Dear Internet,
Today has
been unique to say the least. For one, “Starship
Troopers” got pulled out of the pile, and it was the audiobook version. This marks the first Backlog item that is
audio based and the first time a book was pulled. To make use of the fact that it was in audio
format, I was able to get a great deal of work done for a change. Nine bags of leaves and twigs later, along
with about an hour of mindless grinding in a game, I was able to get though
five of the ten hours that this book lasts.
I have come across “Starship Troopers” before, namely the 1997 film of
the same title. I enjoy the movie,
especially its satire and quirkiness.
While I have already been able to distinguish a number of differences between
the film and source material already, it is useful having watched the movie to
have pre-established mental images as the audiobook continues. What also made today unique was the fact that
I had to type this letter on a laptop because an electrical storm threatens my desktop’s
power stability.
I do not
wish to spend much time explaining the plot of “Starship Troopers” too much,
mostly because I am only half way through the book. So far, we are introduced to the first person
narrator Juan Rico and his time in the Mobile Infantry of the future. The first chapter goes over a raid conducted
by Rico and company on a planet populated by an enemy force. There is the introduction to a full body
enhancing suit along with weapons that reflect the concepts of what advanced technology
would bring. However, the novel takes a
turn very quickly after that. Instead of
continuing from there, the plot jumps back to Rico’s last days of high-school
and his choice to join the army. After
that, it is boot camp.
Boot camp
seems to take up the largest section of the book, especially if you lump it
together with the pre-boot camp high school bit, which is short enough to
do. I think Rico is still in boot camp
at this point. I am not sure. I think I missed the point when the war started. There was a point where the interstellar war
was mentioned as though it had already started, but I cannot recall a section
where it had begun. Must have been when
I raked a leaf.
The book so
far has pulled a switcheroo, in my opinion.
It starts out in a war scene or in the very least a scene with a raiding
party attacking a city. After that, it
takes a very quick turn and slows down to a standstill. If you had read the first chapter expecting
an action story with lasers and bombs going everywhere with twists and turns of
urban warfare, you would very disappointed with slugging through the rest of
the book, or in the very least the other 4/5 of today’s reading. I understand the act of starting a story with
a “current” events scene and then rewinding to get the audience up to
speed. But so far, “Starship Troopers”
gets really slow and stalls for large amounts of time with little plot
advancement. There is a ton of social,
political, and military commentary, but little of it adds much to the
story. There are a few times someone
gets flogged. I am not even sure why the
main character got flogged at one point, something about screwing up a
simulation exercise and how if he had done what he had done in a real mission
people would have died. But all this
does is highlight how low the threshold for corporal punishment is in the society
that Heinlein, the author, created.
The book
spends way too much time talking about the society structure and government functionalities. The biggest of these is the right to vote,
which is only given to those who volunteer for Federal service, military or otherwise. This is a fallacy which if implemented into
practice would create a big government which would have a hand in every facet
of life, or a military headed government that would rival the Communist governments
of the Soviet Era. Not to mention that
it would require that a constant war effort to create stability. Even the book highlights the fallacy. There are so many people trying to gain
citizenship through military duty that the army has to find the most menial
tasks for the influx of recruits that they are unable to turn away. They even have to make up jobs for them, some
of which include being test subjects for medical experiments. If it was not for this inter stellar war, the
system would have folded in upon itself or a restructuring would have been
needed.
There is
also the science based morality system that is full of crock, something that
even a child could see through. What occurs
thought he course of the book so far is either a foggy and unclear attempt at
satire or the ranting of a man who has little experience with common
sense. The “utopia” would be unreachable
if its tenets were followed, and if it did reach such a point would collapse as
quickly as the whip’s crack that created it. Not to mention just how boring the plot feels
and how little character growth there is.
Perhaps the second half is better.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
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