Dick is one of the authors I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and yet, never got to. This novel, probably his most famous, is not what I expected, at the same time familiar and utterly alienating!
Let me explain. Blade Runner, which I saw in the 80s at a very young age, is a brilliant film that uses several elements of the book. Dick’s story, although having the same ingredients, creates a deeply psychological and philosophical narrative that focuses on the nature of humanity, evaluating not just androids, but humans too. The result is deeply thought-provoking, unsettling, and bleak (a different bleak to the stylised one of the movie). It is insidious too, making you question everything over and over. Even with a few weaknesses, such as a couple of plot threads leading nowhere, I can see how this became a ‘classic’.