What I always find myself thinking while reading Philip K. Dick is how he makes it seems so easy. Even his first novel, purportedly, does it. All you have to do is read a few pages and the characters come alive. I have found this true of all of his novels. Bolano said that even when Philip Dick was bad he was good. And it’s true. He can have a so-so or even a bad premise (Counter-Clock World comes to mind) and yet the characters are still a draw. He can’t go wrong with his characters, seemingly, and that’s why his novels are never a chore. As I work my way through his complete works I do not neglect the realist novels. Apparently, he wrote them for therapy and I think a lot of his personality comes through. As in Mary and the Giant, there is usually an appearance of some formative music record that Dick probably put on his own turntable at one point. Whenever I finish a Dick novel, I am all the more convinced that he will be my favorite novelist. He may not be the best novelist of all time but he is one of my favorites.
This is not the best starting point for anyone new to PKD, but it feels like discovering a manuscript by a great author that was never meant to see the light of day.
You only get hints of his usual themes: isolation, paranoia, ennui, etc. The resolution, conflict, and action seem somehow forced. But the intimacy with which he manages to put these characters' minds on the page is addictive. Anyone who truly appreciates this author's style will want to add this to their list. ( )

MAN, what a BORING book! Nothing happens in this book -- at all. The plot centers around three employees of a large corporation that has a big plant in China that is pulling out for some strange political reason. These employees are seemingly left behind at random to keep watch over company property until it is given over to the Chinese, otherwise known as "yuks" for some bizarre reason. The book takes place during this wait and is accompanied by several flashbacks of earlier times in the US. And as I said, nothing happens. They explore the grounds of the plant. Wow. They uncover the food stash in the cafeteria. Wow. It's hot. Wow. Let's unpack. Wow. It's freaking stupid!!!

The is the last "mainstream" PKD novel I've attempted to read and they've all been unreadable. I got to page 162 in this one before giving up. It was horrible. It's no wonder his mainstream novels generally weren't published while he was alive -- they sucked! As great a sci fi writer as he was, he couldn't write better than a 10th grader for literary, mainstream works. Simply a horrible writer. I'm glad he stuck to sci fi, cause he was a genius there. I have learned my lesson. I will never again open another mainstream PKD novel. Definitely not recommended. ( )