To Sail Beyond the Sunset

The Life and Loves of Maureen Johnson (Being the Memoirs of a Somewhat Irregular Lady)

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

Maureen Johnson, the somewhat irregular mother of Lazarus Long, wakes up in bed with a man and a cat. The cat is Pixel, well-known to fans of the New York Times best seller The Cat Who Walks through Walls. The man is a stranger to her, and besides that, he is dead.

So begins Robert A. Heinlein’s To Sail Beyond the Sunset. Filled with the master’s most beloved characters, this compelling work broadens and enriches his epic vision of time and space, life and death, love and desire. It is also an autobiographical masterpiece—and a wondrous return to the alternate universes that all Heinlein fans have come to know and love.

©1987 Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein, trustees (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

“Thoughtprovoking…. Considerable wit and energy!” ( Newsday)

Perhaps it rates in x's and not stars.

Where does To Sail Beyond the Sunset rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Among the top.

What did you like best about this story?

Oh loved the change of perspective to hear from Lazarus's mother. This was a great change from the Methuselah's series.

What about Bernadette Dunne’s performance did you like?

A talented reader who can change voice tones on a dime to meet new characters coming in to the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book is extreme and rubs against social norms of present society. Its content may not be new for long time readers of Heinlein work, but new readers may be shocked by the content. This read is not for children or Harry Potter readers.

Any additional comments?

It was great to have this in audio version as I have commute time and little time for sitting and reading paper copies at present.

Do not make this your first Heinlein!

This book is the culmination of Heinlein's Future History series, unifying his earliest published works with his Lazarus Long novels. As the full title suggest, the book tells the story of Maureen Johnson, mother of Lazarus Long, from her youth in the late 19th century to her old age in one of the alternate future that Heinlein created for the stories he wrote in the 1940s.

Unfortunately, it's also one of his weakest. Heinlein is controversial for his depiction of what strong female characters should be, and in "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" he pulls out all the stops. There are sex-positive polyamorous women; I've met a few. But none of them are like how Maureen Johnson is depicted: not only accepting incest, but actively promoting it among her own children.

Frankly, there were points while I listened that I was embarrassed for the reader, Bernadette Dunne. She's the best female audiobook reader I've heard (I hope it isn't sexist to say so). However I cringed every time I heard her read Maureen Johnson's opinions of what it means to be a woman, on the character's desires for her father, and (what was probably worst of all) how raising 17 children was merely an exercise in household management. Dunne reads all of this in the tone of the character, but I couldn't help but think about Dunne's internal reaction as she did a professional job as an audiobook reader.

I also cringed at the few passages in which Heinlein indulges in some right-wing educational and political philosophy. But since I'm one of those bleeding-heart tax-the-rich liberals, you should take my reaction with a grain of salt.

Setting that aside (and it's a lot to set aside!) "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" still shows Heinlein near the peak of his skill with words. He paints his future and alternative worlds with an economy of phrase that many of his contemporaries never mastered.

If you'd like to listen to Heinlein's Future History, I strongly recommend other audiobooks: The Green Hills of Earth and The Menace From Earth; after that perhaps Time Enough Fro Love; all these books are prequels to this one. For the best Heinlein, try listening to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Job: A Comedy of Justice, or Stranger in a Strange Land.

I recommend you only come to this one after you listened to other works by Heinlein, so you can accept how some of his fantasies got ahead of reality near the end of his life.

classic Late Heinlein

I have read much Heinlein and this was an interesting part that ties a lot of other stories together. This should not be your first RH book.

I wish the reader had more inflection in her voice

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This has always been one of my favorite Heinlein stories

What other book might you compare To Sail Beyond the Sunset to and why?

All of the Lazarus Long stories are great

What does Bernadette Dunne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I feel it would have been better with a smokier voice

The Cycle Is Incomplete!

What did you love best about To Sail Beyond the Sunset?

I freely admit to being a Heinlein addict. This final masterwork does not disappoint,

What was one of the most memorable moments of To Sail Beyond the Sunset?

The beginning...nothing like starting with a bang!

Which character ??? as performed by Bernadette Dunne ??? was your favorite?

Bernadette Dunne allowed me to remember far more of the story than when I read it as a paperback.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. Absolutely yes!

Any additional comments?

My only "complaint" is that as a cycle or series this did not feel "complete" without an audio version of the master's other novel, The Number of The Beast. I hope the people at New Frontiers will take note!

Very mixed reaction

On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the lead character and her sexual libertarianism. But every time I was starting to feel respect & affection for Maureen and her free thinking ways, she'd launch into a sophomoric right wing, objectivist rant that bespoke an appalling shallowness of her Weltanschauung and uncritical acceptance of (Ayn) Randian principles. .

It's 2% scifi 98% sex

Really just know what your buying. This isn't starship troopers or methuselah's children. This is a book where 80% of the pages are devoted to romance/sex and it's neither high romance nor titillating.

It's really not a bad novel and a very interesting last novel by a great writer. But just know what you're getting yourself into.

If you didn't like Time Enough for Love you'll hate this. If you did like TEfL you might like this.

Heinlein book written from female side of story

Would you listen to To Sail Beyond the Sunset again? Why?

Again and again and again as I do with all Heinlein books except one or two. I am a patent Heinlein. I have only ever read two of his books I did not like.

What was one of the most memorable moments of To Sail Beyond the Sunset?

The most memorable was the ending. Loved it. However, there were many high points. Many of her discussions with her father were very stimulating and interesting with multiple themes. Her tale about breaking up with Brian Smith, her first husband, and how she handled his instinctive greediness toward his new family was wonderful. Dealing with her last two children and their incest was also great. As was her reintroduction to Woodrow.

There are many, many moments which are memorable in this book.

Which character – as performed by Bernadette Dunne – was your favorite?

Maureen Johnson Smith herself.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Brian left her for another woman. When Maureen was reintroduced to Woodrow.

Any additional comments?

I have always believed at least part of this book was polished and finished by his wife, Virginia Heinlein. Robert probably had written a draft of the book, but there is a feminine outlook in this book no other of his books has; and could not have because Robert was so patently MALE.

It has always been one of my favorite Heinlein books, along with Time Enough for Love, Stranger in a Strange Land and (I can't remember the title) the one where 'his' brain was transplanted into a female body. (Darn! I hate those brain farts!)

Don't Dilly Dally, Dolly

Counting the Heinlein I started after this book, I have read three Heinlein's in a row, in which a female character, states that her dad sexually excites her and that he could have her in bed anytime he wants.
In this book a girl born in the late 1800's sets out to lose her virginity at the age of 15. She not only has her dad's blessing, but he encourages her. He also tells his daughter that adultery is good. He tells her to keep his conversations with her about sex a secret from her mother. I don't want to see it, but I have noticed that RAH never has a boy who wants to sleep with his mom. I wonder if he thought that was perverted.
I think it is obvious to most normal people that Heinlein was a sexual deviant and I am amazed that these books ever got published. I listen to erotica from time to time and I have several reviews available on the books I have listened to, so I have no problem with sex, I just think these manuals on incest are sick.

Sad, Awful, Cringe-worthy, High Ick Factor!

My first hardback purchased as a child in the 50's was by RAH. I loved his books up to and including Glory Road (Audible, please produce it!!), and I fully grokked "grok." This piece of trash almost ruined all of them for me. There may be a plot somewhere in this mess, but the ick factor of the incestuous sexual themes and descriptions and the seemingly endless focus on repetitious, badly presented and poorly written sexual encounters, whether they advanced the story or not, thoroughly defeated any effort it made to surface.

I refuse to believe that RAH even contributed to this story, choosing to believe instead that his estate decided to milk one last story from old notes found in a set of "bad idea" story files. The uncoordinated attempts to tie in Hazel Meade, Jubal Harshaw, and even Mycroft Holmes only served to emphasize the the barrenness of the plot, story-line, and general theme of the story.

Even alone in my car as I drove to work or home, I was embarrassed to be listening to "To Sail Beyond Sunset." I truly felt more than once like I would need a good scrubbing if I listened one more second to the production. I never skip, but I used the Sector Advance button more than once in search of something to redeem this whatever it is. I never found it. Audible, a credit refund would be appropriate and very welcome.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel

The story isn't up to much: it's partly a rehash of an episode in a previous book (Time Enough for Love), from the viewpoint of a different character, partly reminiscence about how good the old days were, and bringing in characters from other books. Maureen become tedious after a while, as does her sexual attraction to anything that moves (including her father, who seems extremely unattractive but Maureen yearns for him anyway).

Heinlein would have done better to have left this unwritten, not because the sex is shocking (Maureen has sex with a lot of men, including one of her sons), but because it's so boring and the subplot about her being in a different timeline accused of murder isn't particularly good either.

The book is slow, very slow, despite the promising beginning and the narrator, Bernadette Dunne, doesn't make any attempt to pick up the pace. She might be reading a shopping-list for all the feeling she puts into her narration andher attempts at male voices are painful.

Enjoyable listening!

This was my second time listening to the book and I read it at least twice before. Still a brilliant story!

Challenging contents covering taboos

An exciting romp, with quirky attitudes to challenge our social norms.
The vivid exploration of incest can be troubling at times.
Expertly read though with good characterisations.

Maybe the weakest of Robert Heinlein's novels

Heinlein does know how to create a good story, but this one regretably has a lot of weaknesses. In actual fact some of his views (stated through the protagonist) to me were in many ways more interesting than the story itself. I think Heinlein's main excuse for writing the story is that it is an old goat's wish for meeting an amoral and horny lady. In actual fact the description isn't very believable. Will a woman really go into the most minute details regarding her sex life to strangers? I find that difficult to believe, especially when she does her best to hide her sexual feelings from society.

Another thing is that Heinlein seems to believe that if you catch a VD, you can just pop down to your physisist and be healed, just like that. If that's the case, why then may as many as 1/3 of the adult population in the world have herpes? And that in the West. As far as I know, it is one of the VDs that still is not curable, so "free sex" may not be that free after all, contrary to what Heinlein seem to believe.

So the main reason to read this would either be for Heinlein's views on general right to vote, education system, religion and other topic. Some you may agree with and others you may heartedly disagree with, but at least I found them interesting. And of course to get the conclusion of his Future series.

Regarding the performance, Bernadette Dunne did a valiant effort, but I didn't feel she was totally successful to imitate the voice of the male characters. She just didn't seem to get her voice low enough without straining it. But having to read descriptions that I'm sure she would crinch from, is admirable.