We Can Build You

Rating:
Summary: Typical PKD
Review: This is a very typical PKD story, but I thought his voice was quite good in this in the first person. The story may not be as catchy as some of his others, and the plot is rather weak, but thematically the story is as strong as any of his other good books (Ubik, Flow my Tears, etc.) This is actually a story about schizophrenia with the simulacras thrown in as thematic plot devices.

Rating:
Summary: PKD novel which straddles sci-fi and mainstream
Review: This is one of PKD's novels that falls half-way between science-fiction and mainstream. The main character is Louis Rosen, a partner in a company selling electronic organs and spinets. Business is less than booming however so they decide on a new business model: building and selling android humans. They design and build their prototype, a simulacrum of Civil War secretary of state Edwin Stanton, who displays all of the real Stanton's character and personality. Their next model is no less than Abraham Lincoln himself. While attempting to interest billionaire Sam K Barrows in their designs Rosen falls in love with his partner's daughter Pris, an unstable sociopath recently released from a psychiatric ward. Pris runs off with Barrows however, sending Rosen into a mental tailspin himself.

The book is more or less in two parts, the first half focusing on the simulacra angle, the second being a character study of Rosen and his mental disintegration and subsequent recovery. Along the way there are some familiar PKD themes; the deranged Pris appears to exhibit less human feeling and emotion than the synthetic creations of Stanton and Lincoln. The Lincoln facsimile at one point becomes engaged in a philosophical argument with Barrows on the difference between man and machine. Throughout, the novel is suffused with a subtle dry wit, while it also has some of PKD's trademark bizarre dialogue and character mannerisms. The ending is also typically abrupt and on the surface lacks plot resolution if not emotional.


Rating:
Summary: schizo amour
Review: This is one of the many PKD novels where women are descirbed as cold and frigid people. Even though, i still concidered this as a "romance" story, one where a man loses his mind (phrenia and hallucinations) over a dark hair girl called Pris (different Pris from DADoES novel). Oh, yes, there are the Lincoln and Stanton simulcaras, but they're just a mere sub-plot to the story...

Rating:
Summary: schizo amour
Review: This is one of the many PKD novels where women are descirbed as cold and frigid people. Even though, i still concidered this as a "romance" story, one where a man loses his mind (phrenia and hallucinations) over a dark hair girl called Pris (different Pris from DADoES novel). Oh, yes, there are the Lincoln and Stanton simulcaras, but they're just a mere sub-plot to the story...

Rating:
Summary: Philip K. Dick - a writer
Review: This was the first Philip K. Dick's book I've read, and it was the best book I've EVER read. So I really recommend. This is top! Louis Rosen was a wonderful character, and relationship with Pris was interesting and touching. This is a perfect book, if you find any interest to this kind of books.

Rating:
Summary: Lame
Review: Two intertwined plots, the development of the simulacra and Rosen's growing obsession with Pris - and he simply abandoned the interesting one. Even with the first-person perspective, he never managed to bring Louis and his feelings for Pris to life. The simulacra story could have been very good - early on I was conviced we were going to see Stanton rise to political power in the modern age, but he disappeared even before the rest of the simulacra plot. But the last chapters were a huge letdown.

Rating:
Summary: Dick at his worst
Review: We Can Build You is one of PKD's weakest books. It starts in a quite interesting way, but ultimately leads nowhere. The best ideas are discarded and the end of the book concentrates in the lead character's descend into schizophrenia - and even that is not interesting in any way (unlike in some other Dick's books). Recommended only for Philip K. Dick completists.