The major themes which shape VALIS are religion, mental illness and Ancient Greek philosophy. The first half of the book tangles these together in a way that makes for disorienting and chaotic read. Plenty of times I could not tell whether things were going over my head or just weren't meant to make sense in the first place.

It was rough for me to get into, and I wondered if I ever would, whether it be the book itself or just my own shortcoming. When things did start falling into place though it was quite rewarding.

The narration was unique in that it was Philip K. Dick speaking as himself and in third person as his alternate personality. It added an extra element to the book of trying to sort out the autobiographical from complete nonsense at times. It doesn't feel like it was nonsense to him though, I guess just inaccessible to me. It had a real weird intimacy to it as well.