For Us The Living by Robert A Heinlein (Audiobook Review)

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Title: For Us the Living
Author: Robert Heinlein
Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner
Copyright: 2011, Blackstone Audio
Duration: 7 hours, 34 minutes
Genres: science fiction, time travel, commentary
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: On July 12, 1939, Perry Nelson was driving down the coastal highway in California when an oncoming car suddenly swerved into his lane. Perry’s instinctive reaction was to jerk the wheel to the right, a reaction that sent his car over the guard-rail, tumbling him down to the rocky beach far below. When Perry woke up, he was not on a beach at all, but on a snowy mountainside, being rescued by a woman. After a very confusing conversation with the woman back at her house, Perry learned that the year is no longer 1939, but 2086, and Nelson must somehow piece together what happened to almost 150 years.
That’s about it for this book as far as the plot goes, but For Us The Living is not really about plot. As is common in science fiction, Robert A Heinlein uses futuristic settings as a platform upon which to speak out about various social or political issues. Once Nelson is convinced that the year really is 2086, which the woman accomplishes by showing him the publication dates in some of her books, he begins reading histories and talking to various people to learn what he missed, and it is through these conversations that Heinlein expresses his ideas and opinions.
Some of Heinlein’s ideas were interesting, like his views on marriage. In his version of 2086, marriages are no longer legally binding contracts, but rather a consent by two people to live together. Since marriages are no longer contractual, there is also no such thing as divorce. What I found to be even more interesting, however, was Heinlein’s view of marriage in Perry Nelson’s own time, the 1930’s. He described marriage as a legal agreement where “the woman works for the man, more or less, and the man agrees to support her financially.” How times have changed.
I found some of Heinlein’s “history” to be interesting as well. The author predicted a World War II that lasted 40 years, a subsequent war between the United States and South America in which Manhattan was completely destroyed, and a banking system that is publicly owned and government regulated. I enjoy this type of “what if?” book where you can imagine how things might have been if our history had taken a slightly different path. Of course, if you know Heinlein at all, I don’t need to tell you that he goes into great detail about the social, financial, religious, and political state of affairs in the year 2086. What I’m not perfectly clear on is whether Heinlein is making predictions or wishes.
One of the fun things about reading books like this, older books that are written about the future, is that you can see how close the author was on the futuristic technology he came up with. In For Us The Living, Heinlein saw a future where you could call a central research agency when you need information, and they will send you a hard copy via a system of vacuum tubes, like the ones banks use. The basic idea behind that isn’t much different than our internet, except that it is manual rather than electronic.
Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner is a classicly trained actor with a long list of credits in stage and theater productions. He has a rich, tenor voice that is very appropriate for audiobooks. He doesn’t really differentiate much between character voices, and his dialogue does not sound as natural as some I’ve heard, but overall he was a good narrator.
Robert a Heinlein is extremely well-versed in social, financial, and political matters, and that really shows in For Us The Living. This audiobook is more commentary than science fiction, but he poses some interesting ideas on the course our history could have taken if clearer heads had prevailed. And who knows, maybe it’s not too late.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (Audiobook Review)
Time For The Stars by Robert Heinlein (Audiobook Review)
Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear (audiobook Review)

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If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “For Us The Living” by Robert Heinlein (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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