Friday

De: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrado por: Hillary Huber

Friday, a secret courier, is thrown into an assignment under the command of her employer, a man she knows only as "Boss". She operates from and over a near-future Earth in North America, a vulgar and chaotic land comprised of dozens of independent states. In America's disunion, Friday keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions as she conquers one calamity and scrape after another.

Please note: This audiobook includes adult content and themes.

©1982 by Robert A. Heinlein (P)1996 by Blackstone Audiobooks

You could almost like this

This is one of my favorite later works of Heinlein. I purchased the original version with a male reader that left quite a bit to be desired. This reader seemed to portray the book substantially better... until the deadly words were encountered.
Please, readers, try to familiarize yourself with terms in science and, if necessary, military and quasi-military. The thing that kills an audio book worse than anything else is when the reader hasn't a clue what they're reading. The most egregious example of this in this book was the substitution of the word "commandment" for the title of "commandant". There were other instances, but this one just stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.
If you can grit your teeth and avoid rolling your eyes (especially if listening while driving) when one of these goofs occurs, then the rest of the book is actually quite passable and well done.

Not Exactly What I Was Expecting

Robert Heinlein is my favorite author & I've read this particular book several times. When I saw that there was finally an unabridged audio version with a female narrator (don't get me started on male narrators being chosen to read books with first-person female protagonists), I was eager to start listening.

Unfortunately, the narrator is the reason that I'm unable to give this book five stars. There was just something about her delivery that made Friday & a few other characters sound *too* contemporary (when Heinlein's writing style relies heavily on mannerisms from the last century.) To her credit, she did a good job with "the Boss."

That isn't to say the narration was bad - she just failed to capture the main character for me. Otherwise, the author's voice comes through loud and clear - and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book as a good representation of RAH's work.

Narration Flawed

Would you consider the audio edition of Friday to be better than the print version?

While this is a story I enjoyed as a young adult, the audio version I found had issues.

What didn’t you like about Hillary Huber’s performance?

The voice of the narrator did not fit the image that the author created of the character she was portraying. Hillary Huber had the voice of someone who spent most of her life (40 or more year) screaming ending with a gravelly voice, not that of a young perfectly engineered woman.

Any additional comments?

The second issues was that 3 or 4 times in the narration phrase or sentences were repeated, which appear to be the result of poor editing.

While I gave this audio book 4 stars for the story the Overall rating was hurt by the choice of narrator and the quality of the editing.

Excellent read of Outstanding Story.

it helps that I love Robert Heinlein and the reader of this story did a wonderful job! She was able to pick up the sarcasm that permeates his writing. I will definitely adventure into her world once again.

One of Heinlein’s best!

I first read this book in the 1970s and it still one of the best books I’ve ever read.