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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dick builds a fascinating world with many layers of deception which keep the powerful in power and the majority underground (literally). With twin faked alternative histories, the robotic 'leadies', time travel, a precog, a portable tv/assassin, and many other bits and bobs, there was probably a few too many elemnts and some of the stronger parts didn't get the deep exploration they deserved, but it was still a good read.
I can’t add much that hasn’t been covered in other reviews. I would like to say that I didn’t expect it to be as interesting or fun before heading into it. The world building was very well done. The Penultimate Truth should have been a bestseller; underrated. Main themes covered included propaganda, class stratification, (slave) labor, and Knowledge Is Power. Although convoluted at times with too many story elements, this is a great political work by PKD. I mean, he wrote the manuscript in two months! A movie adaptation would be nice with a few tweaks.
P.S. Dick, why recycle the time scoop from Paycheck?! Totally unnecessary, ya goof.
Heck of a quote:
“What would it be like, to have the earth open up and millions of humans, imprisoned subsurface for fifteen years, believing in a radioactive waste above, with missiles and bacteria and rubble and warring armies – the demesne system would sustain a death blow and the great park over which he flapped twice daily would become a densely populated civilization once more, nor quite as before the war, but close enough. Roads would reappear. Cities. And – ultimately there would be another war. That was the rationale. The masses had egged their leaders on to war in both Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. But once the masses were out of the way, stuffed down below into antiseptic tanks, the ruling elite of both East and West were free to conclude a deal…”
P.S. Dick, why recycle the time scoop from Paycheck?! Totally unnecessary, ya goof.
Heck of a quote:
“What would it be like, to have the earth open up and millions of humans, imprisoned subsurface for fifteen years, believing in a radioactive waste above, with missiles and bacteria and rubble and warring armies – the demesne system would sustain a death blow and the great park over which he flapped twice daily would become a densely populated civilization once more, nor quite as before the war, but close enough. Roads would reappear. Cities. And – ultimately there would be another war. That was the rationale. The masses had egged their leaders on to war in both Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. But once the masses were out of the way, stuffed down below into antiseptic tanks, the ruling elite of both East and West were free to conclude a deal…”
No idea what was going on for most of the time. Forced to read this for my class on the cold war.
Originally published on my blog here in June 2005.
There are several Philip K. Dick novels which revolve around conspiracies, about a small minority deceiving the vast majority for some sinister purpose. Of these novels, The Penultimate Truth is the darkest, because of the nature of the deception: the majority live hard lives in underground caverns or "tanks", enduring their situation for the sake of the war that's been raging on Earth's surface for years. Except that it hasn't: the few who remain on the surface live in luxury, spending their time creating fictional evidence of the conflict to keep those below in subjugation.
The idea of a fake war and control of people through control of the media was not of course entirely new even in the mid sixties - the manufactured belligerence between the nations of the world is a major theme of [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313]. But there it is news reports of distant conflict that are fakes. Here it is those who think they are almost in the thick of the fighting who are being conned. Of course, such a huge lie cannot continue to be elaborated indefinitely, and the novel takes the natural subject of how the truth begins to come out.
One of the main points Dick wants to make is that deception is a part of any political system (with the arguable exception of anarchy). One of his characters, Lantano (who heads the opposition to corrupt world leader Brose), says: "As a component in his make up every world leader has had some fictional aspect." And this is backed up not only by the Roman examples quoted by Lantano but by the way that the reader becomes aware that Lantano himself is not entirely what he seems. This point about the facades inherent in politics is even more relevant now, in these times when spin and image seem more important than content. As another character says, "The biggest lie is yet to come."
Although Dick was obviously not the first to suspect the honesty of politicians (there are plenty of literary examples as far back as [a:Aristophanes|1011|Aristophanes|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1215782047p2/1011.jpg]' satirical pillorying of Athenian leader Cleon), The Penultimate Truth was written at a time when people tended to accept what they were told by authority figures more willingly than we do today. After all, the worst of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal were still in the future in 1964. More importantly, the scale of the lie in this novel was unprecedented, and so soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis, its suggestion that the picture painted by the West's leaders of the Cold War contained lies must have been an inflammatory one. Of course, it didn't make a massive impact, probably because of Dick's position as a science fiction author, the genre being far more of a ghetto than it is today. (It would be quite reasonable to claim that Dick was, and to an extent remains, the most underrated author of the twentieth century.) The Penultimate Truth is not his best or subtlest novel, but it is his most directly and obviously satirical.
There are several Philip K. Dick novels which revolve around conspiracies, about a small minority deceiving the vast majority for some sinister purpose. Of these novels, The Penultimate Truth is the darkest, because of the nature of the deception: the majority live hard lives in underground caverns or "tanks", enduring their situation for the sake of the war that's been raging on Earth's surface for years. Except that it hasn't: the few who remain on the surface live in luxury, spending their time creating fictional evidence of the conflict to keep those below in subjugation.
The idea of a fake war and control of people through control of the media was not of course entirely new even in the mid sixties - the manufactured belligerence between the nations of the world is a major theme of [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313]. But there it is news reports of distant conflict that are fakes. Here it is those who think they are almost in the thick of the fighting who are being conned. Of course, such a huge lie cannot continue to be elaborated indefinitely, and the novel takes the natural subject of how the truth begins to come out.
One of the main points Dick wants to make is that deception is a part of any political system (with the arguable exception of anarchy). One of his characters, Lantano (who heads the opposition to corrupt world leader Brose), says: "As a component in his make up every world leader has had some fictional aspect." And this is backed up not only by the Roman examples quoted by Lantano but by the way that the reader becomes aware that Lantano himself is not entirely what he seems. This point about the facades inherent in politics is even more relevant now, in these times when spin and image seem more important than content. As another character says, "The biggest lie is yet to come."
Although Dick was obviously not the first to suspect the honesty of politicians (there are plenty of literary examples as far back as [a:Aristophanes|1011|Aristophanes|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1215782047p2/1011.jpg]' satirical pillorying of Athenian leader Cleon), The Penultimate Truth was written at a time when people tended to accept what they were told by authority figures more willingly than we do today. After all, the worst of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal were still in the future in 1964. More importantly, the scale of the lie in this novel was unprecedented, and so soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis, its suggestion that the picture painted by the West's leaders of the Cold War contained lies must have been an inflammatory one. Of course, it didn't make a massive impact, probably because of Dick's position as a science fiction author, the genre being far more of a ghetto than it is today. (It would be quite reasonable to claim that Dick was, and to an extent remains, the most underrated author of the twentieth century.) The Penultimate Truth is not his best or subtlest novel, but it is his most directly and obviously satirical.
I feel the premise of this book was familiar as it has been mimicked in much of the popular sci-fi that exists today. The idea of a world seemingly decimated by war but actually not is fine and acceptable. The problem was the slang used but not explained so you had to fill the gaps in yourself. Not a bad book by far however.
2.5 stars
This was easily my least favourite Philip K Dick novel I've read. While I do feel that it picked up in the latter half, the story was slow and, although there were some interesting concepts there, the plot itself wasn't that interesting. I feel that the blurb is misleading, and mainly I feel disappointed as this book wasn't the one I thought it was.
This was easily my least favourite Philip K Dick novel I've read. While I do feel that it picked up in the latter half, the story was slow and, although there were some interesting concepts there, the plot itself wasn't that interesting. I feel that the blurb is misleading, and mainly I feel disappointed as this book wasn't the one I thought it was.
An Interesting but horrifying book. Shows how misinformation could be used convincingly to allow a ruling class to control the population.
Deals with information and propaganda. Good novella with some political intrigue.
Parts of this were really good. I enjoyed the world and the general plot and I liked the sci-fi aspects of it. What let is down for me is the waffle in-between. Polotics and messages in science fiction is great, but when there are whole chapters that feel pointless because they focus on getting the political commentary through... its just a tad draining.
Basically, you had two 'plot threads' to follow, you have a tanker (people who live underground after WW3) and the people on top who have been lying to those below about how long the war happened. (That isn't a spoiler, really, as its revealed in the first chapter or so). One tanker needs to go to the surface and one minor plot thread follows him and him coming to understand the big lie. But I feel not enough attention is given to this. To me, this was the most interesting character, but it was pushed to the side to focus on the people living up top. They were cool too, just the weighting was wrong.
The ending was satisfying and made you think, which is nice. But the parts that weren't amazing just dragged and caused it to be a mixed read.
Basically, you had two 'plot threads' to follow, you have a tanker (people who live underground after WW3) and the people on top who have been lying to those below about how long the war happened. (That isn't a spoiler, really, as its revealed in the first chapter or so). One tanker needs to go to the surface and one minor plot thread follows him and him coming to understand the big lie. But I feel not enough attention is given to this. To me, this was the most interesting character, but it was pushed to the side to focus on the people living up top. They were cool too, just the weighting was wrong.
The ending was satisfying and made you think, which is nice. But the parts that weren't amazing just dragged and caused it to be a mixed read.
Impenetrable. Normally a fan of his work, but just couldn't get into this one at all.