A teen living on the Moon plays role-playing games with his friends, feels mildly resentful toward his father, and goes interrailing.

This is a cult sci-fi classic, and after reading it, I don't...entirely understand the hype. I think the subtlety of the plot is the thing that appeals to its die-hard fans, and I'll concede that I probably missed some of the clues that illuminate the water-sacrifice dilemma that consumes the adult characters in the background. There's another review on Goodreads that praises the book as an example of "anthropology of the future," which strikes me as a good descriptor: Growing Up Weightless is absolutely low-stakes slice-of-life sci-fi.

But it left me cold. ( )

Ford, John M. Growing Up Weightless. Spectra, 1993.
On my first reading, I underrated Growing Up Weightless. I mistakenly assumed John Ford aimed for a young adult story in the manner of Robert Heinlein but missed the mark. The setting is a near future Lunar colony divided politically and facing several existential crises. It is a territory familiar in Heinlein. Heinlein’s young heroes and heroines overcome difficulties and face the future optimistically. Ford’s hero, Matt, is not so lucky. Matt and his friends look down on the clumsy “slammers” from Earth. Matt finds hating Earth easy. He also resents the strictures of Lunar life and wants to join the crew of an interstellar colony ship. In the meantime, he and his friends entertain themselves with role-playing games and an unsupervised and unauthorized train trip to a base on the far side of the Moon. In the end, Matt discovers that making his dreams come true causes pain for himself, his family, friends, and potential lovers. Ford’s style is subtler and more difficult than one generally finds in young adult fiction. There are no large infodumps of exposition. Readers are like slammer tourists who must learn as slowly what the world is like. 4 stars. ( )

Not too bad, but not my favorite Ford book by any stretch. I really enjoyed the setting and some of the supporting characters, but the main character was a bit of a whiner, and the ending was both completely unsurprising and weirdly rushed. Meh. ( )

Another smart and carefully crafted coming of age novel from this excellent and underrated writer. Unlike his other works, this is a bit easier to follow on a first read through (all Ford's novels reward multiple rereadings). World building is impeccable as always, and the fact that he confines his action to a single setting allows him to explore things in much more depth. A very fine, mature piece of work. ( )

Another smart and carefully crafted coming of age novel from this excellent and underrated writer. Unlike his other works, this is a bit easier to follow on a first read through (all Ford's novels reward multiple rereadings). World building is impeccable as always, and the fact that he confines his action to a single setting allows him to explore things in much more depth. A very fine, mature piece of work. ( )