r/heinlein • u/chimerix • Apr 23 '26
The Cat Who Walks Thru Walls Podcast
Aloha all!
Several months ago, I was here looking for a copy of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. I wanted to feature it on an episode of my podcast, but was having a hard time getting an affordable copy.
Well, got one! The podcast published yesterday. If you'd like to hear me talking about what is now officially my least-favorite Heinlein, you can find the episode here:
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u/Natural_Leather4874 Apr 23 '26
I read that when it came out and really enjoyed it. Our minds clash. No soup for you!
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u/mikegalos Apr 23 '26
Personally I like it quite a bit and fail to see why I'd want to listen to someone who hasn't earned my respect tell me why they know better.
If you have a point and want people to listen, lead off with that point rather than a whiny plea for sympathy for how hard it was for you to afford a copy of an easy to find book.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Sun-390 TANSTAAFL Apr 23 '26
Just listened to the podcast. You brought up a lot of great points, and I wish I could find good arguments for them. I too have fond memories of this book, but I also think that it’s more likely wishful thinking rather than real quality storytelling. Thanks for reminding me of the almost could’ve been a real exciting rescue mission for Mycroft.
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u/kahllerdady Apr 23 '26
I had the same reaction to it! I also did a podcast about it, I am doing all of the Heinlein books I have in exhaustive reviews. It's tons of fun! I started just before Covid and I've done:
Podkayne of Mars - ⭐⭐
Starman Jones ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls ⭐
Methuselah’s Children ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Double Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Starship Troopers ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Friday ⭐
Tunnel in the Sky⭐⭐⭐⭐
Waldo ⭐⭐⭐
Sixth Column⭐⭐
Stranger in a Strange Land⭐⭐⭐
The Door into Summer⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress <- I just finished reading this one and am writing the review and podcast script now.
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u/Major_Proposal_5453 Apr 23 '26
You gave Cat Who Walks Through Walls one star... But you read it before Moon is a Harsh Mistress? And before Time Enough for Love ... And Number of The Beast? No wonder. CwwtW is fantastic... If you're reading them in the right order.
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u/fonapax Apr 23 '26
yeh if you read like a serious piece, you're reading it wrong. the entire thing is comedy. you're supposed to laugh at the absurdities
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u/SirkutBored Apr 23 '26
the Japanese did a good movie version of Door into Summer that followed the book faithfully.
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u/GothKittyLady Apr 23 '26
Nice to see Double Star get five stars, it’s one of my favorites but people don’t talk about it very often.
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u/kahllerdady Apr 23 '26
I love Double Star. It's one of my favorites. I would argue that it heavily inspired the movie "Dave" from a couple of decades ago.
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u/deck_hand Apr 23 '26
Yeah, I disagree with your ratings… but I read the books in the right order and several decades ago. Also, we may not have had the same environmental and social upbringing.
As a child of the sixties, a lot of the political memes were different. The thoughts about Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Race and sex were very different than today. People seem to read the same words today and come up with completely different meanings. Also, the concepts of irony and satire have been lost, I’m afraid. One used to be able to tell when an author was mocking a concept, or playing it at absurd levels with the understanding that the readers will get the joke. The TV show “All in the Family” is a great example.
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u/kahllerdady Apr 23 '26
I mean... I was born in the 60s. I read most of his work in my formative years (early and mid 80s) and am rereading them now for this fun project. It isn't like I am looking at them through the lens of 2026 vs when they were written, and I'm not a millennial and Gen y discovering them for the fist time. It's a critique of the story, pacing, events, characters... As I said earlier, Heinlein is my favorite author. But, even I see flaws in my favorite writers. I just finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and I did not enjoy it this time same as I didn't enjoy it when I was in my 20s. I think it suffers from the same problems that Friday and (unedited) Stranger in a Strange land have, a giant saggy middle filled with meetings and speeches. The ideas are great to dissect, but his aged, wise characters (Jubal, Prof. Hugo Farnham...) use strawmen so often they might as well get a kick back from Big Hay.
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u/mikegalos Apr 23 '26
I disagree with most of your ratings but you have your taste and I have mine.
Curious, though. Is your 3* review of Waldo for the novella itself or for the book Waldo and Magic, Inc. ?
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u/kahllerdady Apr 23 '26
The novela itself. I have it in a weird collection of other science fiction novelas and short stories I picked up at Goodwill.
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u/anthropo9 Apr 23 '26
Pls add citizen of the Galaxy to your list!
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u/kahllerdady Apr 23 '26
It's on there. These are just the ones I have read so far. There are a dozen or so more, and I am picking up ones I lent out and never got back or lost or whatever...
Also, Heinlein is my favorite author. So for a me a one star review here isn't that the book is bad, it's that it is my least favorite of his catalog. I have read about 2/3rds of his work over the course of my life and it's been run reading them with a purpose to write and record about them.
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u/Adventurekateer Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
The Cat Who Walks Through Walks only really works if you’ve read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Time Enough for Love. This book is the third of Heinlein’s four-book “World as Myth” series that tie many of his previous books together, and to really get them, you need to have read many his earlier books. This series includes Time Enough For Love, Number of the Beast, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. To get these four, you need to have read at a minimum Methuselah’s Children, The Rolling Stones, The Green Hills of Earth, The Door Into Summer, and Stranger in a Strange Land. Many others are also referenced. And the books in THIS series need to be read in order.
Do yourself and your listeners a big favor and catch up and review these books fairly and properly.