So far, this is my favorite of the three PKD books that I've read. The others (UBIK and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) were more conventional sci-fi, with a scattershot approach to both world-building and plot that left me feeling that both were a bit underbaked. VALIS skews more autobiographical, and feels a lot less preoccupied with a central narrative. Therefore, PKD can get away with a little more crazy abstraction than I usually 'let him' get away with. The book deals with an experience of PKD's where his personality was apparently bisected, and only a mysterious case of divine intervention makes him whole again. It's a strange read. The plot itself is not wholly satisfying. But along the way PKD's observations about himself, the world, and theology are valuable, and there's not too many dull moments. In the end there really isn't much of a moral to it all, either - we don't get resolution on the existence, if any, of VALIS' supernatural elements. It's really a book about the author's mind being dynamited, and then forcibly put back together by the aforementioned. That might sound boring to some, and to be sure there are some of the typical issues I have with PKD's work - particularly his use of women as mere plot devices a lot of the time, but it's an engaging read. I have a lot of issues with PKD and I'm really not sure what I think about him, but I can concede that if nothing else, the act of reading his books is something I find enjoyable.