Vote for Jim Briskin! Or should that be Barack Obama?
Well, at 1am this morning I finished reading Cantata-140. Another interesting read full of typical PKD quirks. Mutants, Strange races, space (and time) travel were just a few of the themes of the book, but surprisingly the main theme of the novel was in fact politics. Focusing around Jim Briskin, a presidential candidate, if elected he would be the first black Americana president.
The novel focuses around the mass overpopulation of earth and the 100 million people frozen in warehouses and how this issue can be dealt with. Moral issues surrounding overpopulation are also large features such as legal prostitution (to discourage pregnancy), colonization and war. And interesting and thought provoking read, but not my favourite so far I have to admit. It is rather unusual for a PKD novel and focuses on multiple alternate reality's as opposed to the questioning or reality itself (which he does so well.). Still worth a read and enjoyable, a few little surprises to make you smile, but not recommended as a first PKD read.
As an after note, not intentional by Philip K Dick, there were some amusing similarities between Jim Briskin's election campaign and Barack Obama's. As a current topic it did bring something more to the read, and some comical parallels can be drawn.
What next? Ive opted for a decade earlier with 'The World Jones Made'.
Showing posts with label Philip k dick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philip k dick. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
I am Legend.
Well ... after a day of deliberating whether to continue on my Philip K Dick quest or take a short break and read I am Legend I decided upon reading Richard Matheson's 'I am Legend', still a classic Sci-Fi novel, but with elements of horror mixed in also.
Well what can I say? I finished it in 2 days. It was very interesting and gripping. Starting off slow I believe it lulled the reader into a false sense of security with its slow pace and Robert Neville's monotonous daily tasks, then as you discovered more about his past through flash backs (a nice element retained in the 2007 film) more events begin to occur, picking up the pace of the book, and with twists and turns the reader is left turning pages at an alarming rate. And what an ending, different to the film but with many parallels. Another fantastic read and I recommend it highly.
Ive begun reading 'Cantata-140' now in a return to PKD. Let the SF commence!
Well what can I say? I finished it in 2 days. It was very interesting and gripping. Starting off slow I believe it lulled the reader into a false sense of security with its slow pace and Robert Neville's monotonous daily tasks, then as you discovered more about his past through flash backs (a nice element retained in the 2007 film) more events begin to occur, picking up the pace of the book, and with twists and turns the reader is left turning pages at an alarming rate. And what an ending, different to the film but with many parallels. Another fantastic read and I recommend it highly.
Ive begun reading 'Cantata-140' now in a return to PKD. Let the SF commence!
Sunday, 21 February 2010
The Man in the High Castle …
Gripped. I’m so involved in this book I’m on chapter 12 and I’m only just finding time to write a thing about the book. Every page I turn seems to bring up new, interesting, unexpected occurrences.
The book is set 17 years after the end of WWII, instantly an interesting shift from reading about the future to reading about the past. But the novel is far from ‘historical’, it explores a sort of ‘alternative reality’, a different time line in which the Nazi’s won WWI and the Axis were beaten. The concept itself is incredibly grabbing. It is human nature to ponder upon such things. The usual phrase I have heard time and time again considering the prospect is ‘Oh you want to be thankful, we’d all be speaking German right now if we hadn’t won!’, but (as usual) PKD takes this notion to a whole new level and makes the frivolous concerns about linguistics appear pathetic in comparison. He explores what would have happened after the war, how it was lost and touches on the shattering consequences of Hitler ruling the world. Emotive as ever his occasional mentioning of ‘Africa’ was sickening, yet most likely a realistic assumption of what Hitler’s actions would have been had he ruled the world. Although the book does look at the grand scheme of things and how the world was divided between Germany and Japan (clearly drawing many parallels between actual events) it focuses on the lives of specific characters and how their world is affected by the changes still.
One element which thus far has brought a great grin to my face whenever I ponder it is the title itself. ‘The Man in the High Castle’ at first it seemed just as bizarre as ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep?’, but once again as the book progressed things became clearer (and I feel that they will come clearer still.).
The title is taken from an author in the book, Abendsen, who wrote the popular underground novel ‘The Grasshopper lies Heavy’ which appears as a book within a book. The book is controversial (and banned) and explores what reality would have been if the Axis had won the war and the Nazi’s had lost (as they really did). Humorously, Dick has created essentially a character of himself within his own novel, pondering on the opposite outcome of the war and writing about it. There is a paradoxical feel about this element which I love, An author writing about an alternative reality in which an author is writing about his alternative reality. Naturally Dick avoids the pitfall of writing exactly what happened in our reality in the extracts of ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’, he approaches it from an idealistic point of view, as a perfect utopia. More to the point, the author lives in a fort called the ‘High Castle’, hence the title of the book.
As it stands I’m hoping (and expecting) that the various different story strands will converge into one, connecting together the plot into some grand scheme. That’s the feeling I’m getting, but Dick’s always throwing up surprises and oddities, which just makes for a more exciting read.
The book is set 17 years after the end of WWII, instantly an interesting shift from reading about the future to reading about the past. But the novel is far from ‘historical’, it explores a sort of ‘alternative reality’, a different time line in which the Nazi’s won WWI and the Axis were beaten. The concept itself is incredibly grabbing. It is human nature to ponder upon such things. The usual phrase I have heard time and time again considering the prospect is ‘Oh you want to be thankful, we’d all be speaking German right now if we hadn’t won!’, but (as usual) PKD takes this notion to a whole new level and makes the frivolous concerns about linguistics appear pathetic in comparison. He explores what would have happened after the war, how it was lost and touches on the shattering consequences of Hitler ruling the world. Emotive as ever his occasional mentioning of ‘Africa’ was sickening, yet most likely a realistic assumption of what Hitler’s actions would have been had he ruled the world. Although the book does look at the grand scheme of things and how the world was divided between Germany and Japan (clearly drawing many parallels between actual events) it focuses on the lives of specific characters and how their world is affected by the changes still.
One element which thus far has brought a great grin to my face whenever I ponder it is the title itself. ‘The Man in the High Castle’ at first it seemed just as bizarre as ‘Do androids dream of electric sheep?’, but once again as the book progressed things became clearer (and I feel that they will come clearer still.).
The title is taken from an author in the book, Abendsen, who wrote the popular underground novel ‘The Grasshopper lies Heavy’ which appears as a book within a book. The book is controversial (and banned) and explores what reality would have been if the Axis had won the war and the Nazi’s had lost (as they really did). Humorously, Dick has created essentially a character of himself within his own novel, pondering on the opposite outcome of the war and writing about it. There is a paradoxical feel about this element which I love, An author writing about an alternative reality in which an author is writing about his alternative reality. Naturally Dick avoids the pitfall of writing exactly what happened in our reality in the extracts of ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’, he approaches it from an idealistic point of view, as a perfect utopia. More to the point, the author lives in a fort called the ‘High Castle’, hence the title of the book.
As it stands I’m hoping (and expecting) that the various different story strands will converge into one, connecting together the plot into some grand scheme. That’s the feeling I’m getting, but Dick’s always throwing up surprises and oddities, which just makes for a more exciting read.
Friday, 19 February 2010
Gold Dust …
After eagerly reading ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ I felt an enjoyment and satisfaction that I had not felt since discovering Stephen King. I felt a great interest in Philip K Dick that I had not experienced in a long time, it appeared I had got the reading bug once again.
Eager to read more of Dick’s novels I began to look around for some more reading material. I was given ‘Now wait for last year’ and ‘Clans of the Alphane Moon’ by my uncle and started to explore second hand book stalls.
I quickly discovered as I searched through market stall after market stall of books that Philip K Dick was not making a willing appearance. I enquired eventually at every one after my own efforts had failed ‘Oh no! I’m afraid not, he’s very difficult to hang onto when we get them in.’ and ‘No, hes like gold dust! You’ll have a job on getting them. Why have you got any you want to get rid of? Ill take them off you!’ were just two of the replies I received. My attempts to purchase PKD novels at less than RRP appeared to be going stale. Whenever possible I like to try and support small businesses and buy second hand books, give them a new home where they will be treasured, but my efforts seemed in vain in this case.
Eager to read more of Dick’s novels I began to look around for some more reading material. I was given ‘Now wait for last year’ and ‘Clans of the Alphane Moon’ by my uncle and started to explore second hand book stalls.
I quickly discovered as I searched through market stall after market stall of books that Philip K Dick was not making a willing appearance. I enquired eventually at every one after my own efforts had failed ‘Oh no! I’m afraid not, he’s very difficult to hang onto when we get them in.’ and ‘No, hes like gold dust! You’ll have a job on getting them. Why have you got any you want to get rid of? Ill take them off you!’ were just two of the replies I received. My attempts to purchase PKD novels at less than RRP appeared to be going stale. Whenever possible I like to try and support small businesses and buy second hand books, give them a new home where they will be treasured, but my efforts seemed in vain in this case.
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