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/lit/ - Literature

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11850428 No.11850428 [Reply] [Original]

Just finished reading this. I thought this Dick guy was supposed to be good?

Should I read anything else by him? If they’re as bad as this, I don’t want to bother.

>> No.11850452

>>11850428
uh oh, retard alert

>> No.11850467

>>11850428
I've read 4 PKD novels, including Flow, and Flow is definitely the worst one I've read. Give one of the following a try:

The Man in the High Castle (it's one of PKD's most polished novels. Although the ending is very divisive)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ubik (it's by far the most paranoid and comedic of the three I'm recommending)

>> No.11850539

>>11850452
>lol, Person A’s drug use can effect the reality of Person B who did not use the drug

It was an awful book

>> No.11850807

Flow My Tears is some of PKD's worst. The way PKD introduces something and then drops it, never explaining why it was significant to the story is pretty infuriating, e.g. the drug squid.

>> No.11850816

>>11850539
Only looking at the book on the most basic surface level.
Yea Don bother to read at all, you will never make it like that.

>> No.11850827

>>11850428
This is one of his weaker novels. I remember finishing and feeling underwhelmed, and I'm a huge fan of Dick.

I opened that book thinking to myself "I need some of that Dick" and was left feeling underwhelmed. Dick must have cranked this one out overnight while hopped up on meth

>> No.11850852

>>11850428
Ubik is his best work

>> No.11850905

>>11850428
Ubik, VALIS, Tim Archer, Radio Free Albemuth, A Scanner Darkly are all great. His best work came right before and right after his exegesis.

>> No.11851056

>>11850467
I've read at least 20 of his novels and two collections of short stories. I wouldn't say Flow My Tears is among his best, but I like it. At any rate, he wrote stuff that was way worse. It's vivid and paranoid, and the stuff that goes unexplained adds to the atmosphere of confusion and desperation. Not a good starter Dick though. In a way all of his novels are basically the same, though some are more accessible than others. Flow My Tears gets hyped because it occupies an important place in his mythology -- it was the first book he wrote after receiving treatment for his psychotic break. But without a broader feel for his work I can see how it would be underwhelming.

>>11850539
>>11850807
If you want logic and consistency, read someone else

>> No.11851154

>>11851056
>If you want logic and consistency

I want an ending that isn’t a fucking cop out

>> No.11851788

What was the point of having Marlyn Manson in the book?

>> No.11851814

>>11851154
All of his novels have pretty wacky endings

>> No.11851861

>reading dick for consistent plot and logics

>> No.11851937

>>11850428
Dick novels are inconsistent, divisive, and insane. Any one of them could "click" or not and while I feel like there *should* be a Dick novel for everyone, that's just based on how varied his work is and how much of it there is. At the very least his concepts are obviously thinking many layers above surface level, whether that's genius or madness is mostly up to you

>> No.11852411

>>11850428
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said isn't a good place to start with PKD. It isn't one of his worst but it isn't one of his best either. It gets slightly overrated because it's one of his few novels that got a lot of attention from all of the sci-fi awards.
>>11851154
You aren't going to like PKD then. Although Flow's ending is one of his weaker ones. He usually ends his stories on a deeply ambiguous note but for some reason he decided to tack on a and the dystopia fixed itself and the protagonist lived happily ever after epilogue to Flow. If Flow's epilogue is what pissed you off then don't worry. He rarely pulls out such an unambiguous, happy ending.

>> No.11854159

>>11850827
>I'm a huge fan of Dick.

>> No.11854959

>>11854159
An unfortunate name, really.

>> No.11854971
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11854971

>>11850428

> Zoob of Endko

>> No.11854976
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11854976

>>11850827
>Dick must have cranked this one out overnight while hopped up on meth


which of his books can you say this wasn't true of?

>> No.11855399

>>11854976
Electric Sheep seemed pretty well formulated.

>> No.11855482

>>11854976
I’m pretty sure he just started using drugs heavily in his mid to late era career. There was a point in time he wasn’t even working and just partied.

I just finished DADOES? And loved it. An old friend of mine recommended Valis as her favorite book can anyone tell me more about that?

>> No.11856322

>>11855482
Valis is a favorite among Dick fans

>> No.11856377

>>11850428
I don't think I ever finished this one. I really should go back and rectify that.

>> No.11856472

>>11855482
He started using amphetamines very early on. I've heard Martian Time-Slip was written over the course of a few days during a speed binge. Even in his first published novel, Solar Lottery, the themes of drug abuse and the psychosis resulting from it are discussed very frankly, and with the kind of authority that can only come from experience

>> No.11856572

>>11850428
Phil's writing isn't great.
His thoughts and ideas are top tier.