Poll - Lazarus Long - Liking or Loathing?

[ghost8772]

it really depends on the book, some of the stories were pretty good, and others, not so good. I'd guess that he was an outlet for Heinlein, who really wished he could live forever.

 

[Urlik]

it really depends on the book, some of the stories were pretty good, and others, not so good. I'd guess that he was an outlet for Heinlein, who really wished he could live forever.

although a lot of Heinlein's stories contain an imortality theme, I don't think he really wanted to live forever, just have enough time to get everything done.

as Dora pointed out in TEFL, we all live for the same amount of time anyway

 

[RVM45]

.....I liked LL in "Methesulah's Children". I wish that "Time Enough for Love" could have been written as a juvenile- I would have liked it a great deal more. REH's X-Rated scenes and ideas are a BIG turnoff for me, though I have suffered through them sometimes, for the sake of the story. I have also set more than one of his books aside; because I couldn't continue in the face of such annoying trash.

.....RVM45

 

[jowolf359]

I also had trouble with the options ... I think LL would be a very interesting person, definitely worth listening to ...

... but first I'd have to give him a good stiff kick in the you-know-what.

LL was a crochety old fart, who thought he was G-d's gift to women. In every book, he has women falling for him right, left, and center. Even Hilda, who was not his type, ended up joining his harem. [I don't think he lost a single pursuit since Mary Sperling.]

Well, I don't find him attractive, and would not want to go to bed with him. And I think, once he got that through his thick skull, he would be interesting to talk to.

One woman's perspective

--Liz

I agree with this, he does seem to think he is simply the greatest. But as for Hilda, she has the same personality. She seems to think that she is the greatest thing since s*x was discovered.

 

[Tim_Olaguna]

You definitely need another option for us old boys: "I loved him and wanted to be him."

I started reading Lazarus Long stories when I was 12 years old. I'm now about to turn 61. His life tales and its adventures were far more interesting than the life I was living in the backward, arch-conservative, sexually uptight ("Don't look at your female cousin too much or I'll beat you with my belt 'til you bleed." - my stepfather) farm town of Bakersfield, California, USA. A great escape for the mind and soul. Yes, he sometimes ranted. But those were just funny.

 

[AE35Unit]

My only encounter with him has been in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls... and I enjoyed the character. One hell of a book, too. I don't care what anybody else says.

Same here,tho i think he was in another novel from the same period,can't remember the name.

 

[J-Sun]

Probably To Sail Beyond the Sunset. The next closest was Number of the Beast.

I can't answer the poll because its phrasing is just a bit loaded.

 

[ghost8772]

Time enough for love was a book exclusively about him. in his world's timeline it was before number of the beast. but WAY after methusalah's children.

 

[thesoothsayer]

I voted "Anyone that old is worth listening to" after going half-way through TEfL. However, I just realised he appears in 5 different books. And he does remind me of Jubal from Stranger in a Strange Land. Not sure if I could take that much of him.

Still, I think I would enjoy meeting him and spending some time with him.

 

[Rob Hasson]

For me, his extreme longevity would aggravate existing character traits. The ability to have an opinion based on experience would make him interesting . However, the fact that a person has an experience based opinion does not necessarily make that opinion any more valid (or even necessarily better informed, due often to the lack of perspective as a result of close involvement).

His tendency towards the dogmatic would make him hard going except in small doses, I suspect.

An Encyclopedia Brittanica is interesting, but it can be a real pain to live with. Overall, like all too few fictional characters, as full of contradcitions as a real person.