Time Out of Joint

Rating:
Summary: Book is inspiration for all that followed it
Review: When he wrote _Time Out of Joint_, Philip K Dick was a very frustrated writer, having lots of luck selling so-so sci-fi for bargain basement prices to the pulps, and having no luck getting his non sci-fi work published. So a thought occured: "Why not mix the two?" It is this revelation that would change both his career, (which was never what it should have been, or is now) and what we think of as a science fiction novel.

The book itself is a maze of self-doubt, which is apparent in all of Dick's better novels. Ragle Gumm, believing he lives in 1958 (When the book was written) watches as the town disintigrates, including a soft drink stand that turns into a piece of paper reading "soft drink stand." The book is slow at first, but picks up fast. Unfortunately, after a cool sequence that predates "Clockwork Orange", it disintigrates into a political sci-fi mess. But don't let that distract you: This novel is as terrific as it is influential.