Martian Time-Slip [Paperback]

Philip K. Dick (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 30, 1995

On the arid colony of Mars the only thing more precious than water may be a ten-year-old schizophrenic boy named Manfred Steiner. For although the UN has slated "anomalous" children for deportation and destruction, other people--especially Supreme Goodmember Arnie Kott of the Water Worker's union--suspect that Manfred's disorder  may be a window into the future. In Martian Time-Slip Philip K. Dick uses power politics and extraterrestrial real estate scams, adultery, and murder to penetrate the mysteries of being and time.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Dick's 1968 novel offers a world in which water is a precious commodity and schizophrenia is the norm. For all sf collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation -- this has escaped most critics. Nobody notices that we have our own homegrown [Jorge Luis] Borges. -- Ursula K. LeGuin

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; First Edition, Binding Damage edition (May 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679761675
• ISBN-13: 978-0679761679
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 5.1 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A mature, humane book July 11, 2000

By J. Kruppa

Format:Paperback

Philip Dick, like most science fiction writers, wrote enough action-oriented novels and stories to satisfy die hard genre fans, but anyone who has read Dick's work carefully knows that he came to be less concerned with action-adventure and more with very human issues. In Martian Time Slip, teaching androids are used in schools, one character is suspected of being able to see into the future, and, of course, the backdrop is Mars. Dick, though, uses this science fiction setting to explore aspects of the human condition, such as isolation, suffering, greed, hopelessness and cruelty, through the eyes of a number of characters who are all rendered with compassion despite their obvious shortcomings.

The basic plot revolves around the efforts of Arnie Kott, a bullish big fish in a small pond, to determine if an autistic child named Manfred Steiner can see the future. It is then Kott's intention to use that knowledge to further his own self interests. Drawn into this story are several others that Kott needs to carry out his plan, and it is through their perspectives, their personal struggles that may not even peripherally relate to Kott's scheme, that the novel derives its impact. One section of the book, in fact, recounts a single evening from four different points of view. It's an amazing display of technique that seems a natural development in the telling of the story and manages to challenge the reader's own opinions about the characters involved....

The novel's background detail is convincing as well, from the way Mars' relatively few surviving aboriginal inhabitants are portrayed as a race doomed long before humanity arrived, now lingering until probable eventual extinction, to the desolate nature of Mars itself and the attitudes and practices that have been transplanted from Earth. Much like the excellent Dr. Bloodmoney, which would appear the following year (1965), Martian Time-Slip is an ensemble story in a landscape that offers little hope aside from the comfort and love of other living beings which, I would like to believe, is what Dick is saying is the only hope of any consequence. Read more ›

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars intriguing March 19, 2001

By W. K. Miller

Format:Paperback

Martian Time-Slip takes place on a Mars which has been rather poorly colonized by a desperate race of humans. Water is scarce on mars, and what few settlements exist are very close to one of the few canals. Plumbers, waterworkers, and repairmen are very valuable and in demand, since getting replacement equipment from Earth is very expensive.

Jack Bohlen is a repairman, and a "recovered" schizophrenic. Jack is contacted by Arnie Kott, a businessman who is involved in land speculation. He seems to believe that a schizophrenic boy can somehow see into the future (slip in and out of TIME) on Mars, and Jack can help Arnie communicate with the boy, by building a machine that will translate the boy's gibberish speech into something Arnie can understand. Arnie would like to make a killing in land speculation, with Jack's help.

Add to this: there is an aboriginal race of humans on Mars called the Bleekmen, who resemble Africans of very materially primitive societies. They wander the vast deserts of Mars, impoverished and disenfranchised, but hold the mystical keys to this time travel.

It's a strange and beautiful novel. Action Sci-Fi fans beware. This novel takes a long time to get going. The first 80 or 100 pages are taken up with that stuffy writing goal called "character development," and you won't get many shoot-em-up scenes with spaceships etc. This novel is pretty typical of Philip K. Dick in that it's more cerebral than it is visceral. I found the first half of the novel fascinating but slow going, myself. After I was halfway through, I spent all of my spare time reading it until I was done.

If you like Philip K. Dick, you ought to read Martian Time-Slip.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another modest Phil Dick mind grenade February 18, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Dick is the only author whose works literally force me to put the book down from time to time, for fear that reading one more sentence will send me to the insane asylum forever. Not Stephen King, Clive Barker, or even H.P. Lovecraft can approach the depth of cosmic horror which Dick so modestly invites us to stare into. And yet, there is no pretension here; Dick sympathizes with his innocent protagonists, giving us a straightforward account of their daily struggles to lead normal lives. This is one of the most heartbreakingly hilarious SF novels ever written, with plenty of mind grenades that will detonate in your head long after you've finished the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If God Wrote Works of Fiction ... October 23, 2012

By Scott McFarland

Format:Paperback

This is an intricately plotted Moebius Strip of a novel, that traffics in schizophrenia among other things. It adds up to a picture of what human existence is and what the nature of reality is. Even for PKD this is an astounding book. As my title above intimates, I think that if a God on some plane of existence above us deigned to write fiction and to publish it outwards to us, the effect would be similar to the effect that one gets when reading this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not great but maybe worth reading... January 20, 2009

By jenner

Format:Paperback

Ok, it's a PKDick book, so it's full of ideas and nice touches but it's not nearly as good as some of his others. The plot is weak, (as PKD himself admitted) the characters aren't great and some of the dialogue is absolutely cringe-worthy.

If you haven't read them I would suggest: Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or Maze of Death instead, they follow similar themes (with less emphasis on the study of schizophrenia) as Martian Time Slip but are much better, more interesting works.