The Puppet Masters

Robert A. Heinlein
The Puppet Masters Cover

The Puppet Masters -- Silly fun, but not his best

Tar Daddoo
11/2/2014
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What is the Science Fiction Premise?

The Puppet Masters is an alien invasion story in which the aliens are parasites that live off and control humans. Heinlein wrote the story in 1951. The notion of aliens as parasites or controlling humans as doppelgangers is a common trope in Science Fiction, but I do not know an earlier incarnation of the idea.

Is the science of the premise explored?

Heinlein is annoyingly mum on how the aliens are able to control humans. We learn about how it feels and what it does to people, but we have no idea how it is possible.

Is the impact of the premise on an individual explored?

The story is told from the first person perspective of an agent charged with fighting the aliens. We do learn how the alien's presence affects his life and his attitudes.

Is the impact of the premise on society explored?

The whole story is about how the aliens subvert human society and the struggle by humans to defeat the aliens. I found some of the human adaptations amusing, though I'm not sure they were intended as such.

How well written is the story?

The book is quite readable.

Being an early book by Heinlein (pre-1960) it is less subject to some of the more annoying and oft repeated aspects of Heinlein's writing, but it is not free of them. For example, there is the old man (in this case he's actually called the Old Man) who sees the world as it is and tells us what we should believe. There is the beautiful woman, who rises above the characteristics of most women to be a potent independent actor in the story.

Nevertheless, there are many ways in which the book is problematic to modern sensibilities about women. Heinlein uses chauvinistic descriptions of how women look and act that are uncomfortable. There is an awkward romance that seems to require very little courtship or even foreplay. And at some point in the story his female lead seems to lose her autonomy. It is a strange juxtaposition. Based on the Old Man's and the protagonist's words, you would say Heinlein is a feminist; women are independent and potent agents. If you watch what everyone does, you would say he's a chauvinist.

Can I recommend the book?

This is not a great book, but it holds some interest. For one thing, the adventure is pretty good. For another, its position as a very early form of alien as parasite gives it some historical interest to the student of Science Fiction.

Having said that, I cannot recommend this as the best place to enter Heinlein's work. If you have never read Heinlein and are not likely to read much of his work, don't start here. Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are much better novels. They show off Heinlein's skills as a writer and thinker much more effectively.

Tar Daddoo

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