Podkayne of Mars

wrong ending

real Heinlien fans know whats up. this book does not contain the ORIGINAL ending and, as he pointed out to his editor who insisted on this rewrite, the new ending ruins the moral of the story.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A Smart Kid

Just reading a description of the story doesn't leave one excited to read it, but when you start listening, you find it hard to stop.

Podkayne is a girl who would be around 17 or 18 earth years old. See is very world-wise and people-wise for her age. She plans her long term goals and goes after them.

I'm a 64 year old man. I tend to think of Podkayne as a terrific daughter or granddaughter that I would be very proud of. If I did have a teenage or even pre-teenage granddaughter, I would see to it that she listened to this at least once, and hopefully more than once. Podkayne would be a very good roll model for any girl.

This starts as a very pleasant story that builds to a very exciting story. I think that if you got this book, you would be glad you did.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

A fun space adventure.

Where does Podkayne of Mars rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks as very good, but it's soda pop, not scotch.

If you’ve listened to books by Robert A. Heinlein before, how does this one compare?

If Starship Troopers is a home run, this is a standing double.

What about Emily Janice Card’s performance did you like?

Emily has a completely unaffected voice that is easy to listen to. It perfectly matched the innocent and excited voice of the books heroine through who's eyes the story is told.

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

It was amusing and fun, save for the ending, which was a bit abrupt for me. Our heroine spends all her time studying spaceships and it seems that should have come into play at the end. Also, the message at the end seemed out of place in an otherwise fun read.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Perfect narrator, and I forgot how funny it was.

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

Heck yes. The book itself is one of Heinlein's juvies, with a plucky heroine and her mad genius of a little brother. I bought it for my daughter to listen along with forgetting that the Juvies were meant for Tweens/teens with a matching vocabulary. So I listened to it by myself.

And absolutely loved it. The narrator was flat out perfect. I don't know what voice I have in my head for her when I read this, but it's Emily Card from now on.

The book is awesome. It's basically a travelogue that is mostly character driven, with the plot only showing up in Act III. Don't care, it's a fun journey.

What other book might you compare Podkayne of Mars to and why?

I wish I knew, so I could buy those as well. Obviously Heinlein's other juvies, but no idea. Given that YA is so huge right now, I don't know why this isn't huge.

What does Emily Janice Card bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She IS Poddy. She nails the voice.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Three planets, two kids, and one mad genius of a brother,

Any additional comments?

Thanks, Emily!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good story, rushed ending.

I enjoyed this story right up until the end when it seems like the producer walked in and said "You have 5 minutes. Wrap it up." It left me confused, surprised and a little mad. If not for the ending I would give the story 5 stars. Otherwise, it is a good listen and I will consider other books by Robert Heinlein. I did see other reviews where readers complained about the attitude towards women. I thought the author was pointing out social injustice, not endorsing it.

The narration was easy to understand but the different voices were hard to distinguish. That is why I only gave the performance three stars.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great retelling of a classic science fiction story

This is one of my favorite coming of age stories -- where you hear the thoughts of a young girl as told to her diary. The narrator does a great job of having different voices that enhance the story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Well written but lacking a good ending

I know that this is not the original ending the author had planned but I still didn't like it. I do sense sexist undertones in the decisions of the heroine to abandon her calling to be a space pilot & embracing a love for babies, but I think it reflects the time it was written in. Overall an interesting book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Uncle Orson's Daughter

Emily Card did a wonderful job of characterizing Podkayne. She truly did. The reading of this novel called for a teenage girls voice using inflections as if she were conversing with a voice recorder or talking on a telephone. Ms. Card delivered splendidly. However, her talent as a reader may be limited in this respect. She could deliver a good performance with similarly themed science fiction books, and she might do really well reading chick-lit novels or perhaps classics like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but her voice has too high of a pitch to embody masculine characters very well.

Enough criticisms about the reader. The book is one of my favorites. Heinlein's simple stories always entertain me completely. However, when I read this book a couple of years ago; I read a Baen paperback copy and I believe that there was an alternate ending to the novel. I may be wrong, maybe it was another book that offered an alternative ending. Perhaps it was the one with the two telepathic twins, or maybe "Tunnel in The Sky". But I didn't like the ending to this book. It was too sad and left too much unanswered. If you want to understand what I am talking about then buy the book and listen for yourself.

7 of 10 people found this review helpful

Good book but very sinister view of Women

Pros:
I think this is a very good book--how it's written and comes to it's surprising ending. The author does a great job of making the reader want to see Earth from a Mars-men perspective.

Cons:
The overall theme that women should stay at home and raise children, and that is what women should naturally like to do and are best at doing, is a bit 1800s. Though perhaps I missed the point somewhere, feel free to explain!

5 of 8 people found this review helpful

A lifetime favorite

Any additional comments?

This was the first SF book I read, when I was 11. I wanted to BE Podkayne. As a young adult, I was embarrassed to like the book. But over the years, especially when I look back unflinchingly at my teenaged years, I can admit that 15-year-old (in Earth years) girls really are like that. Podkayne is intelligent but naive, courageous but reckless, ambitious but unsure of what she really wants. I love her, and I love the "classic SF" in this book: human settlements on Mars and Venus, space travel, the human constants of personalities and politics.