The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I first read this back in the day, I was REALLY enthusiastic in how it combined SO many different fascinating characters from all over his other books in a timey-wimey reality-breaking kind of way. It was something of a capstone to a long career of fascinating people. Especially after Number of the Beast and Stranger in a Strange Land and, of course, Time Enough For Love, and Moon is a Harsh Mistress, this one really revels in not only deep-seated nostalgia, but a love of pure adventure, easygoing sexuality, and the deepest love of all: for myth.

Not traditional myth, but the myth that we, as readers of the fantastic, bring to the table when we think about the things we truly love and geek out about. Which, if you are a fan of Heinlein, means that Lazarus and Hershaw and Manny ALL deserve a place in the pantheon not just for OUR love of them, but for the author's love of them. And that goes the same for the Oz books and Barsoom.

So who is the quantum cat who's walking through walls? None other than the World As Myth.

I will mention one thing: something like 5/6ths of the novel is pure adventure. The last bit is truly WILD, however. Wild the way Job was wild at the end. So, if you LOVE time travel craziness, becoming as free as the free love and turning into a true SF spaghettification of characters, you're going to go nuts for this.

Heinlein, that old courageous man that he became in his old life, really just put his writing chops on the line and let it ALL hang out. Damn, old, spry curmudgeon. To think he was right at the end of his life, dying at 80, and yet he was still this young at heart, too.

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