues that arise include adultery (Huge and Barbara), the dictatorial/abusive way Huge treats his family, the group of time travelers, and others, the topic of discrimination/slavery regarding Hugh’s servant and especially related to the future society they join and which some of them embrace, the practice of cannibalism by some members of that society, and other practices of the future society. I found the book to be very interesting, although I really never felt much sympathy for any of the main characters. I realize that ruthless decisions are probably necessary during extreme survival situations, but I still would have liked a little more compassion from many of the characters. Heinlein’s story is creative and complex. I enjoyed the book and found the ending to be satisfying, although I wish the author would have addressed the paradoxical issues of time-travel in a more substantive way. Show Less
LibraryThing member thomasJamo
This is a Heinlein book that is independent of his other works. It was very controversial when it was released. It is a good story. My brother likes it more than I do, but I still consider it to be worth the read. Some of the racist undertones might make the reader a bit uncomfortable, but Heinlein
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is an old-fashioned kind of guy. I don't get the impression that he is a bigot or anything like that - I think he is trying to make a social commentary about race and it is pretty effective. Show Less
LibraryThing member m4marya
I can honestly say that this book is one of the strangest apocalypse stories that I have read. Even knowing the fact that this was first published in 1964, I walked away perplexed, sort of stunned, and really, really thankful for Heinlein paving the way so that others might write science fiction as
It is dated, and the writing is simple, the characters stereotypical for the times, and it was a funny, odd, little story that made me laugh with how much times have changes, how silly we all once were, and it also gave me some ideas on items that if I were ever to build a fall out shelter, I would definitely have in my bunker.
Have patience if you are going to read this book, know that much has changed since it was published, and just appreciate it for what it is.
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well. It is dated, and the writing is simple, the characters stereotypical for the times, and it was a funny, odd, little story that made me laugh with how much times have changes, how silly we all once were, and it also gave me some ideas on items that if I were ever to build a fall out shelter, I would definitely have in my bunker.
Have patience if you are going to read this book, know that much has changed since it was published, and just appreciate it for what it is.
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LibraryThing member morydd
Read this out of Nostalgia, as it was a book my father gave me when I first started reading Sci-Fi novels. What the hell was he thinking. This was not a book for a young teenager. It doesn't hold up as well as other Heinlein, and the ending seemed like he had a lot more to write and just gave up.
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
A great story if you can get past the fact that Heinlein is a real pervert. I can believe that Heinlein's later works were a bit bizarre, but then he supposedly had a brain tumor.
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
My reactions to reading this novel in 1994. Spoilers follow.
This is Heinlein’s revision and expansion of his earlier published novel. I haven’t read the earlier version so I don’t know how this compares, but I liked some aspects, disliked others, and found other bits of the novel to be time
The certain bits I didn’t like were the instant sexual attraction of Barbara Wells for Hugh Farnham and also the incestuous desire Karen Farnham feels for Hugh. Yes, he’s older than Duke, his son, and described as “not handsome” but possessing lots of “strong masculine charm” – namely because he’s a typically smart, hard-nosed, self-reliant Heinlein character and father figure. Barbara loves the way he plays bridge too. Bridge, somewhat understandably given its popularity at the time this novel was written, is important to the plot and character development of the story. The bridge talk got to be a bit much at times. (It would probably be better if I actually understood the game.) Barbara and Hugh love the way the other plays bridge, and Ponse in the future loves the game and makes money reintroducing card games to his society. As to the incest, given that these are six people, three men and three women -- four from the same family – incest becomes an issue when the group seeks to repopulate their world. (The story seems set somewhere in or near the Rockies, maybe Colorado.)
However, I did like much of the book. Surprisingly, given that Heinlein was one of the very first survivalist writers, not as much as I expected of the book is taken up with the nitty-gritty details of surviving an atomic war though Heinlein does have a section where he plays the intellectual game – a game he helped popularize I believe – of deciding what books should be taken in the shelter. Heinlein also gets to work with a barely scientific rationale in the time travel sub-genre he liked. Specifically, nuclear blasts hurl the characters and their shelter 2,000 years into the future where they encounter, after a brief (about a month) foray on their own, an empire ruled by blacks. (Caucasians nuked themselves and Hindu and African survivors of WWIII formed an empire.) In the end, the empire sends Barbara and Hugh Farnham back in time to the beginning of the war. I did like the familial tensions in this book between the Farnhams. Grace Farnham is lazy, self-indulgent, and an alcoholic who increasingly fails to come to grips with the reality of their situation. Hugh Farnham, interestingly, doesn’t judge her too harshly in this respect though he does condemn keeping the servants and sluts and studs of His Charity’s empire doped up on the drug Happiness. I think he makes the distinction between a voluntarily chosen addiction and one fostered by a government to pharmacologically quell rebellion. When daughter Karen dies in childbirth – along with her baby (and I liked that plot turn since Heinlein emphasized the hope of her baby so much it was a genuine surprise) – Grace blames Hugh for not calling a doctor. Duke Farnham tends to side with his mother though he’s more practical. At novel’s end, Hugh says he was never allowed to raise his son as he saw fit, that Grace weakened him. This psychological emasculation is mirrored by his actual physical emasculation when Ponse, after Grace’s whining about her son joining her in the harem, has Duke “tempered” (castrated). I don’t know if this is a Civic generation manifestation of the idea that too strong a maternal influence weakens a man.
However, most of the book is thematically consumed with the typical Heinlein preoccupation with freedom, power, and genetic influences on behavior. It is also, not so typical for Heinlein but somewhat characteristic of the time it was written, concerned with race. Joe, a black, is one of the most interesting features of this novel. Duke and Grace treat him badly, condescend to him. At one point, Duke even accuses him of the old cliché of wanting to sleep with the white women survivors. Heinlein also alludes to other racist notions of blacks as lazy or contented with their lot of being cared for in exchange for being second-class citizens. Yet Heinlein also points out, through the oft-cited cliché of blacks being better singers, that even proponents of racial equality sometimes preach racial superiority. Yet Joe is smart, competent, loyal (and a good bridge player), and a “gentleman”. He even saves Dr. Livingston, a cat, by bringing it into the shelter. (Cats are important to Heinlein.) Yet, he becomes corrupted when he encounters an Empire governed by his race, where whites are slaves. He wants to have Hugh and Grace as his servants (he worked as a servant to the Farnhams) to pay them back for their ill-treatment. He frankly acknowledges to Hugh that he likes a world where he is the master – right before he calls Hugh “boy”. However, he remains kindly disposed toward Barbara and was going to marry Karen before her death. (She became pregnant before the war and by an unnamed college student..
In keeping with this theory of corrupting power is the lord Ponse whose lands the group is found on. Ponse’s society is a racial caste system where whites are regarded as less than human, where slavery is fostered by drug addiction and eugenics (slaves are bred for docility though the masters allow some illicit breeding – studs have to be below a certain height – and an underground where wilder breeding stock is allowed, to escape, for potential capture later, so bloodlines can have some vitality bred back in), where even cannibalism of whites is practiced. Ponse seems cultured, treats the group well, promotes Joe to an aide position, gives Hugh a job providing historical information and translations, is kindly disposed toward Barbara and her twins by Hugh. Yet, Ponse comes to seem as the worst type of leader, a leader of good intentions who rationalizes every action as being for his subjects’ good, who is less cruel than he could be but always reminds his victims of his mercy and what he could do to them. Hugh Farnham prefers a “straight-out son of a bitch”. He cites Ponse as an example of power corrupting, and points out that he was corrupted by power too when he threatened to kill son Duke when he defied him when the group was in the wilderness.
An interesting read and not nearly as “controversial” or “fascist” book as I’ve been led to believe.
This is Heinlein’s revision and expansion of his earlier published novel. I haven’t read the earlier version so I don’t know how this compares, but I liked some aspects, disliked others, and found other bits of the novel to be time
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capsules from the earlier 1960s. The certain bits I didn’t like were the instant sexual attraction of Barbara Wells for Hugh Farnham and also the incestuous desire Karen Farnham feels for Hugh. Yes, he’s older than Duke, his son, and described as “not handsome” but possessing lots of “strong masculine charm” – namely because he’s a typically smart, hard-nosed, self-reliant Heinlein character and father figure. Barbara loves the way he plays bridge too. Bridge, somewhat understandably given its popularity at the time this novel was written, is important to the plot and character development of the story. The bridge talk got to be a bit much at times. (It would probably be better if I actually understood the game.) Barbara and Hugh love the way the other plays bridge, and Ponse in the future loves the game and makes money reintroducing card games to his society. As to the incest, given that these are six people, three men and three women -- four from the same family – incest becomes an issue when the group seeks to repopulate their world. (The story seems set somewhere in or near the Rockies, maybe Colorado.)
However, I did like much of the book. Surprisingly, given that Heinlein was one of the very first survivalist writers, not as much as I expected of the book is taken up with the nitty-gritty details of surviving an atomic war though Heinlein does have a section where he plays the intellectual game – a game he helped popularize I believe – of deciding what books should be taken in the shelter. Heinlein also gets to work with a barely scientific rationale in the time travel sub-genre he liked. Specifically, nuclear blasts hurl the characters and their shelter 2,000 years into the future where they encounter, after a brief (about a month) foray on their own, an empire ruled by blacks. (Caucasians nuked themselves and Hindu and African survivors of WWIII formed an empire.) In the end, the empire sends Barbara and Hugh Farnham back in time to the beginning of the war. I did like the familial tensions in this book between the Farnhams. Grace Farnham is lazy, self-indulgent, and an alcoholic who increasingly fails to come to grips with the reality of their situation. Hugh Farnham, interestingly, doesn’t judge her too harshly in this respect though he does condemn keeping the servants and sluts and studs of His Charity’s empire doped up on the drug Happiness. I think he makes the distinction between a voluntarily chosen addiction and one fostered by a government to pharmacologically quell rebellion. When daughter Karen dies in childbirth – along with her baby (and I liked that plot turn since Heinlein emphasized the hope of her baby so much it was a genuine surprise) – Grace blames Hugh for not calling a doctor. Duke Farnham tends to side with his mother though he’s more practical. At novel’s end, Hugh says he was never allowed to raise his son as he saw fit, that Grace weakened him. This psychological emasculation is mirrored by his actual physical emasculation when Ponse, after Grace’s whining about her son joining her in the harem, has Duke “tempered” (castrated). I don’t know if this is a Civic generation manifestation of the idea that too strong a maternal influence weakens a man.
However, most of the book is thematically consumed with the typical Heinlein preoccupation with freedom, power, and genetic influences on behavior. It is also, not so typical for Heinlein but somewhat characteristic of the time it was written, concerned with race. Joe, a black, is one of the most interesting features of this novel. Duke and Grace treat him badly, condescend to him. At one point, Duke even accuses him of the old cliché of wanting to sleep with the white women survivors. Heinlein also alludes to other racist notions of blacks as lazy or contented with their lot of being cared for in exchange for being second-class citizens. Yet Heinlein also points out, through the oft-cited cliché of blacks being better singers, that even proponents of racial equality sometimes preach racial superiority. Yet Joe is smart, competent, loyal (and a good bridge player), and a “gentleman”. He even saves Dr. Livingston, a cat, by bringing it into the shelter. (Cats are important to Heinlein.) Yet, he becomes corrupted when he encounters an Empire governed by his race, where whites are slaves. He wants to have Hugh and Grace as his servants (he worked as a servant to the Farnhams) to pay them back for their ill-treatment. He frankly acknowledges to Hugh that he likes a world where he is the master – right before he calls Hugh “boy”. However, he remains kindly disposed toward Barbara and was going to marry Karen before her death. (She became pregnant before the war and by an unnamed college student..
In keeping with this theory of corrupting power is the lord Ponse whose lands the group is found on. Ponse’s society is a racial caste system where whites are regarded as less than human, where slavery is fostered by drug addiction and eugenics (slaves are bred for docility though the masters allow some illicit breeding – studs have to be below a certain height – and an underground where wilder breeding stock is allowed, to escape, for potential capture later, so bloodlines can have some vitality bred back in), where even cannibalism of whites is practiced. Ponse seems cultured, treats the group well, promotes Joe to an aide position, gives Hugh a job providing historical information and translations, is kindly disposed toward Barbara and her twins by Hugh. Yet, Ponse comes to seem as the worst type of leader, a leader of good intentions who rationalizes every action as being for his subjects’ good, who is less cruel than he could be but always reminds his victims of his mercy and what he could do to them. Hugh Farnham prefers a “straight-out son of a bitch”. He cites Ponse as an example of power corrupting, and points out that he was corrupted by power too when he threatened to kill son Duke when he defied him when the group was in the wilderness.
An interesting read and not nearly as “controversial” or “fascist” book as I’ve been led to believe.
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LibraryThing member masyukun
Another book from Heinlein's dirty old man phase. As always, he's interesting to read, but he still manages to find ways to force his characters into situations into discussions of incest. There's also a bit of cannibalism, but IT's not justified.
LibraryThing member BruceCoulson
This may be the worst Heinlein novel ever written. Derivative (the first six chapters could have prompted a lawsuit from Phillip Wylie's estate), with unpleasant characters; even the stereotypical Heinlain hero isn't very capable, let alone likable.
LibraryThing member datrappert
Heinlein's ultra libertarian novel was very entertaining when I read it long ago. These days, I might be afraid to open it....
LibraryThing member pgiunta
It is the early 1960s and the United States is on the verge of nuclear war. To prepare for this, Hugh Farnham constructed a fully stocked bomb shelter beneath his house years before. On a night when Hugh’s daughter, Karen, invites her friend Barbara to the house, the local radio station in their
All hands rush into the shelter where the pragmatic Hugh assumes the role of a supreme commander, giving orders and demanding unswerving obedience as he tries to get the situation—and his alcoholic wife, Grace—under control.
After a series of blasts rock the shelter—resulting in minor injuries to the occupants and superficial damage to the shelter—the family ventures outside expecting to find the radioactive remains of their obliterated neighborhood. Instead, they find themselves surrounded by a serene woodland paradise unblemished by even the slightest mark of humanity. At first, the area is completely unfamiliar, until Hugh, Duke, and the Farnham’s servant, Joe, begin scouting the area and recognize natural landmarks. To complicate their dire survivalist predicament, both Karen and Barbara announce that they are pregnant.
Hugh and Grace’s marriage was disintegrating long before this catastrophe and on a day when Grace decides to leave Hugh and the shelter to strike out on her own (albeit with Duke to protect her), the entire lot are captured by a race of humans in a flying craft unlike any they’ve ever seen and from that moment on, the fate of the Farnhams takes more than one otherworldly turn…
Heinlein spares no details in this well-paced adventure, from the graphic descriptions of births (both human and feline) to a thoroughly developed caste system of a future Earth that is at once fascinating (reverse-racism, adherence to a diluted form of Islam) and disturbing (benevolent dictatorship, cannibalism, female servants labeled—and used as—sluts or “bedwarmers”).
Although Farnham's Freehold sparks much debate among hardcore Heinlein fans and general SF readers alike for its political and sociological views, it was not my favorite of Heinlein’s works by far. The story itself did not appeal to me and sometimes I find Heinlein's portrayal of his female leads to be doltish, naive, or unrealistic and nowhere was this was more evident than in the character of Barbara.
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Midwestern town begins transmitting warnings of a possible nuclear strike. Hugh’s son, Duke, is skeptical that either side would commit such an act of suicide. He considers the bomb shelter an overreaction on the part of his father—until the radio station issues its first bomb warning during a round of bridge (a game that features prominently throughout the story).All hands rush into the shelter where the pragmatic Hugh assumes the role of a supreme commander, giving orders and demanding unswerving obedience as he tries to get the situation—and his alcoholic wife, Grace—under control.
After a series of blasts rock the shelter—resulting in minor injuries to the occupants and superficial damage to the shelter—the family ventures outside expecting to find the radioactive remains of their obliterated neighborhood. Instead, they find themselves surrounded by a serene woodland paradise unblemished by even the slightest mark of humanity. At first, the area is completely unfamiliar, until Hugh, Duke, and the Farnham’s servant, Joe, begin scouting the area and recognize natural landmarks. To complicate their dire survivalist predicament, both Karen and Barbara announce that they are pregnant.
Hugh and Grace’s marriage was disintegrating long before this catastrophe and on a day when Grace decides to leave Hugh and the shelter to strike out on her own (albeit with Duke to protect her), the entire lot are captured by a race of humans in a flying craft unlike any they’ve ever seen and from that moment on, the fate of the Farnhams takes more than one otherworldly turn…
Heinlein spares no details in this well-paced adventure, from the graphic descriptions of births (both human and feline) to a thoroughly developed caste system of a future Earth that is at once fascinating (reverse-racism, adherence to a diluted form of Islam) and disturbing (benevolent dictatorship, cannibalism, female servants labeled—and used as—sluts or “bedwarmers”).
Although Farnham's Freehold sparks much debate among hardcore Heinlein fans and general SF readers alike for its political and sociological views, it was not my favorite of Heinlein’s works by far. The story itself did not appeal to me and sometimes I find Heinlein's portrayal of his female leads to be doltish, naive, or unrealistic and nowhere was this was more evident than in the character of Barbara.
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LibraryThing member helver
Hugh Farnham, his wife, son, daughter, houseboy and a classmate of his daughter were having a nice little gathering on the day of the beginning of World War III. Fortunately, Hugh had built a bomb shelter, and so he was able to get everyone into the shelter before the bombs hit. And hit they did,
Eventually, Hugh feels the need to escape and get out from underneath the man's boot on his neck. He is caught and as punishment, exiled back to the time where he came from - a couple of hours before the bombs. The real question is can he survive without the benefit of the bomb shelter?
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almost directly on top of them. In fact, the third bomb hit so close that it knocked them into next week - well... not next week, but 2000 some odd years in the future into a new society in which whites have become slaves and blacks have become the dominant race. Hugh and his entourage are thought of as curiosities and are kept around for awhile.Eventually, Hugh feels the need to escape and get out from underneath the man's boot on his neck. He is caught and as punishment, exiled back to the time where he came from - a couple of hours before the bombs. The real question is can he survive without the benefit of the bomb shelter?
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LibraryThing member benkaboo
Seemed pretty cheesy at the start and definately had a whole boy scout hero who's a hit with the ladies angle (which can be fun sometimes). But I really liked the scenario towards the end which dealt with the concept of freedom and prosperity.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1964
Physical description
315 p.; 8.4 inches
ISBN
1299459900 / 9781299459908
Local notes
Ex-library copy (Kern Co. Free Library). Inked on flyleaf: "Stephen Pickering".