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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I love Dick. And this is one of his best. Truly disturbing psycho dream where it is never clear where you are or what is happening. Drugs and weird.
Fun read, went a bit off the rails towards the end and got really wacky but I enjoyed this.
Very rarely do I read the same author back to back. However, after A Scanner Darkly I needed to read some more PKD. This deals with similar themes of addiction, perception, and paranoia as the other PKD novels I have read. Something that I like is Dick’s ability to create so many dystopian settings that are unique from one another.
Funny enough I felt like this book was perhaps the most cinematic of the PKD books that aI have read. Palmer Eldritch was an enigmatic character whose presence is felt each time he appears (in whatever form that may be). This was very close to a 5 star book for me if I could rate it 4.5 I would.
Funny enough I felt like this book was perhaps the most cinematic of the PKD books that aI have read. Palmer Eldritch was an enigmatic character whose presence is felt each time he appears (in whatever form that may be). This was very close to a 5 star book for me if I could rate it 4.5 I would.
“I’m not sure I want to evolve, when it comes right down to it.”
another one of dick's within a dream within a dream within a dream type books. hard to find where one ends and the other begins. but i found it easier to follow than cry my tears the policeman said.
but it raises some interesting points about god and salvation, although i'm not sure what they were.
but it raises some interesting points about god and salvation, although i'm not sure what they were.
SCI-FI JULY #11
It’s difficult to put any of my thoughts on this book into words, like, holy…
Really really similar to Ubik, you get feuding corporations, god in the form of drugs, precogs, extraterrestrial colonization. But wayyyy better than Ubik, for me. Dick starts threading religious undertones into the plot fairly early on, whereas Ubik seemed to dump it all into the final chapter.
As typical with Dick, the story is largely impressionistic, a lot of questions and ideas are posed but never realized. Which works so well with this novel. I need to think a lot about this one before I can write any sort of meaningful analysis. Really really incredible.
It’s difficult to put any of my thoughts on this book into words, like, holy…
Really really similar to Ubik, you get feuding corporations, god in the form of drugs, precogs, extraterrestrial colonization. But wayyyy better than Ubik, for me. Dick starts threading religious undertones into the plot fairly early on, whereas Ubik seemed to dump it all into the final chapter.
As typical with Dick, the story is largely impressionistic, a lot of questions and ideas are posed but never realized. Which works so well with this novel. I need to think a lot about this one before I can write any sort of meaningful analysis. Really really incredible.
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kawał porządnego SF, którego nadal uważam że nie lubię :) Natomiast świat narysowany przez Dicka tak wiele lat temu w narkotycznym transie, nadal pokazuje że był on geniuszem.
I mean, after all; you have to consider we’re only made out of dust. That’s admittedly not much to go on and we shouldn’t forget that. But even considering, I mean it’s a sort of bad beginning, we’re not doing too bad. So I personally have faith that even in this lousy situation we’re faced with we can make it. You get me?
Synopsis: Terra is burning up and the UN is drafting people to move to colonies on the other planets around Sol. Life on our neighboring planets is miserable and those unlucky enough to get chosen rely on Can-D to break up the monotony, a drug that lets them control a doll in a miniature world made up of products provided by Perky Pat Layouts, which just so happens to be the same company that produces Can-D. But when Palmer Eldritch returns from the forbidden Prox system bringing with him a new product, Chew-Z, the boat gets well and truly rocked.
Thoughts: This was my second PKD book, after reading 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?' several months ago, and it's certainly invigorated me to read more of PKD's work (in fact I have two more of his books already loaded on my Kindle, ready to go). As you might expect, this is a pretty wild read but I found it easier to get into it than I expected to and once you're in, you're in.
What drew me to this particular book initially was the premise and that's really what drives the whole novel. That's not to say that the characters aren't good or interesting, but it's really the plot and the ideas behind the book that make it stand-out. The book mainly focuses on Leo Bulero (owner of PP Layouts) and Barney Mayerson (an employee of Bulero who can see into the future to see what'll be fashionable) but there's a slew of side characters of varying importance too, and Palmer Eldritch himself of course.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was actually the world-building that mostly takes place in the first ~quarter of the book. This version of Earth (Terra as it's called in the novel) is a fascinating hellscape and the colonies are as well, just in their own way. I had no trouble at all imaging the depressing little hovels that the colonists lived in and could hardly blame them for wanting an escape. The beginning of the book does have a fair bit of technobabble, but the important stuff is either explained or becomes clear with context and some of it is just added flavor.
I do have two small criticisms. Firstly, the book feels much longer than its relatively short ~230 pages. I think this is partly due to it having fairly long chapters. My other issue was that the ending (I'm talking last couple of pages) didn't quite work for me. I understood what PKD was going for but it certainly wasn't my favorite part of the book.
Synopsis: Terra is burning up and the UN is drafting people to move to colonies on the other planets around Sol. Life on our neighboring planets is miserable and those unlucky enough to get chosen rely on Can-D to break up the monotony, a drug that lets them control a doll in a miniature world made up of products provided by Perky Pat Layouts, which just so happens to be the same company that produces Can-D. But when Palmer Eldritch returns from the forbidden Prox system bringing with him a new product, Chew-Z, the boat gets well and truly rocked.
Thoughts: This was my second PKD book, after reading 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?' several months ago, and it's certainly invigorated me to read more of PKD's work (in fact I have two more of his books already loaded on my Kindle, ready to go). As you might expect, this is a pretty wild read but I found it easier to get into it than I expected to and once you're in, you're in.
What drew me to this particular book initially was the premise and that's really what drives the whole novel. That's not to say that the characters aren't good or interesting, but it's really the plot and the ideas behind the book that make it stand-out. The book mainly focuses on Leo Bulero (owner of PP Layouts) and Barney Mayerson (an employee of Bulero who can see into the future to see what'll be fashionable) but there's a slew of side characters of varying importance too, and Palmer Eldritch himself of course.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was actually the world-building that mostly takes place in the first ~quarter of the book. This version of Earth (Terra as it's called in the novel) is a fascinating hellscape and the colonies are as well, just in their own way. I had no trouble at all imaging the depressing little hovels that the colonists lived in and could hardly blame them for wanting an escape. The beginning of the book does have a fair bit of technobabble, but the important stuff is either explained or becomes clear with context and some of it is just added flavor.
I do have two small criticisms. Firstly, the book feels much longer than its relatively short ~230 pages. I think this is partly due to it having fairly long chapters. My other issue was that the ending (I'm talking last couple of pages) didn't quite work for me. I understood what PKD was going for but it certainly wasn't my favorite part of the book.
Wow. This book became mind boggling for me. What is reality, ultimately? Who can define it? Do dreams and fantasy (and drug taking) alter reality? (Not just your reality, but the reality that stitches together the fabric of the universe?) What is real? Are you? Is God? I'll definitely have to reread this one. It became so convoluted and trippy at the end that I lost the fraying strand that I was following. Wow.