Reviews

VALIS by Philip K. Dick

yosemite_spins's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a crazy, sad, and completely transportation novel. The narrative is clever and quick (And sometimes completely above my head), but the real message is that everything about our witty narrator is falling apart. Not like any other "Fantasy/Sci-Fi" I have ever read.

spawnofpuremalevolence's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was such a hard read for me. I had people recommending to put it down, to go read something else, but I'm glad that I pushed through because eventually everything started making sense. While I still struggled with a lot of the more technical terms, and I was constantly rereading passages to make sure I understood them, I was finally able to get through when it was explained that PKD = Horselover Fat, and that Fat was really in his own mind after all.

_tourist's review against another edition

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both warm and frightening, this text walks a tightrope. the nature and extent of pkd's psychoses are hard to fathom from his novels alone. layers of distancing and framing abound. i can only imagine what his exegesis contains, and have no way to gauge the man himself. but a blurry image is beginning to form from an increasingly wider reading of his fiction.

[0] in pkd's characters, i find both comfort and danger. focussing on the friends of the main characters in VALIS, you find the redeeming feature of the world portrayed. in fact it was their existence, however flawed, that allowed me to persist in reading.

tittypete's review against another edition

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2.0

Babbly shit about god and reality. Evidently God is a laser that shoots information into people's heads and teaches them about their kid's undiagnosed medical problems. Then someone else's kid is God or Saint Sophia. And all of this would make sense if we all read some old scrolls found in some jars in Egypt. Also Buddha. And the Dogon people's fish symbol. Whatever.

carolineroche's review against another edition

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1.0

I rarely abandon books and never have abandoned a classic sci-fi before, a genre I love - but this will remain unfinished and donated to Oxfam I’m afraid. Far too mystical for this small brain!

cybeleflame's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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duurdrag's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

5.0

jimbus's review against another edition

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4.0

Woulda got 5 stars but my lack of theological knowledge stymied my enjoyment. Do, however, enjoy it when a novel sends me off wanting to learn more.

chamomiledaydreams's review against another edition

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4.0

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I do. It reminds me of the song "The Mind Electric," completely chaotic and bizarre, but also oddly compelling. I'm not sure I understand everything in the story (or ever will), but it's definitely something I want to keep thinking about.

anotherpath's review against another edition

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5.0

PKD wrote a much smarter version of Cosmic Trigger than Robert Anton Wilson. To see the creation of the Universe through another person's eyes is always refreshing.

When he has Fat write an Exegesis on the creation of the Universe, I find myself highlighting passage after passage (just to find the document in it's entirety at the end!). The ideas are gnostic, if taken a little to literally in some ways.

I'm excited to read the next two in the trilogy.

Recommended to anyone who needs a journey through Creation. Bit dark at times.