A review by _fallinglight_
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 2 bc the last four chapters of this book were so depressing and kinda made up for having to read all the frustrating psychotic paranoid addict ramblings these mfs kept having. Reading this book could either make you wanna do drugs to stick it to PKD for his dismal, yet from the heart, writing here or it could drive you insane so much that you'd want to sober up so as to never have to think like Bob Arctor and co. again. The sexism in this book is oppressive lmao I usually don't focus on Men Writing Women™ stuff when reading male authors bc I think most times they're unintentionally stupid or they're funny or I just don't expect anything from men, really, but holy shit, this book was SOAKED in creepy, ridiculously sexist appraisals and descriptions. It was inescapable, eww. The only characters I felt something towards to were Jerry Fabin and Charles Freck but the MC and everything else was a slog (and I'm most likely too stupid to get it too so there's that). I've described some weird books before as the closest I'll ever get to experiencing drugs but this book literally is drugs lol unfortunately it was a bad trip for me, ha. But yeah, don't do drugs, kiddos. Or else you'll end up writing dreadful books like this one.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings