This one took a while, mainly because it was quite a strange and complex novel. It tells the story of Horselover Fat and his search for the truth behind visions he has, and a meaning to life, told by Phil, who we later find out is just another personality of Horselover, that they are the same person (perhaps Schizophrenic?)

He starts on a search for God aided by some friends after his friend Gloria kills herself. He has a vision from a pink light of a world where the Roman Empire still exists, and thinks that this is the basis of his search. Him and his friends discover a film which tells the story of VALIS (which stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) and ties into a lot of the visions and theories that Horselover has been having, so they go to visit the film maker, who believes that his daughter is the messiah or saviour. She is killed in a freak laser accident, and the main characters of the book lose faith in VALIS - causing Horselover to go off on his own quest all over the world to find the next incarnation.

My brief synopsis probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, although to be honest, this book is a little confusing... whether this is supposed to be a science fiction novel about VALIS and where the Christian ideas of religion originated, with some themes of alternate reality and time travel, or Phillip K. Dick's own personal account of some sort of nervous breakdown or schizophrenic episode (I don't know enough about Schizophrenia or Phillip K Dick to know if this is the case?) or an analogy about Christianity, religion and theology as a whole, or maybe all 3, or maybe none of the above... well I just don't know, but this book raised some interesting questions and didn't answer many...

It has made me want to read more on the subject, and the other two books he has written in this set. I have read "Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep" and this was a very different style of book. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the sort of Sci-fi fiction novel I was expecting. It was all over the place - but I liked the way in which the narrator was sometimes Horselover, sometimes Phil, there was some humour between the characters, and the ideas were, whilst in some cases outlandish and weird, altogether very interesting, and as I have said, left me wanting to read more.

Of course, this book has all the things I love in a novel, conspiracy theories, time travel, theological themes, big ideas, good characters, but it was weird and a little disturbing as well, so whilst I like it, I would not necessarily recommend it to everyone... I have also been told since starting it, that I should have read more of his work before reading this one... but it hasn't put me off.

Much different than a lot of the classic PKD in that it's more grounded in our own reality, less sci-fi - but still explores a lot of very interesting philosophical and religious topics.

Actual 3.5. This was weirdly awesome.

Whey

What a head trip! Writing from the perspective of “Phil” who is friends with “Horselover Fat” (though they are the same being), Dick takes us on a wild journey involving extra-dimensional time traveling demi-deities, symbology, suspicious television commercials, and a Northern California cult. I recommend this to anyone who is curious about the dawn of humanity, extraterrestrial influence, the dogon tribe, multiple personality condition, the power of belief, and the matrix. Yay, it’s a trilogy! On to the next one I go!

What the fuck (hell yeah)