Ubik by Philip K. Dick
Ubik
Synopsis:
Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in “half-life,” a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter’s face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.
Review:
Ubik was my book club book for this month and my first time reading Philip K. Dick. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it. Most people in book club thought that this was not his best work so I will have to check out more in the future.
I started reading Ubik late one night. I was tired and probably should have just went to bed, but I wasn't quite ready. I thought I will just read a chapter or two and then go to sleep. Well that lasted a few pages and I gave up. I told my husband I am either really tired or this is just nonsense. I think it was a little but of both. At first it was confusing what was even happening, but I quickly got with the program and started enjoying it. Well no, that is not completely true. The first part, before the big explosion, I was just kind of eh on. It was alright, but it was just alright.
After the explosion, when everything started to go backwards in time, then I really started enjoying the story. I loved how you could see everything reverting back to an older model and such. It was a lot of fun to read and really not like much else I have ever read. It also made you question a lot, what is really going on, are they dead or alive, how is this all going to work out. It was an interesting concept with the half-life and talking to the dead, but only for a set amount of time you could speak with them. Don't want to use up all your time at once. Not that I think I would really want to be in this half-life state, but an interesting idea none the less. It is all very entertaining, but also made me think. Watching all of the characters and what was happening and trying to figure it out was just a lot of fun.
The you get to the end and you are just like alright, perfect, this makes sense and you are happy. Till you read the last chapter and it just calls everything into question again. What is really going on? That is part of the fun I think. Not really knowing and trying to figure it out for yourself. How do you know if you are alive or dead? How does anyone? It was just an interesting read and I will have to give more of the authors works a try.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
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