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zober's review
3.0
Would love to see a little more variety in characters, or at least less stereotypical characters, especially the women.
whitjobo's review
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed all of these short stories. Having watched parts of Total Recall with my dad as it came on cable and sitting down with my whole family to watch the Minority Report took me back to some fun family memories. Plus, these sci-fi stories always surprise with a dark twist at the end.
I listened to these stories on audiobook and it’s been such a delightful way to do chores, being taken to totally different worlds while I complete mundane tasks here on Earth.
I listened to these stories on audiobook and it’s been such a delightful way to do chores, being taken to totally different worlds while I complete mundane tasks here on Earth.
arcticsummer's review
2.0
The book contains 5 novellas from PKD, the main ones being "Minority Report" (which formed the basis for the movie) and "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" which was the inspiration for Total Recall. Besides this I also read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "A Scanner Darkly".
I was hoping these novellas would more closely resemble "A Scanner Darkly" in quality but I was highly disappointed in them. It seems after reading them that PKD is a "one-trick-pony" when it comes to plot: guy is put into fantastic situation in a futuristic setting - a hot woman betrays him - he is confused - robots - predictable plot twist - the end.
I would've maybe excused the misogynist undertones that litter the works, but he would've had to write them in the 50's, maybe 60's which was not the case. Also the plot twists being so predictable really didn't hold up scrutiny with so many other movies and books having been released before the time of these being written with genuinely clever red herrings and turns. These were cancelled-season-low-budget-cop-show level bad. Will probably skip other works of his, which saddens me since "A Scanner Darkly" is one of my favorites and I love it regardless of having been so disappointed by his other works.
I was hoping these novellas would more closely resemble "A Scanner Darkly" in quality but I was highly disappointed in them. It seems after reading them that PKD is a "one-trick-pony" when it comes to plot: guy is put into fantastic situation in a futuristic setting - a hot woman betrays him - he is confused - robots - predictable plot twist - the end.
I would've maybe excused the misogynist undertones that litter the works, but he would've had to write them in the 50's, maybe 60's which was not the case. Also the plot twists being so predictable really didn't hold up scrutiny with so many other movies and books having been released before the time of these being written with genuinely clever red herrings and turns. These were cancelled-season-low-budget-cop-show level bad. Will probably skip other works of his, which saddens me since "A Scanner Darkly" is one of my favorites and I love it regardless of having been so disappointed by his other works.
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