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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Anarchic energy,
By Doug Mackey (Fairfield, IA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Simulacra (Paperback)
This is a grab bag of almost all the themes and character types found in Dick's other novels written in the early 60s. Everything is here: a repressive police state, a ruling elite in conflict with huge cartels, a charismatic cult leader, a fascinating and ruthless woman, time travel, psychic powers, Nazis, androids, emigration to Mars, and mind-manipulating media and simulacra. It shows that the way society appears to be structured is a complete fake, and that media manipulation conceals the real centers of power. Dick crowds more characters and different points of view into the anarchic pages of pages of this novel than in any of his other books. But it does not seem to go anywhere: it is a plunge into the deeper waters of Dick's universe, but without any clear re-emergence into the air. The energy is more frenetic than transformative. Such a tour de force lacks the impact of Dick's major works, though it is a dazzling ride. It's pure PKD.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Prescient!,
By
This review is from: The Simulacra (Paperback)
"The Simulacra" is probably the most convoluted, mystifying--and potentially dangerous--political thriller ever penned. With his trademark ear for dialogue and sensitivity to human foibles, Dick eviscerates authority in all of its guises, revealing levels of curruption and secrecy so vast and complex they transcend the comical. Along with such masterpieces as "Radio Free Albemuth" and "Time Out of Joint," "The Simulacra" is one of Dick's most effective conspiracy yarns, written with irony, insight and humor. As usual, Dick excels at evoking a world where nothing is as it seems and truth is the rarest of commodities. Vintage's reissue of this scathing novel couldn't have come at a better time.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Perverse, Eclectic, But Not Quite A Finished Product,
By miles@riverside (Indio, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Simulacra (Paperback)
The first half of this book introduces a slew of bizarre story situations and ideas, but unfortunately none of them really gets fleshed out to my satisfaction. The most interesting to me was the composer who feels he's steadily disappearing and converting into a foul smell. I was never completely sure if he was making this all up in his mind or if it was really happening to him. He spends most of his time in the book trying to contact the one remaining psychologist on earth; and the dwindling psychologist problem is another intriguing idea that doesn't seem to go anywhere. Ditto for the Nazi official who's brought forward in time, I forget to what purpose. The same for the Mars-colonization supplier that specializes in lifelike robots that function as your friendly neighbors for those lonely, desolate Martian locations (just a little reminiscent of the "Perky Pat" episode from PALMER ELDTRITCH, although this story never really gets off the Earth). And the papoolas, what was the point there? Although most of Dick's novels have a lot of humor in them, this one seems to take nothing seriously. It's difficult to get involved with the characters. Everything that happens seems like a joke. The novel has several interesting scenes, but the work as a whole is not one of Dick's better efforts.
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