Citizen of the Galaxy

I first read this book when I was 15, and ever since I have remembered it as one of the best books I had ever read. I recently moved and unpacked my copy. Curious, I reread it and found that the passing time has not dimmed it at all. I still believe it is one of the best books I have ever read. This breaks from the stereotypical pattern of Robert Heinlein and all science fiction. It covers such borad topics as racism, slavery, corporate corruption, and the people who are willing to sacrifice everything they have to change the world. The book opens at a slave auction,in a far away galaxy, where a young boy is up for sale. It doesn't take long for the reader to get caught up in the many twists and turns this story takes. Not one of the characters in this book is who he first appears to be. Thorby (the boy for sale) is bought by an old, crippled beggar man and ends up travelling throughout the universe. His observations on life are truly insightful. This may just change the way you see the world around you.

This book rates as one of my favorite Heinlein books to be read and re-read. In it, a child made a slave is bought by an old beggar in the slave market. However, neither the child who has so far survived a harsh childhood nor the old beggar are what they seem to be to the other dwellers in the poverty area adjoining the space port. After Pop is executed, Thorby must get to a certain stranger with a message from Pop, plus a headful of messages he doesn't know he's carrying. This dumps him into a Free Trader culture totally different from what he knows and in another language on a starship. Eventually Thorby is sent off to go with the equivalent of space cops. Who Thorby really is and the "warm" reception from relatives he never dreamed of lead up to the climax of the book. Like other Heinlein books, the Grand Master sneaks in his view of humans, moral behavior, and doing the right thing for the right reason. Makes me wish that dear Mr. Heinlein were still alive and well enough for visitors. One learns something on a gut level in all of his books.

Personally, I believe this is the type of book we should have on the required reading lists at our schools - a book that is fun and fascinating to read, that introduces creative concepts about society, technology, and people...and a book that makes you think. It makes you think about the importance of freedom, about the slipperiness of the concept of freedom...about the choices that we make, and the choices that are made for us...about how people may have more to them than we suspect based on first impressions or based on their chosen profession. The first time I read the book, I was disappointed in the ending. In rereading it, I realized that Heinlein was showing one more aspect of freedom - and, in having his character give up what many people would consider an almost ideal life, in being rich with no responsibilities --- and choosing to take on the burden of those responsibilities...Heinlein was showing even more about the importance of values, of character, over superficial fun.

This book is the epitome of Heinlein's adventure novels. It reminds we humans that we are not truly civilized beings. He points out clearly that slavery is one of the most awful things we can entrap our fellow beings in, and also points out that there are more types of slavery than actual enslavement. Humans can be trapped by family, friends, work, and, as Heinlein shows near the end of this novel, by money. Humans do not have never known any true freedom, even though we tend to feel that capitalism or socialism are ways for us to achieve freedom. Heinlein points out that none of these systems will make us free. I also really enjoy the fact that Thorby never really cares about his past; he only wants to live in the now, the way humans should. This is an easy book to read even though its plot is like some sort of roller-coaster. Even though somewhat deep ideas are expressed in this book, I think it would be best suited for teenage readers.