Review Detail
Ubik - Philip K Dick
| Review Score: | 80 |
Ah, P K Dick. I have a soft spot for the guy. Something about him was so tragic; perhaps the crippling depression, or the nervous breakdown. He was something of a troubled genius, in the most classic sense.
His books had both a sort of innocence and a profoundly deep quality to them. He was an ideas man, but he could be terrible at setting the scene - in that sense he wrote almost like a child.
Ubik is no different. In fact, that innocence is more apparent in this one than any of the others I've read. It seems that everything must be described as wildly different, even clothing. He'll take time out to describe how someone's pyjamas were 'multicoloured, and the sci fi staple, 'meal in a pill'. Frankly, it prevents you from ever really believing his vision.
However, you don't read Dick for the elegence of his writing. You read him because of his plots, and the subtexts they inevitably contain. Ubik takes the idea of life, and what really defines it; it's a twisted tale that never really allows you to guess what will happen.
The novel follows a group of 'inertials' - people who are able to cancel out other people's psychic powers - through a strange journey, where the world is regressing through time... and here, in the synopsis, I hit a problem.
You cannot say anything of use about this book without revealing a critical part of the plot. Nothing is redundant, and so is valuable information that reader learns at the right time. Nothing can be said about it without reducing the readers enjoyment.
But it does take a long time to get going. He takes an age to try and set up the situation, without really rewarding you. All the while, he keeps throwing childish visions of the future into his descriptions that prevent you from really connecting.
It's worth sticking with it, though. This really isn't his best book, but as ever, it does make you think. Dick's books always show you something profound - but in this one you just have to wait a little longer, dig a little deeper, a forgive his style a little more.