Friday

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Fun For Heinlein Fans

If there is a part of you that longs for just a little bit more Robert Heinlein and you've already torn through his great works, then this book is for you.

The story is pure adventure. From the opening moments the story is full of excitement and novelty. The narrator has a great I'm-going-to-sound-a-bit-like-a-ditz-but-it-is-an-act-and-I-am-smarter-than-you tone which captures the first person narrative of the protagonist Friday.

My only critique is that somewhere around 60% of the way through I stared asking myself, "where the heck is this going?" but I didn't really care that much, the story was interesting and so as Heinlein made his explorations of alternative family structures and waxes theoretical about life, I just let it ride.

It is the greatest Heinlein book? No, it isn't. The plot does drag and the characters are not quite as gripping as some of this other works. But if you've already scoured his great works and you're looking for a hidden gem and a little bit more from the great master then this book is for you.

Go Friday!

fun!

the narrative was strange, not Hilenlins best work, but still good. The narrator was great, a man reading this would have ruined the book. best listened to after other books of the same author, "the moon is a harsh mistress " being a great starting point!

Great book

I've read this book several times over the years and it was nice to listen to it for a change.

One of my favorite books ever

What a relief to find a book on tape version of one of my favorite books that's well read... LOVE this story, read my paperback copy to the point the binding was falling apart

Not Heinlein's best effort

I remembered having read this book in high school when I was going through a self-discovery period. I devoured all Heinlein's novels after someone gave me Stranger in a Strange Land. That and the Moon is a Harsh Mistress are, IMO, 2 of the sci-fi's best all time classics. After reading those books, I continued on with his Lazarus Long books, I Will Fear No Evil, and this book and remember enjoying them all. So I decided to get the Audible book and give these lesser novels a try and I'm terribly disappointed.

This is really not credit worthy IMO. It wasn't as good as I remember 45 years later.

I'm a fanboy, so this review may be biased

I first read Friday when it came out in 1982/1983 as one of my earliest Heinlein books. It was mind expanding for a 16 year old. This story is full of adventures, new ideas, and mind blowing concepts for a 16 year old in the early 80s. Now it's a bit tame, sadly reminds me of our current social and political state, and may come off as a bit misogynistic if someone doesn't take into account the timeframe and what the culture was like. You have to keep in mind that the ERA wasn't passed until 1972, so if you find any objectionable content, remember that someone was writing about "a social class" that was being oppressed and looking at their plight. Like many science fiction "ideas," the Artificial Persons, Robots, aliens, etc. are a stand in to allow a discussion about something where people have entrenched ideas/assumptions. Anyway, enough of that. I'd have to join a book group and discuss the social and political points in this book. I can say that I enjoyed this book once again 40+ years later and would recommend it to anyone who would listen to me. The only thing that would make this book better is if he wrote Friday II before passing.

Required headline

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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.