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Summary: Rambling and Insane
Review: Smarties and good friends have recommended this book to me. However, halfway through it I had to simply give up and admit defeat. Nothing makes any sense, the characters are only warped peices of their true selves as seen by the main lunatic--er, character. The religious stuff was the most irreligious rambling I've ever run across, and it usurped the space in which a plot might have neatly fit. In short, I didn't get it, and I think I probably wouldn't want to anyway. This is not so much speculative fiction as it is something which causes you to speculate about whether it should even be called fiction.
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Summary: nice book but difficult to understand - - - read it though
Review: it is good if you are over 20 it will confuse you probably but i liked it
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Summary: If God was a science-fiction writer...
Review: Surely the bible of schizophrenia: the main character is an I and a HE. Penetrating, an extraordinary book with an annexed Scriptura which is a cosmic theory created by Philip K. Dick, a visionary and philosophic text which brings the reader to conceive the universe as an hologram, quoting lines from the story of Horselover Fat. So much could be said about this book, it's an hologram in itself...
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Summary: Fish Can Not Carry Guns
Review: What this lackin plot it made up for in idea flow and comical instances. Especially funny yet powerful was the idea that Nixon was the head of some evil Empire and his real name was Ferris F. Fremont (sort of) and the forces of good were resonsible for dethroning the King. Kevin the cynical friend and his dead cat was hilarious. I agree it was a strange almost uncomprehendable tale but if you do put the effort into understanding it then the results will be satisfying. The end wasn't that great though. It left the door open for a sequal but he (PKD) should have at least made it look like he was going to shut the door, rather than not try at all.
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Summary: postmodern prophecy
Review: If the canon of the Bible had not been prematurely closed (as if God has really stopped talking to people? ), Valis would surely take its place amongst its pages. Very few modern people could qualify as a prophet, and PKD stands among them. Valis is essentially autobiography -- though, since Dick is a master at questioning What is real? -- he never does decide exactly what happened to him. He knows how easily imagination can distort our view of reality. Nonetheless, some kind of profound experience radically changed his way of thinking, and made him wonder if -- in some sense -- the Roman empire never ended, and all of our reality is a sham, waiting for God to once again intervene. When you look at the sad state of what passes for Christianity these days, it's hard not believe that PKD was on to something. If you're a fan of Valis, be sure to look into Tod Machover's electronic opera based upon it, in the classical music area.
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Summary: give ol' horse a chance
Review: i admit it. i first picked up VALIS to seem like an intellect. (plus, i'd read several interviews of thom yorke, who mentioned the book quite often) god knows why, since, at the time, i was a freshman and all the kids around me were reading 'crosses' and 'go ask alice' and all the other horridly teenage literature. but i digress. the first time i read it through, i didn't quite get it. i found some parts to be a bit funny, others, just plain esoteric, fragmented, subtle. but i gave it another whirl about 3 months later, this time determined to get something out of it. and i did. VALIS is one of the most imaginative, original 'sci-fi' books i've ever read. dick makes the storyline easier--much, much easier than some other sci-fi books i've read, what with all the 482-h cyborg jargon and such--to follow because he maintains the story in first person. (albeit near the end of the story the reader is informed that the main character has been 2 people at once, but, the shock is surprisingly gentle.) the book is funny, depressing, extremely intelligent and original. it is "about": the search for god, theological conspiracies, strange pink lights fired at one's head, thus transferring information from god, from satellites, a young girl who claims to be deity, and dead cats. the story, for me, anyway, was easy to be sucked into because you find yourself cheering on the main characters- you see yourself through their characteristics, you want them to succeed in their search because, in a way, if they do, then you do as well. either way, read VALIS if you're looking for some odd-ball, straight up intelligent writing. don't be persuaded by other reviews or past dick books. take it from a lowly, short attention spanned, hyperactive 15 year old..and pick it up, if you'd like.
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Summary: Weird, weird, weird
Review: VALIS is difficult to understand. It doesn't develop into the semblance of a story until the hundredth page. It's a deep book, full of spiritual underpinnings. If you're an easily offended Christian, don't pick up this book.
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Summary: A different sort of PKD
Review: Although I found some of this hard going, it is a wonderful book. For Dick fans everywhere it reveals further insights into the workings of this great authors mind. What I found the greatest accomplishment was the complete retro feel to the novel. I'm still left wondering wether this is a serious treatise on late 20th century philosphy or the derranged meanderings of a schizophrenic. Don't expect an adventure sci-fi....do expect a first class read.
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Summary: Just read it!!!
Review: Valis is one of the most amazing books I've ever read. Strangely one of the most "logic" aproaches on the theologic problems of the nature of God and of the human soul i have ever found...
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Summary: Boring, but instigating
Review: I think that PKD is the most fantastic sfi-fi writer I've ever read. Notwithstanding, after reading masterpieces from him such as Divine Invasion, UBIK and others, I must say that I was pretty disappointed with VALIS. First of all, the book's first 120 pages are extremely redundant, with a collection of loose thoughts splashed and repeated ad nauseam. The things only heat after Dick's friend Kevin takes him to see the movie Valis. If you can reach this part (and many people couldn't), you will get some PKD's flavor. Some very interesting points are posed by him, what provoked on me a lot of reflection about life, religion. After reaching the end of the book I kept the impression that something was still missing and that costed VALIS the third star.
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