Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick [Paperback]

Lawrence Sutin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

Divine Invasions is the definitive biography of one of America's greatest novelists and science fiction's greatest ambassador to literary audiences. Philip K. Dick loosened the bonds of the genre, ultimately making his reputation as a literary writer who happened to write speculative fiction, and profoundly influencing such writers as Pynchon, Delillo, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Lethem. Divine Invasions is being reissued to coincide with the fall 2005 release of "A Scanner Darkly," a film based on Dick's novel of the same name.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Sutin is an award-winning memoirist and biographer. His books include JACK AND ROCHELLE: A HOLOCAUST STORY OF LOVE AND RESISTANCE, A POSTCARD MEMOIR, and DO WHAT THOU WILT: A LIFE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY. Sutin teaches in the MFA program at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786716231
• ISBN-13: 978-0786716234
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #817,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars mixed feelings, May 6, 2008

By 

Tessa B. Dick "pen name L.A. Busby" (Crestline, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about this book. Sutin gives the impression that he interviewed me extensively, but he actually used quotes from other interviews and never met me, although I did briefly answer three of his questions by letter. Furthermore, I must disagree with most of his conclusions. Since I spent ten years with Phil, and those were the last ten years of his life, I believe that I know more about him than a biographer who never met him and simply read about him.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only Apparently Real, April 2, 2002

By 

miles@riverside (Indio, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Paperback)

This is Lawrence Sutin's best book (well, of the three that I've read). It's also the best book on Dick I've found, and it's about as engrossing as some of Dick's better novels. There's a lot of stuff in here, but I wolfed it down pretty quickly.

The various troubled relationships, paranoid experiences (and attitudes), drug experimentation, and transcendental experiences are discussed here in some detail. We get lots of stories from Dick's ex-wives and such discussing his writing habits and nervous behavior.

I found particularly helpful the bibliography (with plot summaries) at the end of the book. It's depressing how much of Dick's work is still out of print.

A great book on a great American writer. Anyone who wants to go further might look at IN SEARCH OF VALIS, also by Sutin.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth about PKD., December 21, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick (Paperback)

Sutin's comprehensive literary biography of PKD is a godsend, because it clears up so many loose ends of his life and work. The background about his lost twin, who died as a baby (he was buried with her in Colorado), and his father's abandonment of the family, does much to clarify a lifetime of driven insecurity. Dick's failure to break out of the genre category with his "quality novels" (most of them published after his death in small editions) in the late 1950s led to a revolution within science fiction itself, where he had to continue publishing. In fact Dick was a fantasist at heart, and ahead of his time in working through genre categories. Unfortunately the pay and prestige for even brilliant genre writers were so limited that his spirit was finally broken. Moreover, he made several bad decisions about relationships that gradually led him into his own strange world of cosmic paranoia. When acclaim and success finally came his way, his life was over. He died at age 53 in March 1982. Sutin adds a very helpful "Chronological survey and guide" that establishes the actual order of the books he wrote, their publication history (which has altered a bit since 1989, when the book was publshed), and summary and evaluation of each book. Strongly recommended for anyone seriously interested in this author's work.