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A review by stevedavejordan
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
3.0
Pretty good--though Dick's best form will always be short stories.
This books puts you in the minds of drug addicts, which means paranoia, scattered and recursive thinking, and no meaningful friendships.
A drug addict is usually pretty boring IMHO, but the classic Dick "what is real here?" questions keep things interesting.
To wit, from the main character:
“Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well. A portion of him turns against him and acts like another person, defeating him from inside. A man inside a man. Which is no man at all.”
Which is a good summary Dick's major concern: we might get a fragment of the truth, but that fragment might be a lie or a delusion as well. So how do we really know anything?
This books puts you in the minds of drug addicts, which means paranoia, scattered and recursive thinking, and no meaningful friendships.
A drug addict is usually pretty boring IMHO, but the classic Dick "what is real here?" questions keep things interesting.
To wit, from the main character:
“Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well. A portion of him turns against him and acts like another person, defeating him from inside. A man inside a man. Which is no man at all.”
Which is a good summary Dick's major concern: we might get a fragment of the truth, but that fragment might be a lie or a delusion as well. So how do we really know anything?