Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)

*** ITA/ENG ***
Thorby è un giovane schiavo, che dopo essere stato acquistato da un mendicante per pochi spiccioli, inizia un viaggio alla scoperta delle proprie origini.

Heinlein è sempre una garanzia per quanto riguarda i suoi 'ragazzini nello spazio', e riesce anche a metterci delle nozioni di fisica (e di come si potrebbe applicare alla navigazione interplanetaria) che lasciano intuire la sua preparazione sull'argomento.

I suoi personaggi sono sempre definiti all'interno del romanzo, anche se dopo aver letto un po' dei suoi romanzi 'giovanili' risultano un po' troppo simili tra di loro e ho notato alcune piccole discrepanze nella trama: lo stile di vita di Baslim sembra un po' troppo comodo ricco per essere un 'semplice' mendicante e questo viene spiegato col fatto che sia una spia. Più avanti nel libro, viene però che detto il suo lavoro come spia era perfetto perché viveva solo con quello che guadagnava come mendicante?

Per chi ama la fantascienza, credo che sia ancora un autore molto importante.
**************

This book is among Heinlein 'Juvenile novels', and as usual the protagonist is has a young boy growing up in a big universe. Thorby's life as a slave gets a big turn when is bought by a beggar...

When you have read a lot of Heinlein's novels for the young, many of the protagonist sound a lot alike, but within the book I find them coherent and well defined. The author's notions of physic and space traveling are still interesting, especially since they add to the realism of the series (I am not competent enough to tell if one of those theories is outdated).

I recommend this book to science-fiction lovers, as I find Heinlein is still a relevant author for the genre.

Letto per le sfide
1. Trim your TBR - Libro #16, per la task Un libro di un autore nato in un qualsiasi continente (esclusa l'Europa).
2. Alphabet 2020 per Un libro il cui titolo inizi per C
3. Babele 2020 - Modalità difficile (7/15) ( )

Kind of neat at first (some of the world building on the Sisu in particular was neat), but it turned into a bit of a snooze and felt kind of half-formed. Read this aloud to the kids, who felt similarly meh about it. ( )

This is a story about a boy being bought as a slave on a slave auction far away on a distant planet. Distant from many planets, not itself of course. For the people living there it was actually a very close planet.

Anyway, enough about distances. The story follows this boy through life, and he is the one referred to by the title "citizen of the galaxy". The story is nothing special, but the book is short so no room for diving into details.

I'm trying to think of what Heinlein meant with this book. Is it the chase of the American Dream? That poverty doesn't mean unhappiness? The infinite possibilities in a life time? That success is in your genes?

Whatever he meant, I don't think I agree with everything.

As for grade. It could be two or a three. I started with a three, but changed it to a two after removing the implicit "I like this author" bonus. ( )

Re-read. I still love it. I understand why people prefer some of the Heinlein juveniles with tighter plots. But there is something about this one that stays with me.

Naakt op een lendendoek na staat de jonge Thorby op het slavenblok, ergens op een planeet in de wetteloze uithoek van de Melkweg. Verkocht worden is geen nieuwe ervaring voor hem.
Niemand wil hem hebben, maar dan doet een bedelaar een bod op hem. De bedelaar zorgt als een vadervoor hem, en hem een vak . Niet veel later leert de jongen dat de bedelaar anders is dan hij zich voortdoet. Na een paar jaar wordt de oude man vermoordt, en moet de jongen vluchten om zijn leven te redden. Nu is het zijn taak om een belangrijke boodschap de planeet af te smokkelen.

Na diverse omzwervingen en avonturen belandt de jongen eindelijk op de Aarde. Niemand daar gelooft zijn verhalen over slavernij en de barbaarse toestanden die in sommige delen van de Melkweg bestaan. Als uiteindelijk de afkomst van de jongen ontdekt wordt, krijgt hij de kans om wraak te nemen op de slavenhalers.

Zwerftocht tussen de sterren bestaat in feite in 3 verschillende delen, die allen wel interessant waren, maar de eerste twee delen waren beduiden beter dan het laatste.

Voelde me tot het laatste woord betrokken bij het boek, maar eenmaal uit was ik toch wel teleurgesteld. Het boek leek wel afgeraffeld te zijn, met een abrupt einde, waarbij zeer weinig afgewikkeld werd.

Zou dit boek 4 (of 5) sterren gegeven hebben indien Heinlein de moeite had genomen om er een werkelijk einde aan te maken. Nu blijft nog te veel open. Er waren zeker nog genoeg mogelijkheden voor het laatste deel. ( )