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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dick plays it straight in this one, March 29, 2005
After passing the half-way point in this book, I began anticipating the traditional "Dick-twist". You know, the part where the book takes an extremely unexpected and bizarre twist and the story you thought you were reading is completely changed. Take, for example, the LSD dart in "Lies Inc", or the "grubbish" from Martian Time-Slip. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't go that way with this one, and instead gives us a story with a reasonable beginning, middle, and end. The book starts as many do- Dick presents us with the usual large cast of amusing and seemingly independent characters, that eventually become completely interwoven with each other. The plot- a hole in a "Jifi-Scuttler" turns out to be a door to a parallel Earth (of course we never learn just what a "Jifi-Scuttler" is supposed to do normally), long after our Earth has been crowded past maximum capacity. I don't need to tell you any more than that. Dick gives us a wonderful, entertaining premise for a science fiction story, and then tells us that story from beginning to end, complete with the usual hilarious Dick ideas and character dialogue. I recommend this one 110% for any Dick fan. The only reason The Crack in Space gets 4 stars is because it's just a shade below his obvious 5-star classics that every Dick fan is already aware of. 4.5 - 4.75 stars would be more appropriate, if Amazon allowed such ratings.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hyperbole On Race, December 31, 2010
Philip K. Dick's The Crack in Space follows the story of Jim Briskin, the first black person to be nominated for the presidency of the United States, as he attempts to deal with the ramifications of a device that opened a doorway to an alternate Earth, an Earth that does not possess the severe population problems that plague Briskin's. Briskin, obviously, sees this alternate Earth as a means of alleviating the overpopulation problems on his Earth. But there are other people who want to use the alternate Earth to their own ends. And what initially seems like a gift -- an empty world with plenty of space to support millions of people -- quickly becomes a curse when it is discovered that the alter-Earth is populated...and not by Humans as we know them. Now Briskin and others are in a race to figure out the best way to deal with the situation. Can the inhabitants of alter-Earth be negotiated with? Published in 1966 at the height of the civil rights movement, The Crack in Space is primarily a hyperbole in racial relations in the country at the time. At one point in the story, one of the characters even makes note that what difference does the amount of pigment is in someone skin make when they were dealing with an entirely different species...the characters' predicament of dealing with this species effectively wiped away the racial lines. While PKD's story is laudable for its statements on race, the story itself falls somewhat flat...the lack of details caused this story to miss the mark. Published just after Kennedy's assassination, I was expecting PKD to spend a bit more effort drawing out just how much potential danger there was for Briskin to be the first black candidate for the presidency and then to tie that into the overall story of the different species from different Earths colliding, but PKD never really, despite a laughable attempt on Briskin's life, picked up that torch. I also would have liked to have seen the characters interact with the species on alter-Earth more on their territory...we the cursory edges of this, but the details were heavily glossed over. The Crack in Space was the first PKD book I have picked up. While there was certainly a good story in the pages with a commendable message of racial equality, I would not recommend The Crack in Space to others for an introduction to this author. Despite this, I will, however, likely pick up other PKD tales in the future.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love this book., January 28, 2008
I really like this book. This book is an incredibly interesting tale of the political and social ramifications of the existence of an alternative Earth. Truly magnificent story with a great deal of surprises.
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