I've never been a fan of Philip Dick, but that's based on a very thin acquaintance - primarily his novel [b:The Penultimate Truth|41064|The Penultimate Truth|Philip K. Dick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1318765187s/41064.jpg|209478] (bought decades ago and wasn't bowled over by) and his collaboration with [a:Roger Zelazny|3619|Roger Zelazny|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207671346p2/3619.jpg], [b:Deus Irae|22594|Deus Irae|Philip K. Dick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1385446076s/22594.jpg|60252] (one of Zelazny's lesser works). Maybe the occasional short story here or there.

Still, Dick is one of the acclaimed geniuses of '70s SF, so I thought I should really give him more of a try. I started with this book, which, after all, won several awards. I wish I could say it deserved them.

I seldom have much trouble finishing books. Once I commit to a book, I pretty much always read it to the end. In the e-book era, I've made an exception for free e-books by unknowns - if it looks bad in the first few pages, I give up. But for most everything else, I read doggedly on.

This book required a lot of doggedness. Frankly stated, the first 75% of it is just downright bad. There are signs that it was constructed carefully, but not well. Only a mildly interesting, highly implausible, wrapup rescues it from one star status.

An afterword makes clear that for Dick this was a highly personal and slightly autobiographical novel. That's certainly interesting, but it doesn't make up for a book that's just not very well written.

If you're a fan of [a:Jack Kerouac|1742|Jack Kerouac|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1287257192p2/1742.jpg], [a:Hunter Thompson|5237|Hunter S. Thompson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1206560814p2/5237.jpg], or [a:Alfred Bester|10992|Alfred Bester|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1224111385p2/10992.jpg], this might be for you. Otherwise, I honestly have trouble understanding why the book received the praise it did. It's a close look a drug culture, with a slight tinge of science fiction and a lot of paranoia. Beyond that, there's not really much there.