Callahan's Key by Spider RobinsonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is a tribute novel to Robert A. Heinlein (and to some extent other authors of his vintage). If you don't know his work or that of Theodore Sturgeon, you'll miss some of the point of this book. As Jake Stonebender, his family, and his clan of weirdos migrate to Key West, Fla., from Long Island, NY, they make a stop close to where Heinlein's widow lives and they consider (and reject) the idea of visiting her. Instead, they acquire a new misfit to add to their number: Robert Heinlein's cat, Pixel, the cat who can walk through windshields (get it?). There are lots of obvious and subtle references to RAH fiction. (Including a sign that Zoey puts up by the door of their new home: “Did you remember to dress?”)
I really enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of each chapter—nuggets from the many silly things said by George W, Bush's vice-president, Dan Quayle. That there are 20 of them is amazing and sad somehow. I bet many people barely remember the poor guy or how much the press loved his flubs. Public speaking just wasn't his jam, plus he seems to have had a pretty loose grip on facts.
The absolute best part of the book is the description of the space shuttle launch that the clan attends during their drive south. Did Robinson attend one? Because it reads like he did. The excitement and awe seem completely authentic and it has the feeling of an eyewitness account.
For some reason that I cannot put my finger on exactly, I find Robinson's authorial voice in this series highly annoying, so I am glad that I am almost finished with the Callahan books. Only one left, next year. My library has weeded them, but I bought them second hand (before I realized how irritated they made me). I'm stubborn enough that I intend to read them before I recycle them back to the second hand bookstore.
Book Number 428 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
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