The Simulacra

Rating:
Summary: Prescient!
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Another good mind-pounder from the sci-fi master
Review: Another good mind-pounder from the sci-fi master. Although, occasionally you want to scream at the book, because he didn't foresee such simple everyday items as cellphones.

He did, however, foresee the day when the "health care" cartel would replace psychoanalysis with drugs, and the day when our national leaders would be recruited from the ranks of famous actors (including a famous actor who played the lead in a film adapted from a Philip K. Dick novel).

Plus, all the sci-fi authors of the 60s assumed we'd have colonies on the moon and Mars by now. Maybe the moon landings were faked after all ...

Rating:
Summary: A quick trip into paranoid schizophrenia
Review: Neanderthols, The Third Reich and Time Travel; I really liked this book. There's a schizophrenic quality in every page. The book leaves you with more questions as the last page comes to a close. No one seems very sure of anything from the very beginning up until the last page, the last word. Is the official schizophrenic in this book simply being more honest to himself? Maybe so in the world Mr. Dick has created for Simulacra.

I noticed all the female characters come off very cold, at first it annoyed me a bit, but then I felt it actually added to the emasculated and schizophrenic reality of almost all the main male characters.

Definately recommended, especially for the psychotic at heart.

Rating:
Summary: Papoolas, Secret Governments and Advertisment Mind Control
Review: Nichole Thibodeaux is the First Lady who through her Martha Stewert type personality has remained in control of the government for over 70 years with daily White House television shows that have transfixed a nation conditioned by automatic advertisements that have the ability of thought control, meaning that the last line of defense, Dr. Superb, a psychotherapist, must try to maintain his capicity in society, even though his business has been outlawed by drug companies like A.G Chemie, who sponsor the mind control adverts and influence the government who have a time machine and are able to control the future somewhat except for the precogs in society who can tilt the balance.

There is no hope left for humanity in a world that is becoming ever maladjusted to the electronic conditioning, their love for Nichole and conforming to what she likes, except to grab a Loony Luke Jalopy and head off for mars for an alternative life. Luke has a sales papoola, a synthetic man made alien lifeform from mars that can influence people to like whatever the owners wants. One of Lukes workers steals the papoola to impress Nichole at the White House only to uncover a sinister plot where all is not as it seems and the Presidential executive all might be actors and Simulacra robots.

A secret policeman ND, Pembroke, has allowed Dr. Superb to work as a psychotherapist, so that he will meet someone who the doctor will fail to treat, as the time machine Lessinger apparatus predicted, unless the person seeks chemical treatment from A.G Chemie, become cured, and put the whole fabric of society in jeopardy. While all this is happening special mutant musician, Richard Kongrosian, who can play the keyboard with his mind, is having an emotional breakdown and believes he is becoming both invisible and smelly, only to start finding out things about himself that makes the government afraid of him.

Philip K. Dick conjures a frightening realistic world where people adore leaders based on image, are afraid to think outside of the norm or else are reduced in status... while living in a time where entertainment, coporate drugs companies and shadow governments control the world... all written back in 1964... over thirty years ago... and more is relevant than ever today.

The Simulacra is strong on dialogue given that this is one of his Philip K. Dicks early works. There are references to characters in his award winning book The Man in the High Castle with the same sort of everything comes home type of surreal adventure... the endings are both somewhat similar, although The Simulacra has a much more black humerious one.

Like we have said, given the current times, this book stands out as more important than ever. Sci Fi comes true yet again. This book is listed as number 57 in science fiction masteroworks released by Orion publishers. I recommend if new to Dick that you start with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Man in the High Castle, Ubik and then this one. I will be moving onto Clans of Alphane Moon next. See you for a review there.

Rating:
Summary: Constantly Amazing
Review: OK, I love Phillip K. Dick, even when I don't understand him
Simulacra is one of those books you can read many times and every time explore a new avenue. Dick is one of the rare authors whose works are so complicated, so many tangents, yet always a good story. Science Fiction for the thinking person.

Rating:
Summary: Constantly Amazing
Review: OK, I love Phillip K. Dick, even when I don't understand him
Simulacra is one of those books you can read many times and every time explore a new avenue. Dick is one of the rare authors whose works are so complicated, so many tangents, yet always a good story. Science Fiction for the thinking person.

Rating:
Summary: Perverse, Eclectic, But Not Quite A Finished Product
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Perverse, Eclectic, But Not Quite A Finished Product
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Anarchic energy
Review: 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.