Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Berkley (1986), Paperback
Description
Robert A. Heinlein has written some of the best-selling science-fiction novels of all time, including the beloved classic Stranger in a strange land. Now, in The cat who walked through walls, he creates his most compelling character ever: Dr. Richard Ames, ex-military man, sometime writer, and unfortunate victim of mistaken identity. When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.
Media reviews
NBD/Biblion (via BOL.com)
In een vrij in de ruimte zwevende stad, niet ver van de Maan, raakt Richard Ames (een ex-militair die eigenlijk Campbell heet) in de ban van de mooie en slimme Gwen Novak. Daardoor wordt hij het middelpunt van allerlei intriges, waar hij in het begin helmaal niets van begrijpt, maar die hem van het
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ene gevaar in het andere storten. Uiteindelijk blijkt Gwen te behoren tot de omvangrijke 'familie' van Lazarus Long, die de tijd en de dimensies ten goede probeert te manipuleren, en Richard daarbij nodig heeft. Het nieuwste boek van de oude meester (geb. 1907) is tot ver over de helft vlot, grappig en avontuurlijk. Het laatste deel, het 'universum' van Lazarus Long, heeft Heinlein sedert 'Time enough for love' al zo vaak beschreven, dat het gaat vervelen. Luchtig, af en toe wat babbelzuchtig boek waarin alle stokpaardjes van de auteur weer eens komen opdraven. Het leest als een trein - en dat is de voornaamste verdienste van dit pretentieloos amusement. De engelse editie werd aangeboden op 86-10-051.
(NBD|Biblion recensie, Drs. P.M.H. Cuijpers) Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member EmScape
WARNING: You must read Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," "The Rolling Stones," "Time Enough for Love," and "The Number of the Beast" before reading this book. It would also be helpful to have read "Stranger in a Strange Land," and "Friday." Familiarity with Baum's Oz stories and Edgar Rice
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a volume in the continuing saga of Lazarus Long and what has come to be known as the World as Myth stories. Richard Ames is a resident of Golden Rule habitat, which is a space colony near the moon. He is out to dinner with Gwen Novak when a man is killed directly in front of him. Before he knows it, he's running for his life from an enemy (or enemies) unknown. Because this is World as Myth, there's a lot more to the story than Richard is prepared to believe. Those of us familiar with (and half in love with) Lazarus Long might be put off by Richard's disdain for the man, but his position is understandable. Familiar friends are revisited yet again, especially after the action moves to Boondock, where little clothing is worn and lots of intimate action occurs regardless of gender or familial relation. In one amusing exchange, Richard calls Lazarus a "mother-" and Gwen replies, "In his case, that's merely descriptive." If that sort of thing is reprehensible to you, you might want to skip this (and everything else Heinlein's ever written). Fans who overlook (or agree with) his philosophy, and sexism, will find this a rollicking good time.
P.S. Unfortunately, Pixel, the title character, doesn't show up until much later than I had remembered. That's sad, because he's awesome!
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Burroughs' Mars series is recommended. I think that a lot of the negative reviews here stem from people reading the series out of order or just picking this book up independently of the series or any other Heinlein book. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a volume in the continuing saga of Lazarus Long and what has come to be known as the World as Myth stories. Richard Ames is a resident of Golden Rule habitat, which is a space colony near the moon. He is out to dinner with Gwen Novak when a man is killed directly in front of him. Before he knows it, he's running for his life from an enemy (or enemies) unknown. Because this is World as Myth, there's a lot more to the story than Richard is prepared to believe. Those of us familiar with (and half in love with) Lazarus Long might be put off by Richard's disdain for the man, but his position is understandable. Familiar friends are revisited yet again, especially after the action moves to Boondock, where little clothing is worn and lots of intimate action occurs regardless of gender or familial relation. In one amusing exchange, Richard calls Lazarus a "mother-" and Gwen replies, "In his case, that's merely descriptive." If that sort of thing is reprehensible to you, you might want to skip this (and everything else Heinlein's ever written). Fans who overlook (or agree with) his philosophy, and sexism, will find this a rollicking good time.
P.S. Unfortunately, Pixel, the title character, doesn't show up until much later than I had remembered. That's sad, because he's awesome!
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LibraryThing member AntOfThy
Like many of Heinlein's later books they are long and drawn out. It starts greats, reads well, but goes on and on, until it seem s like he decided that he needs to end the story, so wam bam, he just finishes it in a couple of chapters.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Robert Heinlein, all his early
I miss the Old Heinlein.
Now don't get me wrong, I like Robert Heinlein, all his early
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works, weather for kids for adult, are great, but after his Lazerius Long book, he starts but does not properly finish the stories in any reasonable manner.I miss the Old Heinlein.
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LibraryThing member nmele
About a hundred pages into this "late Heinlein" novel, I stopped to wonder where all the nonstop action and escapes were going. When I found out, I almost stopped reading. I am rapidly becoming a convert to the school which says RAH's later work is junk. I find the "meta-verse" device--the idea
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that all characters and stories are true in alternate universes--potentially interesting but not so much in Heinlein's treatment here. I am also kind of tired of polyamorous inest, etc. Heinlein is not a sexy writer, he is a writer who writes tediously of sex. Reading this has put me off RAH's later work for the time being. I shall have to find a copy of "The Star Beast" or "Have Sapcesuit, Will Travel". Show Less
LibraryThing member stephanie_M
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, by R. A. Heinlein
Lord, I thought this novel would never get over....! I suspect I made a mistake in actually listening to this book in isolation. I had Blackstone Audio's version of audiobook, with Mr. Tom Weiner narrating it. (Unfortunately, he has narrated another
The first is the main voice. There were way, way too many characters in this novel, to be taken care of by just one voice actor. His women all sounded rather the same, except for Hazel/Gwen/Lipschits. And everyone else just kind of melted in together, sometimes. It was confusing.
This book starts out engagingly enough, with a mystery on a moon-orbiting space habitat. As can be expected from Heinlein, there is passing commentary on the governement of the habitat, all privately owned and controlled. When the action passes to the Moon we discover that this story is more commentary about how the government on the moon has changed in the 100 or so years since the revolution. James Bond style space adventure with witty banter and a clever female sidekick. Despite the sagacity of the girl (actually much older than we initially think), Heinlein has sprinkled weird sexist remarks about both men and women throughout the entire novel, which, now that I'm older, I see he does in ALL his novels, but it's still kind of grating. My problem may be at least partially due to the voice-actor reading the book, but I think it is also inherent in the character himself. I found Ames/Campbell so pretentious that he is unlikeable and never felt like he had a realistic human interaction, not even with himself.
Then there is the disjointed plot, which is unsatisfyingly patched together at the end with the Deus Ex Machina device of peripheral characters popping off through time and coming back with answers to all of the questions including some that were never asked. Reading this was like reading two different books - the first half consisting of fairly straight, middle-of-the-road space opera, and the second half going into one of Heinlein's mystical worlds. Once Lazarus Long enters the picture, the book rapidly degenerates into the usual confused 'World-Is-Myth' mishmash, with the obligatory long expository party scenes in which far too much is explained. I don't really enjoy that style as much anyway, but this was highly confusing, what with the various counts of incest, interbreeding, extended family lines and of course time-jumping.
And then that's where it turns just weird. Time travel, parallel dimensions, blah blah blah. And I'm a sci-fi fan. I don't mind that stuff. But it seemed random, unmotivated, and unjustified in the plot.
I felt a lot of the author's personality coming through, and that personality was more "grumpy old man" than anything else. A sexist, misogynistic, possibly racist, DIRTY, grumpy old man. Heinlein is known to have non-conventional ideas about marriage and relationships, but this was really pushing it. Spanking just doesn't need to be a major theme in a sci-fi novel. I'm NOT a prude, but seriously..... Now, mid-novel, we're in a world that was surely made up by a prepubescent teenage boy fantasizing about a place where people are allowed to walk around naked and have sex with anyone they want and marry multiple people. They greet each other by making out, with tongues. (Yes I know there are no more colds, flush or s.t.d.'s. So what.). Also, Stuff goes down that is unexplained and makes no sense even though these events appear to be major plot points. Characters also have unexplained emotional reactions to seemingly normal events. I seriously began to wonder if the book would ever make sense again.
Another really odd thing: toward the end, a large, black, rage-filled character named Samuel Beaux is suddenly introduced as yet another two-dimensional foil. The pun (if that's what it is) is obvious: "Sam Beaux", "Sambo" - but Heinlein spells it out just to make it clear for the idiots in the crowd. He apparently felt that he nullified the implied racism by suddenly having Ames/Campbell turn out to be black himself, although there were absolutely no clues to indicate that anywhere prior to that point. In fact, Ames calls Beaux "Boy" in the process, which strikes a very false note indeed.
I spent most of the story wondering who was who and who said what. It felt like I'd been dropped into the middle of a reunion for a family I'd never meant, tasked with picking out the few strands of relevant data from a sea of meaningless prattle. The whole book purportedly leads up to a profound event, but we're not let in on what happens with that event. Were they successful? Did their grand and utterly convoluted schemes pay off? Just what the hell was going on...?
The Cat who walks through walls didn't even have the gall to show up until "book 3", chapter 26....! What the hell? The cat was the most interesting character...!
Then, literally in the last 5 pages, Heinlein suddenly decides to wrap things up so he has one character (badly) attempt to explain the entire rest of the book and then it ends. I have never been happier to see a book end without caring how. I just needed it to be over.
2 stars, because I was SO very bored. Untold times I wanted to quit, but I pushed through it. Boo..!
Lord, I thought this novel would never get over....! I suspect I made a mistake in actually listening to this book in isolation. I had Blackstone Audio's version of audiobook, with Mr. Tom Weiner narrating it. (Unfortunately, he has narrated another
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page and a half audiobook's as well.). I chose it because it was available for download from my local library, not realizing it is part of a greater series. It does not stand well on it's own. I'm not sure it would stand well in conjunction with it's series either though, I found some major issues with it. The first is the main voice. There were way, way too many characters in this novel, to be taken care of by just one voice actor. His women all sounded rather the same, except for Hazel/Gwen/Lipschits. And everyone else just kind of melted in together, sometimes. It was confusing.
This book starts out engagingly enough, with a mystery on a moon-orbiting space habitat. As can be expected from Heinlein, there is passing commentary on the governement of the habitat, all privately owned and controlled. When the action passes to the Moon we discover that this story is more commentary about how the government on the moon has changed in the 100 or so years since the revolution. James Bond style space adventure with witty banter and a clever female sidekick. Despite the sagacity of the girl (actually much older than we initially think), Heinlein has sprinkled weird sexist remarks about both men and women throughout the entire novel, which, now that I'm older, I see he does in ALL his novels, but it's still kind of grating. My problem may be at least partially due to the voice-actor reading the book, but I think it is also inherent in the character himself. I found Ames/Campbell so pretentious that he is unlikeable and never felt like he had a realistic human interaction, not even with himself.
Then there is the disjointed plot, which is unsatisfyingly patched together at the end with the Deus Ex Machina device of peripheral characters popping off through time and coming back with answers to all of the questions including some that were never asked. Reading this was like reading two different books - the first half consisting of fairly straight, middle-of-the-road space opera, and the second half going into one of Heinlein's mystical worlds. Once Lazarus Long enters the picture, the book rapidly degenerates into the usual confused 'World-Is-Myth' mishmash, with the obligatory long expository party scenes in which far too much is explained. I don't really enjoy that style as much anyway, but this was highly confusing, what with the various counts of incest, interbreeding, extended family lines and of course time-jumping.
And then that's where it turns just weird. Time travel, parallel dimensions, blah blah blah. And I'm a sci-fi fan. I don't mind that stuff. But it seemed random, unmotivated, and unjustified in the plot.
I felt a lot of the author's personality coming through, and that personality was more "grumpy old man" than anything else. A sexist, misogynistic, possibly racist, DIRTY, grumpy old man. Heinlein is known to have non-conventional ideas about marriage and relationships, but this was really pushing it. Spanking just doesn't need to be a major theme in a sci-fi novel. I'm NOT a prude, but seriously..... Now, mid-novel, we're in a world that was surely made up by a prepubescent teenage boy fantasizing about a place where people are allowed to walk around naked and have sex with anyone they want and marry multiple people. They greet each other by making out, with tongues. (Yes I know there are no more colds, flush or s.t.d.'s. So what.). Also, Stuff goes down that is unexplained and makes no sense even though these events appear to be major plot points. Characters also have unexplained emotional reactions to seemingly normal events. I seriously began to wonder if the book would ever make sense again.
Another really odd thing: toward the end, a large, black, rage-filled character named Samuel Beaux is suddenly introduced as yet another two-dimensional foil. The pun (if that's what it is) is obvious: "Sam Beaux", "Sambo" - but Heinlein spells it out just to make it clear for the idiots in the crowd. He apparently felt that he nullified the implied racism by suddenly having Ames/Campbell turn out to be black himself, although there were absolutely no clues to indicate that anywhere prior to that point. In fact, Ames calls Beaux "Boy" in the process, which strikes a very false note indeed.
I spent most of the story wondering who was who and who said what. It felt like I'd been dropped into the middle of a reunion for a family I'd never meant, tasked with picking out the few strands of relevant data from a sea of meaningless prattle. The whole book purportedly leads up to a profound event, but we're not let in on what happens with that event. Were they successful? Did their grand and utterly convoluted schemes pay off? Just what the hell was going on...?
The Cat who walks through walls didn't even have the gall to show up until "book 3", chapter 26....! What the hell? The cat was the most interesting character...!
Then, literally in the last 5 pages, Heinlein suddenly decides to wrap things up so he has one character (badly) attempt to explain the entire rest of the book and then it ends. I have never been happier to see a book end without caring how. I just needed it to be over.
2 stars, because I was SO very bored. Untold times I wanted to quit, but I pushed through it. Boo..!
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LibraryThing member fastfinge
The first half of this book is just as good as anything Heinlein ever wrote. However, the second half leaves something to be desired. I mean, *really* leaves
something to be desired. While it isn't as confusing as the ending of _to sail beyond the sunset_, it makes up for this with the fact that it
When you start coming across many characters you recognize from other books, it's time to stop reading. Make up your own ending if you must. You'll be
happier.
something to be desired. While it isn't as confusing as the ending of _to sail beyond the sunset_, it makes up for this with the fact that it
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*really sucks*.When you start coming across many characters you recognize from other books, it's time to stop reading. Make up your own ending if you must. You'll be
happier.
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LibraryThing member Kade
The first half of this book is great, especially for people who've read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", it kind of expands on Heinlein's opinions of free market/personal freedom politics and how they don't work in a non-frontier society. In some ways the characters are so stereotypical it's like
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Atlas Shrugged in Space, where the rugged individualist men and women are busty, strong, and apparently well hung, while the socialists and deadbeats are weaselly little bastards. Not bad, if you like that sort of thing. Then the plot goes way off the tracks and into a canyon below, exploding in a flaming trainwreck that would command cable news coverage for three days straight. From a "Flee-from-location-to-location" to "extradimensional deus ex machina", I was scratching my head and wondering where the sequel to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress went. Show Less
LibraryThing member iBeth
This book started out interesting, but the longer I read, the more it dragged. I remember now why I don't like later Heinlein. Too much boring sexist talk, too many in-jokes. The first time a character's nipples crinkled when she heard something she liked, I thought it was strange but minor. After
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women's nipples started crinkling right and left, I still thought it was strange but I also found it irritating. And that's just one example in the midst of women needing a good cry, women needing their bottoms spanked and turning ink, women kissing people thoroughly as a greeting, etc. Finally, when the entire plot took a left turn from Luna City into the multiverse and characters from previous Heinlein novels, things became just too weird and the dialogue too preachy for me to continue. I don't have enough time to read everything I want to read, and wish I hadn't spent as much time as I did on this. Show Less
LibraryThing member pepster
A really great start and the tie in with TMIAHM is an unexpected twist. The second part slides into phantasy and self destructs.
Read this when you run out of anything else by the true master of science fiction.
(spoiler ahead) the only nice touch is the discovery, by an easy to miss side remark, at
Read this when you run out of anything else by the true master of science fiction.
(spoiler ahead) the only nice touch is the discovery, by an easy to miss side remark, at
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almost the last page of the book - that our hero is black. Heinlein pushes one of his favorite ploys to an extream this time. Show Less
LibraryThing member gkchandler
As other reviewers have noted, it would no doubt be helpful to read a number of Heinlein's other books prior to reading this. However, I feel it stands on its own quite well.
Having said that I was drawn in by the dry, witty banter of the principle characters, Gwen and Richard (if that is his real
For fans of The Thin Man series, I found their polite, brisk dialog reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles, and with their images and voices in mind it made for an entertaining read.
At times I felt let down by the slowing of the story but there always seemed to be another interesting person or location just around the corner - although in some respects this contributed to a feeling of disjointedness.
Commercial plugs were laid on a little thick and I occasionaly yearned for a cool jug of Sluggo Cola (or some other native concoction) to reinforce the sense that this story is set in a future where, perhaps, some of the currently familiar brands have been swallowed up by as yet unknown mega-corporations. I must say, however, that the idea of an unreliable Volvo was a nice touch.
Having said that I was drawn in by the dry, witty banter of the principle characters, Gwen and Richard (if that is his real
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name).For fans of The Thin Man series, I found their polite, brisk dialog reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles, and with their images and voices in mind it made for an entertaining read.
At times I felt let down by the slowing of the story but there always seemed to be another interesting person or location just around the corner - although in some respects this contributed to a feeling of disjointedness.
Commercial plugs were laid on a little thick and I occasionaly yearned for a cool jug of Sluggo Cola (or some other native concoction) to reinforce the sense that this story is set in a future where, perhaps, some of the currently familiar brands have been swallowed up by as yet unknown mega-corporations. I must say, however, that the idea of an unreliable Volvo was a nice touch.
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LibraryThing member PaulFAustin
Really, really ordinary. Which for RAH is a shame
LibraryThing member lycomayflower
Enjoyable for all the reasons Heinlein is ever enjoyable--fast-pace, snappy dialogue, likable characters, dashes of philosophy, and gripping writing. The precise workings of the final third escape me (I suspect a more thorough and recent familiarity with several other key Heinlein novels would help
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with this problem), but mostly I was having too much fun to care much. I can never tell when I thoroughly enjoy a Heinlein if that fact is the result of my being in just the right mood for him or of that particular book being better than some of the others. Whatever the reason, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls was a delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
The book was disappointing. Long, rambling & full of 'sage' advice from his various father figures. More tying his various universes together, unnecessarily. If you like any of his books originally published after 1970, you might give it a try, but I wouldn't put it high on my list. If you like "To
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Sail Beyond the Sunset" you'll like this. Show Less
LibraryThing member rakerman
One of Heinlein's final "Grand Unification" novels. Garbage.
LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
In spite of some pacing problems, this is a fun adventure that anybody who enjoys any of Heinlein's longer works should be able to enjoy. Just make sure that you read enough of the other World as Myth books first so that you will not feel lost.
LibraryThing member andyray
if you are generally a heinlein fan, save this one until last. it's disturbing. here's why: yes, there is a cat, but he is non-essential to the story, and yes, he walks through walls, but so what? he only does it twice. the story is supposed to have a climax, denouement, and resolution. this one
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has neither a denouement or resolution, and the climax is doubtful. last but certainly not least, if you are going to write science fiction, very good, but don't jump the line to pure fantasy. there is no science that says frank l. baum's land of oz and the wonderland of alice actually exist. and the reason for them existing is as equally unscientific. all in all, a disappointment and will keep me off bob for awhile. Show Less
LibraryThing member readafew
This was the first Heinlein book I have had the chance to read. Lets just say it was interesting and not really what I was expecting. From one of the most famous leading sci-fi writers I get a book that is closer to Michael Moorcock's Legends at the End of Time, and the parallels are strikingly
What I found the hardest part of the whole thing was the conversations between the two main characters. It took me over half the book catch on to what they were saying vs. what they meant. Also the first half of the book seemed to be one story being told without any real direction then we switch and have another whole story going on that fits onto the first like a leggo.
Overall it was an OK book, it never got dull and most of the book was in constant motion though I think part of that was to keep you from thinking to hard about the story line. The ending was pointed and ambiguous if that makes any sense. Hope the next one of his I try is better.
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similar.What I found the hardest part of the whole thing was the conversations between the two main characters. It took me over half the book catch on to what they were saying vs. what they meant. Also the first half of the book seemed to be one story being told without any real direction then we switch and have another whole story going on that fits onto the first like a leggo.
Overall it was an OK book, it never got dull and most of the book was in constant motion though I think part of that was to keep you from thinking to hard about the story line. The ending was pointed and ambiguous if that makes any sense. Hope the next one of his I try is better.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
I don't think I've read anything by Heinlein since "Time Enough For Love" (the story of Lazarus Long, who also appears in the latter part of this book), which I think I read when I was still at school and much less critical than I am nowadays.
Richard Ames, aka Colin Campbell is the most irritating
Richard Ames, aka Colin Campbell is the most irritating
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protagonist I've come across since I read "Headlong" by Michael Frayn! He is arrogant and condescending, speaks in an arch and mannered way, and practically every woman he meets wants to marry him, even though he keeps going on about wanting to spank their pink bottoms. Grrr! Show Less
LibraryThing member Audacity88
I can't stand books with supercilious narrators.
LibraryThing member VincentDarlage
I probably would have liked this more if I had read his past work more (such as The Number of the Beast, which is about many of the events this book refers to). The only Heinlein I have read is Stranger in a Strange Land (which has characters from that novel appearing in this one) and Have
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Spacesuit Will Travel. I liked the World is Myth concept, but I felt lost because I didn't know all the backstories. Will read those, and then revisit this book and see what I think. Show Less
LibraryThing member br13alqu
Nothing in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls ever comes together or gets resolved. New elements are continually introduced to be left unexplained or to simply fade away. There is no climax, the book just seems to run out of pages with a fizzle.
The most disappointing thing is that the book starts out
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction book of the random ventures of Dr. Ames A.K.A Richard A.K.A the Protagonist and Gwen, his wife and how they celebrate their honeymoon by torturing sketchy Antagonists and having uncomfortable romantic scenes (for most people), as well as finding out more about themselves, leading in more intensity between the two’s relationships.
In a brief summary of this book, (As I said earlier) Colonel Colin Campbell, alias Dr. Richard Ames, alias Senator Richard Johnson, is enjoying an evening out with his date, Gwendolyn Novak, when a man approaches him in a crowded restaurant and tells him, “We need you to kill a man.” Colonel Campbell, a retired mercenary soldier who uses a cane (with a stiletto inside) because of his artificial leg, is about to brush the stranger off when the man adds, “Tolliver must die by noon Sunday or we’ll all be dead!” Before the uninvited guest can elaborate, he is fatally wounded by a four-millimeter dart projected by an unknown assailant.
Certain that the assassin will be after Richard (as she calls him) next, Gwen offers him the use of her compartment as a temporary hideout. While staying with her, he discovers that the man who was murdered in the restaurant was one Enrico Schultz; yet when he attempts to investigate further, he is evicted from his living quarters and denied access to his terminal--a combination TV, telephone, and Automated Teller Machine. It seems that not only do those in power at the Golden Rule, the privately owned space habitat on which he and Gwen live, want to run them out, but both are wanted in connection with the murder of Schultz.
Ultimately, Richard learns who killed Schultz, the true identity of Tolliver, and why Richard is a threat to two opposing factions who want to seize Tolliver for their own purposes.
By the time I had read my first Heinlein book, I could briefly describe the book as a book in which here is a cat and the cat may or may not actually walk through walls. If there'd been no mention of a cat that could walk through the walls the title would remain a mysterious metaphor which would have been preferable. Instead it is a reference to a completely meaningless and unexplored part of the story. The book may as well be named The Discussion About Dinosaur Meat Being Tough and Tasteless or The Man We Treated Like a Dog That Time. The fact that the cat enters the book so late causes the reader to be on their toes for the first hundred pages or so. Then, the reader assumes the title is a metaphor and relaxes just to be hit with the cat in the last section of the book. Then, lastly, the reader is filled with confusion as they try to figure out why this stupid cat thing got itself a pride of place mention in the book's title. I can say this by the end of the book because of it’s purpose being an analysis to my inquiry on why the title of the book is what it is.
I would give this book 2 out of 5 stars due to it’s dramatic and intense beginning (which I love in books) but not so great climax or resolution.
The most disappointing thing is that the book starts out
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so strongly. It starts off with the protagonist's dinner being interrupted by a man who tells him that he needs him to kill another man. The uninvited dinner guest is then killed by an unseen assassin and this sends (or is supposed to send) the main character, Dr. Ames, headlong into adventure and intrigue. Unfortunately that never happens. Instead he and his new bride simply bounce around from one situation to the next.The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction book of the random ventures of Dr. Ames A.K.A Richard A.K.A the Protagonist and Gwen, his wife and how they celebrate their honeymoon by torturing sketchy Antagonists and having uncomfortable romantic scenes (for most people), as well as finding out more about themselves, leading in more intensity between the two’s relationships.
In a brief summary of this book, (As I said earlier) Colonel Colin Campbell, alias Dr. Richard Ames, alias Senator Richard Johnson, is enjoying an evening out with his date, Gwendolyn Novak, when a man approaches him in a crowded restaurant and tells him, “We need you to kill a man.” Colonel Campbell, a retired mercenary soldier who uses a cane (with a stiletto inside) because of his artificial leg, is about to brush the stranger off when the man adds, “Tolliver must die by noon Sunday or we’ll all be dead!” Before the uninvited guest can elaborate, he is fatally wounded by a four-millimeter dart projected by an unknown assailant.
Certain that the assassin will be after Richard (as she calls him) next, Gwen offers him the use of her compartment as a temporary hideout. While staying with her, he discovers that the man who was murdered in the restaurant was one Enrico Schultz; yet when he attempts to investigate further, he is evicted from his living quarters and denied access to his terminal--a combination TV, telephone, and Automated Teller Machine. It seems that not only do those in power at the Golden Rule, the privately owned space habitat on which he and Gwen live, want to run them out, but both are wanted in connection with the murder of Schultz.
Ultimately, Richard learns who killed Schultz, the true identity of Tolliver, and why Richard is a threat to two opposing factions who want to seize Tolliver for their own purposes.
By the time I had read my first Heinlein book, I could briefly describe the book as a book in which here is a cat and the cat may or may not actually walk through walls. If there'd been no mention of a cat that could walk through the walls the title would remain a mysterious metaphor which would have been preferable. Instead it is a reference to a completely meaningless and unexplored part of the story. The book may as well be named The Discussion About Dinosaur Meat Being Tough and Tasteless or The Man We Treated Like a Dog That Time. The fact that the cat enters the book so late causes the reader to be on their toes for the first hundred pages or so. Then, the reader assumes the title is a metaphor and relaxes just to be hit with the cat in the last section of the book. Then, lastly, the reader is filled with confusion as they try to figure out why this stupid cat thing got itself a pride of place mention in the book's title. I can say this by the end of the book because of it’s purpose being an analysis to my inquiry on why the title of the book is what it is.
I would give this book 2 out of 5 stars due to it’s dramatic and intense beginning (which I love in books) but not so great climax or resolution.
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LibraryThing member purlewe
It is like J. Peterman is reading this book!
I never finished this, but I enjoyed what i ehard. I think the narrator was true dramatic and I just couldn't keep up with his voice.
I never finished this, but I enjoyed what i ehard. I think the narrator was true dramatic and I just couldn't keep up with his voice.
LibraryThing member szarka
Trust me: start with one of Heinlein's earlier novels and maybe come back to this one if you still want more.
LibraryThing member Noonecanstop
I enjoyed many parts of the book but there were some racist points that I thought were not needed. As well I did not really know if the main characters were bantering in a satirical way or if Heinlein was expressing his true views. Some parts were confusing and were written as (Spoiler) changing
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timelines would have been and therefore expressed how the protagonist, Richard, would have felt. Show Less
LibraryThing member scottcholstad
Why, why, why? Why am I so stupid? After I finished my last Heinlein book some months ago (can't remember which one, sorry), in my review I said I'd never read another one of his books, I was so disgusted with him as a perverted writer. I mean, he's a De Sade pervert. Dirty old man. And I'm no
The book is about Dr. Richard Ames, who is a resident of Golden Rule habitat, which is a space colony near the moon. One night, he is out to dinner with his soon-to-be wife Gwen Novak when a strange man is killed directly in front of him at his table. Before he knows it, he's running for his life from an unknown enemy or group of enemies. The thing that made me want to stop reading this book, which I did, was that so many unlikely things happened to Ames and Gwen in a 20 hour period, that it was completely unbelievable. The murder, the three minute cleanup and disappearance of the corpse, the assassination attempt, the evictions, the other murder, the murder frame up, the chase, the rip offs, the sabotaged space ship which crash lands, etc. It's just too damn much. If half of this stuff would happen to anyone in a 20 hour period, they'd have a nervous breakdown. It's not believable. To make matters worse, the dialogue is so damned "proper" and so, frankly, stilted, it's not to be believed either. Gwen takes the assassin under care to turn him into a proper person by educating him in his speech patterns, because one needs to learn how to speak properly if one wants to get ahead in life. Seriously? He just tried to kill your husband. WTF? That's beyond stupid. And their dialogues and "witticisms" (if you can actually call them that) during their stressful flight from authority stretches imagination. No one talks like that. At all. Ever. No one. It's beyond stupid. And so I stopped reading. Bear in mind my comment that Heinlein is a perv. So I read some reviews of this book after I stopped reading and to my total lack of surprise, this book turns into a giant Penthouse jerkoff complete with orgies and incest and tons of naked women throwing themselves at Ames throughout the book and why am I not surprised? I know a lot of sci fi writer geeks are a little sex obsessed, probably because they never got any growing up, but damn, what the HELL is wrong with Heinlein? He's a sick bastard. OK, I learned my lesson. I should have stuck to my guns. No matter how good the back cover sounded, it was Heinlein and bound to be bad, so this was definitely my last Heinlein book ever and he can kiss my ass. What an overrated writer. What a bad excuse for a sci fi author. What a freak. Definitely not recommended, both for the plot and the porn.
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prude. But I don't want to pick up a decent seeming sci fi book only to find it full of nothing more than gratuitous sex and little else, likely designed to shock and titillate. It's stupid and, frankly, boring. I think Heinlein has written a couple of decent books I've liked over the years, but generally he's very overrated and he's really a disgusting person. So I can't explain what made me stop in the bookstore this weekend while browsing through the shelves and pick this book up and look at the back cover. But the synopsis made it sound interesting and since it was a decent used price, I thought why not. So I did. And regretted it.The book is about Dr. Richard Ames, who is a resident of Golden Rule habitat, which is a space colony near the moon. One night, he is out to dinner with his soon-to-be wife Gwen Novak when a strange man is killed directly in front of him at his table. Before he knows it, he's running for his life from an unknown enemy or group of enemies. The thing that made me want to stop reading this book, which I did, was that so many unlikely things happened to Ames and Gwen in a 20 hour period, that it was completely unbelievable. The murder, the three minute cleanup and disappearance of the corpse, the assassination attempt, the evictions, the other murder, the murder frame up, the chase, the rip offs, the sabotaged space ship which crash lands, etc. It's just too damn much. If half of this stuff would happen to anyone in a 20 hour period, they'd have a nervous breakdown. It's not believable. To make matters worse, the dialogue is so damned "proper" and so, frankly, stilted, it's not to be believed either. Gwen takes the assassin under care to turn him into a proper person by educating him in his speech patterns, because one needs to learn how to speak properly if one wants to get ahead in life. Seriously? He just tried to kill your husband. WTF? That's beyond stupid. And their dialogues and "witticisms" (if you can actually call them that) during their stressful flight from authority stretches imagination. No one talks like that. At all. Ever. No one. It's beyond stupid. And so I stopped reading. Bear in mind my comment that Heinlein is a perv. So I read some reviews of this book after I stopped reading and to my total lack of surprise, this book turns into a giant Penthouse jerkoff complete with orgies and incest and tons of naked women throwing themselves at Ames throughout the book and why am I not surprised? I know a lot of sci fi writer geeks are a little sex obsessed, probably because they never got any growing up, but damn, what the HELL is wrong with Heinlein? He's a sick bastard. OK, I learned my lesson. I should have stuck to my guns. No matter how good the back cover sounded, it was Heinlein and bound to be bad, so this was definitely my last Heinlein book ever and he can kiss my ass. What an overrated writer. What a bad excuse for a sci fi author. What a freak. Definitely not recommended, both for the plot and the porn.
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LibraryThing member kewaynco
I liked this book, though not sure exactly why. For the most part it is light reading. The relationship between Richard & Gwen is interesting, part sexist and part feminist. Richard, macho. Gwen, seeming helpless female who carries her own weight and more. I enjoyed the multiverse plot line and the
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discussions. Show Less
Awards
Locus Award (Nominee — Science Fiction Novel — 1986)
Language
Original publication date
1985-11
Physical description
388 p.; 6.7 inches
ISBN
0425093328 / 9780425093320
Local notes
Lazarus Long, 4
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Heinlein |