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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Time Out of Joint, published in 1959, was Philip K. Dick's sixth novel. Nevertheless, it is obviously still an early novel, and lacks the sophistication he achieves with The Man in the High Castle and succeeding novels.
Ostensibly set in the 1950's, the novel's true present is the late 1990's, which is something we only find out later. Of course, the 1950's is when PKD actually wrote the book. Perhaps PKD is covertly proposing that even his own environment, down to his friends and family, is an elaborate set.
Ragle Gumm, believing in his fake friends, family, and town, is famous as a contest winner in the world he inhabits. In reality, Earth is fighting a war with the Lunar colonies—a civil war. By winning the contest, Gumm is really predicting the targets of Lunar bombing raids. You'd think the few thousand Lunar colonists (the "Lunatics") would be destroyed quickly by Earth, which is perhaps one of the novel's believability flaws. PKD explains that the Moon has a defensive dark side which is permanently away from the Earth—but how could this be enough to overcome the vast population and resources of the Earth?
Also, why is it necessary to embed Ragle Gumm in a time decades earlier than the "present"? I didn't find PKD's explanation compelling. Early in the novel bits of Gumm's reality collapse into slips of paper containing the name of the object that disappeared. Is Gumm living an elaborate Sim-Life, and he doesn't know it, or is some genuine mind-magic going on? These slips of paper are real in the sense of other people in the Sim-Life experiencing them—the boy Sammy finds three of them on a deserted lot and gives them to Gumm: GAS STATION, COW, and BRIDGE. But what is their purpose? If they are part of an ongoing hypnotism of Gumm, then how and why does Sammy randomly find them?
Perhaps the implausibility of parts of the plot is a scheme to force us to fill in the gaps to make it believable. Perhaps another level of PKD's juggling of reality is that reality is inherently ambiguous. Works of genius that show us reality cannot be restricted to one interpretation. PKD's genius is evident in Time Out of Joint, but not perfected in the manner of his later novels.
Ostensibly set in the 1950's, the novel's true present is the late 1990's, which is something we only find out later. Of course, the 1950's is when PKD actually wrote the book. Perhaps PKD is covertly proposing that even his own environment, down to his friends and family, is an elaborate set.
Ragle Gumm, believing in his fake friends, family, and town, is famous as a contest winner in the world he inhabits. In reality, Earth is fighting a war with the Lunar colonies—a civil war. By winning the contest, Gumm is really predicting the targets of Lunar bombing raids. You'd think the few thousand Lunar colonists (the "Lunatics") would be destroyed quickly by Earth, which is perhaps one of the novel's believability flaws. PKD explains that the Moon has a defensive dark side which is permanently away from the Earth—but how could this be enough to overcome the vast population and resources of the Earth?
Also, why is it necessary to embed Ragle Gumm in a time decades earlier than the "present"? I didn't find PKD's explanation compelling. Early in the novel bits of Gumm's reality collapse into slips of paper containing the name of the object that disappeared. Is Gumm living an elaborate Sim-Life, and he doesn't know it, or is some genuine mind-magic going on? These slips of paper are real in the sense of other people in the Sim-Life experiencing them—the boy Sammy finds three of them on a deserted lot and gives them to Gumm: GAS STATION, COW, and BRIDGE. But what is their purpose? If they are part of an ongoing hypnotism of Gumm, then how and why does Sammy randomly find them?
Perhaps the implausibility of parts of the plot is a scheme to force us to fill in the gaps to make it believable. Perhaps another level of PKD's juggling of reality is that reality is inherently ambiguous. Works of genius that show us reality cannot be restricted to one interpretation. PKD's genius is evident in Time Out of Joint, but not perfected in the manner of his later novels.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting ideas, but a bit slow and the writing style wasn't as good as other PKD books
When cab drivers recognise me, it's probably not in my mind. But when the heavens open and God speaks to me by name. . . that's when the psychosis takes over.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you love The Penultimate Truth and Ubik... Meet the book that started it all! Mind-bending and marvellous! Another 5* rating for PKD from me!