I've listened to the first 9 or 10 chapters of Stranger in a Strange Land and I'm not really enjoying it. My main problem is that I don't like any of the characters (except for Valentine Michael Smith, but I don't really like him, he's just sort of interesting to watch).

All of the men in the book are arrogant, chauvanistic assholes and all of the women generally fall into 1 of 3 female stereotypes: utterly weak and dominated, flattered by the attention they get from the chauvanist men, or controlling/nagging/manipulative.

How can I like any of these characters? Jillian (who only shows any backbone when she gets Smith out of the hospital) is constantly at the whim of men. She's constantly referred to by denegrating "pet names" and always making "huh?" sounds while the men are making speeches about how the world works.

I'm still listening to it because it keeps my mind off of the freeway, but unless it starts getting better soon I might have to find another book.

Have any of you read it? What do you guys think? Try not to give any plot information away... we can talk about those things after I've finished reading.