Phew. Sad, uncomfortable, philosophical, radiating love and heartbreak, especially towards the end. Paul Giamatti's voice is great for audiobooks and especially for this one - he has a gently gravelly tone that lends kind of a noir feel to the narration.

There's so much to say about this book that you could talk for hours and still just be skimming the surface.

If you're a Philip K. Dick fan then you won't be disappointed. The whole dystopian depiction of drugs, society, class, surveillance, psychology and manipulation rings even truer now than when it was published in 1977. How does one writer get it so right, so many times?!

Plus, it is genuinely devastating and horrifying, especially as you progress through the book.

Anyone looking to get a start with the author can't go wrong here (along with "Do Androids Dream..." and "The Penultimate Truth").

;_;

An undercover cop’s identity falls apart, as he collapses into the world of a psychotic drug called Substance D. This book will make you feel like you’re the one on drugs. It is cerebral, confusing and like a (well-written) bad trip. And none of those are criticisms. I enjoyed every minute of feeling like my own brain was the one coming apart, and it was with a great feeling of relief that I finished the book and returned to the (relatively) sane real world--a good sign of an absorbing and excellent book as far as I’m concerned.

About a 2.5/5

You can see the drug influences on PKD reading A scanner Darkly.

The story follows Bob Arctor whose brain is split in two from drug use of the illegal substance D, one side is a drug user and the other a cop assigned to taking his other side down. As usual with PKD we see unique ideas that you've never really seen before, however the plot here is a bit confusing yet fascinating at the same time.

The book mostly gets caught up in drug use and the drug users sitting around coming up with ideas only someone high would find interesting as well as it focuses on the paranoia experience. I guess if you want to know what it is like to be in a room full of people that are constantly high, this is a good book for you. But for me it droned on quite a bit and while it was amusing at times it could become quite boring at times as well.

The ending of the book itself was also interesting, but I can't say much without ruining it. As is normal with PKD, it is well written and explores interesting ideas but I wouldn't say this is close to his best work.

I love Philip K Dick; when I discovered his work maybe 10-15 years ago it felt like someone had finally written works centred around the obsessions and weirdnesses I thought where mine alone to bear. For some reason I skipped this book, maybe I thought seeing the movie was enough.

I ended up reading this for a friends-at-work book club, and it made me incredibly sad. Other Dick books (including and especially VALIS) have a science fiction or gonzo veneer that allows you to suspend your disbelief and imagine the content drifting back to earth, to you, but this book is barely science fiction. In many ways the science fiction aspects are there just to simplify some of the procedurals.

Basic premise: The story of a a circle of friends all caught up in abusive drug cycles, and the protagonist is a double agent trying to find the source of the guaranteed fatal and addictive drug Substance-D. Things get ambiguous.

I've noticed this is a book that people I know really hate or love. The ones that hate it often find it alien or too real; the ones that love it definitely recall very real moments in their lives or their friends' lives. It also helps I think if you understand the disorientation that Dick portrays so well, either via depression/paranoia (as I do) or via other forms. One thing I do think it does a reasonable job of doing is laying out. for those with empathy, and empathy for the characters, an understanding that they aren't just to be sneered at or pitied. They all have their own reasons for being in this situation. They are generally all three dimensional, with goodnesses and loves and weaknesses inside their flawed comic incompetencies.
Reading this book with people who feel chills of alienation at this book, this book has been a surprisingly good way of getting people to realize that avenue for empathy, even if this book possibly turns them off other Dick works because they decide the distancing of science fiction settings would not clear or darken the clarity of the author-characteristic themes that Dick lays down so nakedly here.

In may ways I feel this is the wrong Dick book to start with if people want to be gently coaxed into Philip K. Dick works. It's not very exciting, it doesn't have an exotic setting, or some of the craziness one can be entertained by. Conversely though, this and Valis to me feel like Dick's most important works when it comes to understanding a large segment of ourselves, as people suck in this actual reality.

Unfortunately, I saw the movie before reading the book, so there were no real surprises for me. PKD has such a unique writing style and it's so half-hazard that the English student in me was cringing a little reading this. However, once you settle into his style, his story-telling abilities compensate for all that.

And I love how wonderfully he captures the nonsensical dialogue of drugged-out druggies. Also, I don't think the theories in this book are that far out (I don't want to spoil this by going on about them here). If you are at all distrustful of the American government's role in the War on Drugs this book should provide you with some interesting philosophical "what if's".

I liked a lot of the concepts in this book, but overall I found it a struggle to read. Dick's writing is quite confusing and the because of this the plot was hard to follow at times. I enjoyed parts of it but as the book went on I found myself getting bored and just wanted it to end. Shame, as I feel it has the potential to be brilliant if he didn't ramble quite so much.