Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein

Job: A Comedy of Justice

By Robert A. Heinlein

         

I guess you could say I’m going back to my roots by choosing a science fiction title today. I grew up in a small town with a small library.  I certainly can’t claim to have read everything in the library and my interests shifted over time.  As a teen, mysteries became my main focus, with authors like Agatha Christie and Phyllis Whitney. Then I was introduced to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and it became my mainstay for many years.  

I still admire Madeleine L’Engle’s writing tremendously. I distinctly remember my father giving me a copy of Dune by Frank Herbert when I was a teenager and I discovered many more wonderful authors on the shelves of the public library in the town where I went to college. I think I read most of the books by Robert A. Heinlein over time and this was a favorite.

         

(All right, I have to share this one - as I sat here at the Reference desk writing this review, a patron asked me about the book and asked to be put on the waiting list for it so I gave it to her. Apparently she had read and enjoyed many of his books and this sounded interesting to her. Ha!)

         

Anyway, Job: A Comedy of Justice is a modern retelling of the story of Job. Job, in the person of Alexander Hergensheimer, seems to be a shining of example of faith. As in the original story of Job, Satan argues with God, who agrees to test Job.

         

Suddenly Alex finds himself living someone else's life, with a mistress, not the sort of thing a fundamentalist minister was brought up to. Then he falls in love with her.

Heinlein had a way of telling a great adventure story that is easy to read, told in the first person with a rollicking pace.

"His automobile was a triumph of baling wire and faith. We went roaring back to the dock at full throttle, frightening chickens and easily outrunning baby goats."

He also offers a tremendous amount of food for thought that is subtly inserted to this great adventure story. In my lifetime, Science Fiction has been a bastion of such thought provoking writing. Heinlein was truly a Grand Master of the genre. I highly recommend it.