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A review by derhindemith
VALIS by Philip K. Dick
5.0
I'm just going to keep reading this book. I thought I understood it the first time, but like the movie in the book, there are a lot of details that completely go by you, or at least are only perceived sub-consciously.
As I remarked to the last person I recommended the book to, it certainly helps if you've read other novels by dick before, because this touches on so many themes that are so important to him as an author.
It's kind of like King Lear, you really need, as an author, to have a lifetime's experience to draw upon in order to write a book like this. It's not only mature, it's careful, and it fucks with your head—both as a reader and as an author. Writers writing themselves into their novels isn't a new thing (admittedly, Dick did a lot of things really well, far before they became mainstays of the genre), but what sets this book apart is that he tells you from the very beginning everything that he's doing, and then proceeds to ignore what he's told you and tells you a story.
If I had to summarize the story, it would be this:
The following sentence is true.
The previous sentence is a lie.
As I remarked to the last person I recommended the book to, it certainly helps if you've read other novels by dick before, because this touches on so many themes that are so important to him as an author.
It's kind of like King Lear, you really need, as an author, to have a lifetime's experience to draw upon in order to write a book like this. It's not only mature, it's careful, and it fucks with your head—both as a reader and as an author. Writers writing themselves into their novels isn't a new thing (admittedly, Dick did a lot of things really well, far before they became mainstays of the genre), but what sets this book apart is that he tells you from the very beginning everything that he's doing, and then proceeds to ignore what he's told you and tells you a story.
If I had to summarize the story, it would be this:
The following sentence is true.
The previous sentence is a lie.