The Puppet Masters is a book I read a long time ago when I was a teenager originally and I loved. Spies, aliens and beautiful women, James Bond with science fiction what more could a young man want. The you read it as an adult and there is a certain discomfort with the sexist language and the way the characters treat the female character. Yes she is strong yes she is smart but she is still defined by the males in the book, she is the little lady who has to be protected and Heinlein’s idea of romantic love is about as convincing as a prepubescent fantasy.
Sure it’s a fun story but it’s so hard to get past how Heinlein treats women. I know you should read these thing with knowledge of the times they were written in but Heinlein is so often portrayed as a champion of female characters surely he could have overcome his own biases a little. The book is worth reading if only for it;s influence on the genre, it’s not Heinlein’s best but for it’s time it’s original and fun enough.
This story spawned so many copycat stories, the Invasion of the Body-snatcher’s being just one. Of course when they made a movie of this book it was a travesty even with Donald Sutherland.
timeweleftthisworldtoday 