Rating: 
Summary: Not PKD's best, but that's better than most!
Review: "Dr. Bloodmoney" represents Philip K. Dick's stab at the apocalyptic fiction genre. As usual, he enjoys success, and as usual he does so in his own unique way. Whereas most authors are interested in how the survivors carry on (the day to day grind), Dick is more interested in what a society would look like where everyone has been brought low, and what the impact of genetic mutation would be in such a society. Over the course of the novel, Dick makes some compelling points about racism, by pointing out that survival skills aren't based upon appearance, and not even on physical ability.Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that "Dr. Bloodmoney" didn't successfully carry a theme throughout the novel, and that it was somewhat disjointed. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating read, and Dick on his worst day is better than most authors on their best. Of particular note was Dr. Bluthgeld, the protagonist of the book's title. A nuclear physicist, he has become so perverted by the nuclear power he once wielded that he has mistaken god-like powers with actually being a god. Needless to say, he descends into madness and as a result his neighbors learn a lesson about real power, and the packages it comes in. Also interesting was Dick's description of a post-nuclear holocaust world. He populates it with a host of genetic freaks, both animal and human. All are profoundly changed, and yet familiar enough to be deeply disturbing. At the same time he throws in little details that lend his creation great depth: horse drawn cars, a cigarette factory, a stranded astronaut acting as the world's last remaining D.J. None offers the big picture view of an "Earth Abides" or "Alas Babylon" but they are small details that hint at big things, and engage the imagination in a unique way. Ultimately, "Dr. Bloodmoney" hints at some intriguing ideas, but never follows all the way through on them. Nonetheless, it is an engaging read with unique characters trying to survive in a bizarre, yet recognizable setting. Dick offers a stern warning against the folly of nuclear war from a unique angle. Instead of railing against the weapons, he points out the deep psychological damage that a person could incur by having such power at their fingertips. As always, he tells an interesting story from an unexpected point of view. While not on par with "The Man in the High Castle", it is nonetheless an excellent representation of his work that can be enjoyed by newcomers and die-hard fans alike.
Rating:
Summary: Not PKD's best, but that's better than most!
Review: "Dr. Bloodmoney" represents Philip K. Dick's stab at the apocalyptic fiction genre. As usual, he enjoys success, and as usual he does so in his own unique way. Whereas most authors are interested in how the survivors carry on (the day to day grind), Dick is more interested in what a society would look like where everyone has been brought low, and what the impact of genetic mutation would be in such a society. Over the course of the novel, Dick makes some compelling points about racism, by pointing out that survival skills aren't based upon appearance, and not even on physical ability. Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers that "Dr. Bloodmoney" didn't successfully carry a theme throughout the novel, and that it was somewhat disjointed. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating read, and Dick on his worst day is better than most authors on their best. Of particular note was Dr. Bluthgeld, the protagonist of the book's title. A nuclear physicist, he has become so perverted by the nuclear power he once wielded that he has mistaken god-like powers with actually being a god. Needless to say, he descends into madness and as a result his neighbors learn a lesson about real power, and the packages it comes in. Also interesting was Dick's description of a post-nuclear holocaust world. He populates it with a host of genetic freaks, both animal and human. All are profoundly changed, and yet familiar enough to be deeply disturbing. At the same time he throws in little details that lend his creation great depth: horse drawn cars, a cigarette factory, a stranded astronaut acting as the world's last remaining D.J. None offers the big picture view of an "Earth Abides" or "Alas Babylon" but they are small details that hint at big things, and engage the imagination in a unique way. Ultimately, "Dr. Bloodmoney" hints at some intriguing ideas, but never follows all the way through on them. Nonetheless, it is an engaging read with unique characters trying to survive in a bizarre, yet recognizable setting. Dick offers a stern warning against the folly of nuclear war from a unique angle. Instead of railing against the weapons, he points out the deep psychological damage that a person could incur by having such power at their fingertips. As always, he tells an interesting story from an unexpected point of view. While not on par with "The Man in the High Castle", it is nonetheless an excellent representation of his work that can be enjoyed by newcomers and die-hard fans alike.
Rating: 
Summary: A myriad of intermingling warps
Review: Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb, was published in 1965, and owed its title to the inspiration of Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. However, it has no relationship to the film other than the coincidental presence of a mad scientist and a nuclear war. The first third of the novel takes place on the day nuclear bombs strike the San Francisco area; the rest is set years later in western Marin County, where a small community of survivors has adapted to the post-holocaust environment. Perhaps the most surprising feature of this world is how much life is proceeding as normal. There is a large cast of characters through whose eyes we alternately view the events of the story. Among them is Bluthgeld, the scientist who helped create the Bomb, who in his paranoia and solipsism massively affects the reality of the other characters. But each of them subtly touch the lives of all others. Everyone in the book can and does have the power to affect each other's universe, warping each other's everyday reality in many little ways. The post-holocaust setting has its greatest significance in presenting a community, a microcosm of humanity, forming a common reality as the sum of their mutual interexperience.
Rating:
Summary: Philip K. Dick's best novel
Review: Granted, I have only read 7 Philip K. Dick novels, but out of those 7 this one stands out as the best. This novel contains fascinating insights into the concepts of solipsism, megalomania, and paranoia (the self is everything). Dr. Bloodmoney percieves himself to be at the center of the universe, the author of all things, the entire world being a mere projection of his personal subjectivity. Using his power, he creates a nuclear war. So is he crazy, or is he really somehow behind this catastrophe? This is just one of the many interesting subplots we are presented with in this story. There are a number of other characters in this book whose situations are also very compelling, and Philip K. Dick weaves their lives together with the skill of a master storyteller. Dick has an amazing ability to seamlessly meld the tragic and the hilarious, and the end result is one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Philip K. Dick's best novel
Review: Granted, I have only read 7 Philip K. Dick novels, but out of those 7 this one stands out as the best. This novel contains fascinating insights into the concepts of solipsism, megalomania, and paranoia (the self is everything). Dr. Bloodmoney percieves himself to be at the center of the universe, the author of all things, the entire world being a mere projection of his personal subjectivity. Using his power, he creates a nuclear war. So is he crazy, or is he really somehow behind this catastrophe? This is just one of the many interesting subplots we are presented with in this story. There are a number of other characters in this book whose situations are also very compelling, and Philip K. Dick weaves their lives together with the skill of a master storyteller. Dick has an amazing ability to seamlessly meld the tragic and the hilarious, and the end result is one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written.
Rating:
Summary: It's finally back!
Review: I cannot understand why this Dick book had been out of print for years. Some of his most interesting characters and concepts found in later books evolved from this one, his most intelligent post-bomb novel. His flare for the unusal and his this -ain't -quite -what -it -seems twists keeps the reader guessing throughout. Even though we get just a glimpse of who the characters are before the nuclear destruction, we are sympathetic to their attempt to eek out an existance and share their hopes for a new world. Their personal evolution is wonderfully illustrated. Despite a somewhat abrupt ending, the book holds up when read today.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and essential
Review: I felt this had all the lovable quirks of any PKD book, giving each character mundane human failings in the midst of fantastic and surreal events. It is absorbing and intriguing.
Rating: 
Summary: SF NOVELS OPUS SIXTEEN
Review: I'm sorry to say that I don't agree with most of the reviewers here. I consider Philip K. Dick as the most interesting of the american sci-fi writers but I can not share their enthusiasm about DR. BLOODMONEY, a novel first published in 1965. The novel describes the lives of a dozen characters before, in the middle and after an atomic blast upon the West Coast of the United States. As often in sci-fi novels written in that period, the danger has come from Asia ; China has attacked and the americans must learn to rebuild by themselves their hyper-technical society. But the atomic war has produced genetical mutations among the humans and the animals and soon the mutants become a danger to the human species. I never had the feeling that DR. BLOODMONEY was a coherent novel, it was rather a collection of several novelettes to me. The story of Hoppy, the phocomel without arms nor legs, developing paranormal powers, the story of Dr. Bluthgeld or Bloodmoney, the paranoid scientist, who thinks that he can destroy his enemies (in fact, everyone) by will alone, the story of Walt Dangerfield who, condemned to live in a satellite, has the responsibility to try to unify a population lost in a no-car world, and so on. Each one of these novelettes is excellent but the novel in itself is not at the level of UBIK or NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR. A book for Philip K. Dick's aficionados only.
Rating:
Summary: Post-war dream
Review: If animals could write reviews, they would rather do something else, and if you can read, here is a book.
Rating: 
Summary: The first draft of a great novel
Review: If I understand aright, PKD's amazing prolicity stemmed largely from the fact that much of his career was spent in grinding poverty, and churning out novel after novel was the only was he could stay afloat (not wholly dissimilar from Balzac in that sense). It's indicative of the man's genius that the novel's he wrote in this manner (of which I am assuming Dr. Bloodmoney is one) are as good as they are; unfortunately--but unsurprisingly--they are not nearly as good as they ought to be, however, and this is a prime example of that. Dick takes on any number of themes here, but he never follows through. Did he intend the novel to address racism and bigotry in general, via the characters of Stuart and Hoppy? He takes a few experimental pokes at the subject, but never follows up. Did he intend to examine the way the lack of an outside authority causes a community to develop? The terrifying willingness of its inhabitants to play judge, jury, and executioner--and the general unconcern with the murder of outsiders (and on a related note, are we meant to be sympathetic too or repelled by Bonny Keller, who does, after all, cold-bloodedly arrange the execution in question on a highly dubious pretext)?--would seem to indicate that this would play a major part in the novel, but it doesn't, ultimately, and the reader is left baffled--this is not intentional ambiguity; it's quite clear that Dick himself had not fully worked out what he was trying to accomplish. Was the Christ figure of Dr. Bluthgeld meant to be a meditation on faith and on the possibility of messianic fallibility? Perhaps, but again, it never goes anywhere. What of Hoppy Harrington? An interesting and conflicted character who devolves all too quickly into a garden-variety villain. Quite unfortunate. Beyond the larger problems, there are weird little inconsistencies which should have been worked out: early in the novel, Orion Strout attempts to run Hoppy over with a truck, while later on it becomes clear how bizarre this is;The physiological nature of the relationship between Edie and Bill seems to change for no other reason than novelistic convenience. Not big issues in themselves, but symptomatic of the novel's overall problem. This should have been a brilliant, genre-transcending, classic--the characters are uniformly interesting (even with the inconsistencies of personality), and the post-nuclear world is wonderfully-rendered. But it received insufficient attention, and so it's not. A shame.
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