Thursday, 4 August 2005 05:04 pm
That Philip K. can be such a...
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deckardcanineNearly 6 months ago, I ranted about Philip K. Dick's The Penultimate Truth. Those with time on their hands can review it complete with spoilers here. I thank chirpasee for adding his (?) observation that Dick's books tend to enter a "wrap-up mode" a ways from the end that suggests the author has gotten bored with his own story. Unfortunately, I neglected chirpasee's warning that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, while better, isn't exceptionally strong from start to finish. I'm not sorry I read it, but that advice would have been good to keep in mind.
For those who have only either read the book or seen Blade Runner, I can assure you the movie was merely inspired by, not based upon, the book. It has mostly the same premises and several of the same character names (tho "Baty" receives a delicious extra T), but BR is by necessity much narrower in scope and focuses a lot more on the androids' reduced lifespan. I have no idea where the writers got the alternate name for a bounty hunter (they don't use blades), but I'm guessing they said "replicant" instead of "android/andy" to keep it distinctive without confusing the audience.
DADOES, naturally, is a lot more Dick. It obsesses with philosophy, not letting the brief moments of action get in the way. The foreword accurately says that darkness pervades Dick's work -- indeed, it's usually hard to tell if there are any decent life options left -- but typically doesn't make the reader miserable, because there's so much wonder.
A little ways into DADOES, I heard someone mention it as an example of a book not as good as the movie that proceeded from it. I disagreed: each was good in its own right. The more I read the book, the harder it was for me to put down. It got me thinking a lot when I wasn't reading. Even the SF premises were pretty easy to accept, now that they had more time for explanation than in BR. Leagues above TPT.
By and by, I started to wonder about the Rosen Association. They're trying to make andys completely indistinguishable from humans, which causes a lot of chaos. As far as I can tell, the andys' labor purpose doesn't require them to be that way. They're not set to take over for humanity altogether; they don't reproduce. So what's the company motivation? "Because we can"? I decided to assume so and read on.
Rather late in the book, there comes a technology that would be more at home in The Matrix, X-Men, or another comic book-style SF. I really didn't see why it would be made that way, let alone how. But it was really a minor detail, tangent to the plot as a whole. There are times I think Dick wanted to start writing another book midway thru his work on one. I ignored the problem and chugged on basically unfettered.
Then I got to the last 25 of 244 pages.
Either (A) I missed a major, seemingly underplayed detail; (B) Dick did; or (C) the focal character had a major, unprecedented, and all too conveniently educational hallucination. My guess is B. I think his editor must have disregarded it because there was enough other stuff for a bestseller and they didn't want to hold off on printing any longer.
I won't go into the details of the impossible moment, but it has some connection to a so-called cult that nevertheless seems to be the only religion anyone follows. The central figure of that cult bears resemblance to the persecuted and forgiving figure of Jesus, only with a very strange sense of ethics, in that he sometimes tells people to spend their lives doing what he says is wrong. He also is supposed to be unlovable. (Interesting how lifelong adherents to this cult still exclaim "Jesus.") Sorry, dude, but I'd sooner get into the paradoxes of Bokononism from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
Then came the climax. Or rather, what in most any other 20th-century western book would be the climax. Here, Dick seemed to want it over with as quickly as possible; I guess he wasn't paid by the word. In the process, he made the andys, who were supposed to be at least as smart as their makers, suddenly half-witted. Cockiness and lack of empathy could explain other incidents, but this?
There were another 20 pages after that. With the danger gone, there was only the misery and a growing internalized role for the cult. I give credit to TPT for having a solid ending, one that clearly cuts off on a significant note to leave a hopeful but not guaranteed positive future for the characters. Here, it just felt like a music box running down. Maybe he was paid by the word after all and discovered he needed a few extra bucks.
I may yet read the last Dick book on my shelf, Now Wait for Last Year. If I do, I will brace myself for the worst.
EDIT: Good gravy, I messed that LJ cut up. Left out a crucial quotation mark. I hope everyone understood.
For those who have only either read the book or seen Blade Runner, I can assure you the movie was merely inspired by, not based upon, the book. It has mostly the same premises and several of the same character names (tho "Baty" receives a delicious extra T), but BR is by necessity much narrower in scope and focuses a lot more on the androids' reduced lifespan. I have no idea where the writers got the alternate name for a bounty hunter (they don't use blades), but I'm guessing they said "replicant" instead of "android/andy" to keep it distinctive without confusing the audience.
DADOES, naturally, is a lot more Dick. It obsesses with philosophy, not letting the brief moments of action get in the way. The foreword accurately says that darkness pervades Dick's work -- indeed, it's usually hard to tell if there are any decent life options left -- but typically doesn't make the reader miserable, because there's so much wonder.
A little ways into DADOES, I heard someone mention it as an example of a book not as good as the movie that proceeded from it. I disagreed: each was good in its own right. The more I read the book, the harder it was for me to put down. It got me thinking a lot when I wasn't reading. Even the SF premises were pretty easy to accept, now that they had more time for explanation than in BR. Leagues above TPT.
By and by, I started to wonder about the Rosen Association. They're trying to make andys completely indistinguishable from humans, which causes a lot of chaos. As far as I can tell, the andys' labor purpose doesn't require them to be that way. They're not set to take over for humanity altogether; they don't reproduce. So what's the company motivation? "Because we can"? I decided to assume so and read on.
Rather late in the book, there comes a technology that would be more at home in The Matrix, X-Men, or another comic book-style SF. I really didn't see why it would be made that way, let alone how. But it was really a minor detail, tangent to the plot as a whole. There are times I think Dick wanted to start writing another book midway thru his work on one. I ignored the problem and chugged on basically unfettered.
Then I got to the last 25 of 244 pages.
Either (A) I missed a major, seemingly underplayed detail; (B) Dick did; or (C) the focal character had a major, unprecedented, and all too conveniently educational hallucination. My guess is B. I think his editor must have disregarded it because there was enough other stuff for a bestseller and they didn't want to hold off on printing any longer.
I won't go into the details of the impossible moment, but it has some connection to a so-called cult that nevertheless seems to be the only religion anyone follows. The central figure of that cult bears resemblance to the persecuted and forgiving figure of Jesus, only with a very strange sense of ethics, in that he sometimes tells people to spend their lives doing what he says is wrong. He also is supposed to be unlovable. (Interesting how lifelong adherents to this cult still exclaim "Jesus.") Sorry, dude, but I'd sooner get into the paradoxes of Bokononism from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
Then came the climax. Or rather, what in most any other 20th-century western book would be the climax. Here, Dick seemed to want it over with as quickly as possible; I guess he wasn't paid by the word. In the process, he made the andys, who were supposed to be at least as smart as their makers, suddenly half-witted. Cockiness and lack of empathy could explain other incidents, but this?
There were another 20 pages after that. With the danger gone, there was only the misery and a growing internalized role for the cult. I give credit to TPT for having a solid ending, one that clearly cuts off on a significant note to leave a hopeful but not guaranteed positive future for the characters. Here, it just felt like a music box running down. Maybe he was paid by the word after all and discovered he needed a few extra bucks.
I may yet read the last Dick book on my shelf, Now Wait for Last Year. If I do, I will brace myself for the worst.
EDIT: Good gravy, I messed that LJ cut up. Left out a crucial quotation mark. I hope everyone understood.
