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Adjustment Team

3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 · rating details · 628 ratings · 86 reviews

The Adjustment Bureau is a major motion picture based on Philip K. Dick's classic paranoid story, The Adjustment Team. This is the short story, The Adjustment Team, which asks the question - Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Ed Fletcher is a real estate agent with a normal life, until one day he leaves the house for work a few minutes later than...more

Kindle Edition, 43 pages

Published (first published 1954)

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Apr 28, 2011 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Brilliance Audio has recently put Philip K. Dick’s short story The Adjustment Team on audio and they sent me a copy. This is the story that the movie The Adjustment Bureau was based on (and the name of the audiobook is The Adjustment Bureau). The story is 57 minutes of tension and psychological terror as Ed Fletcher gets to work late and accidentally sees The Adjustment Team “adjusting” his office building and its occupants. Now, unadjusted Ed notices all...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Kat Hooper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Philip K. Dick wrote 121 short stories over his career, mostly for science fiction magazines. Subterranean Press has been collecting them in chronological order over several volumes. The first volume, The King of the Elves, contained 22 stories spanning the years 1947-1952. This second volume, Adjustment Team, covers the years 1952-1953 and includes 27 stories with notes that make up approximately 488 pages.

Many of these stories use themes that were common...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Walt Giersbach rated it 2 of 5 stars

The release Mar. 4, 2012, of The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, sent some movie-goers back to their sources to review author Philip K. Dick’s oeuvre. They should. This seminal author’s 46 books and 121 short stories have been adapted to 10 films. (Confession: I have 13 Dick books on my shelves and one e-book collection of stories.)

It wasn’t always this way, in the 1950s and ‘60s when Dick was writing for pulp science fiction magazines. Jonathan Lethem notes in the forew...more The release Mar. 4, 2012, of The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, sent some movie-goers back to their sources to review author Philip K. Dick’s oeuvre. They should. This seminal author’s 46 books and 121 short stories have been adapted to 10 films. (Confession: I have 13 Dick books on my shelves and one e-book collection of stories.)

It wasn’t always this way, in the 1950s and ‘60s when Dick was writing for pulp science fiction magazines. Jonathan Lethem notes in the foreword to The Stories of Philip K. Dick that Dick worked to gain recognition and usually failed. He also takes note of Dick’s “remarkably personal vision of paranoia and dislocation.”

Laura Miller, an editor at Salon.com, wrote, “Dick has his share of champions, ranging from rock musicians to French postmodernists. Since his best work was published as pulp science fiction, they've had their hands full just trying to win him a little credibility. Meanwhile, almost unremarked, Dick's sensibility has seeped wide and deep into contemporary life.”

Some writers rise like Roman candles stars before fading, their books relegated to flea markets. Fortunately, Dick has heirs and a literary executor maintaining his reputation, and I presume merchandising his work beyond his death in 1982. In lieu of a seeing his works reissued, there are always new and used bookstores and his official site, http://www.philipkdick.com/ to keep his work alive.

The plot of The Adjustment Bureau isn’t material here. (A man confronts the fact that he doesn’t have free will in the face of the Bureau that guides his decision-making process.) In any case, it was extensively rewritten by Screenwriter-Director George Nolfi. Key to the storyline of both book and film, however, is Dick’s existential question of what is human and real.

The other films were adaptations as well, often surpassing the original story. You’ll remember Blade Runner (based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"), Screamers (based on "Second Variety"), Total Recall (based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), Confessions d'un Barjo (French, based on "Confessions of a Crap Artist", Impostor, Minority Report, Paycheck, and A Scanner Darkly. King of the Elves is set for movie release in 2012.

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick includes “Adjustment Team” and 21 other short stories including “Paycheck” and “The Minority Report.”

Dick wrote of made-up worlds – of a farmer on Mars, a police agency that arrests criminals before they commit a crime, and an alternative history in which the Axis powers win World War II. Often, he posed those questions of what is human and what is real. This might also have been Dick’s own cri de coeur for never being recognized as a “real” literary writer.

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Jun 14, 2011 Fadzaimunyaradzi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was determined to read this after having watched the movie, 'The adjustment bureau' and feeling dissatisfied by what I perceived to be the un- and under- explored themes which, if addressed, would have made the movie riveting and challenging.

The short story was very different to what I had expected, set as it is in a long-gone era of cold war tensions and sexist/chauvinistic attitudes towards women (wait, maybe the latter hasn't changed so much after all...but that's another debate). However,...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Caroline rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Brian and Lisette

Recommended to Caroline by: Kuspa

Shelves: sci-fi-paranormal

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Wow very different from the movie (The Adjustment Bureau). I have to say, from his writing style I see why his stories work better as movies. The poor guy needed an editor. Although I did find the line at the beginning “'Don’t type any wrong words, any double-entendres.'” funny; I'm just not sure it was amusing in the way the author intended. Don't get me wrong I think he has some great ideas, and he provided a valuable contribution to the science-fiction world. I think he was on the verge of ex...more Wow very different from the movie (The Adjustment Bureau). I have to say, from his writing style I see why his stories work better as movies. The poor guy needed an editor. Although I did find the line at the beginning “'Don’t type any wrong words, any double-entendres.'” funny; I'm just not sure it was amusing in the way the author intended. Don't get me wrong I think he has some great ideas, and he provided a valuable contribution to the science-fiction world. I think he was on the verge of executing some literary devices well but for the most part his character interaction is unrealistic, his sense of proportion is misplaced, and his syntax leaves much to be desired, not to mention his attitude towards women is frankly offensive (but that's actually beside the point).

His characters: During one of the most action filled sequences Dick slows down the pacing by describing Ed's (the protagonist) selection of a table in a diner, what he and his wife order, and only then does the author move back to the issue at hand, why Ed is upset and not at work. "'Please tell me,' Ruth begged him. 'You really want to know?' 'Of course I want to know!' Ruth put her small hand anxiously on his. 'I’m your wife.'" Maybe it's just me but the whole scene rings false. Any concern for his safety or his wife's is set aside for some peach pie and story time.

Throughout the story Ruth is overly anxious. Dick's male characters also seem to sweat frequently as they often have a handkerchief to their brow or neck. It's understandable that both Ed and Ruth would think that he had suffered some type of psychotic break, but from something as simple as being late to work one day? That is a very fragile man.

The ending of the story is what sealed my opinion that Dick has no concept of human nature, at least as far as women are concerned. In the middle of a fight about where Ed had disappeared to for the rest of the day a vacuum sales man shows up, summoned by the dog. Despite tensions in the home Ruth lets him in, like a doormat, and allows him to complete a demonstration. Then as though the fight is over and since Ruth can't hold a thought in her pretty little head Ed "gazed up, a look of gratitude on his face. 'Thanks,' he said softly. 'I think we’ll make it — after all. Thanks a lot.'" It is almost as if once the vacuum salesman leaves Ruth won't question where Ed was all afternoon.

His sense of pacing and proportion is off. That's the best I can do since one moment things are rushing about and the next there is pie. The diction really doesn't help with the constant repetition.

Women: Let's just forget that women seem to be sexual props in this story and that they happen to do most of the work. The only character you actually see working in a real world capacity is the secretary, all the men are a part of the adjustment team. This one line in the story pretty much changes the entire tone of the story as far as women are concerned: “Your wife knows.” The Old Man’s face twisted angrily. “A woman. Of all the things to tell –”. Women are apparently not even human, possibly not even sentient, but they are things, possessions. The level of contempt the Old Man shows for women is almost frightening considering that he is the god character in the story that orchestrates everything.

The Bureau seems to have a more complex hierarchy than the one portrayed in the movie. It was an interesting story. I can see how it provides fodder for screen writers. I can also see why the author did not make a lot of money during his lifetime. Unfortunately great ideas do not make a book or story worthy of reading. (less)

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Mar 06, 2011 Aldrin rated it 3 of 5 stars

A synopsis or a trailer for the new film titled The Adjustment Bureau reveals that Matt Damon plays David Norris, a US Senate candidate who serendipitously meets Elise Sallas, a ballerina played by Emily Blunt, and that together, following a plot complication or two, they go on the run from men in black suits and cool fedoras. The Adjustment Bureau, neither a synopsis or a trailer is likely to say, is actually based on Adjustment Team, a short story by renowned science fiction writer Philip K. D...more A synopsis or a trailer for the new film titled The Adjustment Bureau reveals that Matt Damon plays David Norris, a US Senate candidate who serendipitously meets Elise Sallas, a ballerina played by Emily Blunt, and that together, following a plot complication or two, they go on the run from men in black suits and cool fedoras. The Adjustment Bureau, neither a synopsis or a trailer is likely to say, is actually based on Adjustment Team, a short story by renowned science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. A quite loose inspiration for The Adjustment Bureau, Dick's tale has the Matt Damon protagonist in Ed Fletcher, a real estate agent, and the Emily Blunt character in his wife Ruth, a government employee. And instead of fedora-topped men in black, the pursuers in Adjustment Team are heavy equipment-toting men in white.

Adjustment Team begins with an uninteresting remark on the day's weather ("It was bright morning. The sun shone down on the damp lawns and sidewalks, reflecting off the sparkling parked cars.") but soon manifests its tendency for the surreal, with a shady character referred to as the Clerk and a sleepy, speaking dog whose job is that of a Summoner. Apparent members of the mysterious titular group, the two wait outside the house of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Fletcher, carrying strict instructions from a higher authority to ensure that on this particular day Ed comes to his office building early. No sooner or later than 8:15 should the Summoner bark and call on a Friend With A Car to offer Ed a ride, but as one would expect from a plot introduction involving a character who is barely awake, something goes wrong: the dog falls asleep at the most precarious of times and barks a minute too late. Rather than a Friend With A Car, a Life Insurance Salesman rings the doorbell and talks with Ed for at least an hour. The Clerk and the Summoner are anxious over their mishap, while Ed is late to work.

Ed's workplace is on the third floor of a commercial building that is part of what the Adjustment Team codifiedly calls Sector T137. The sector is scheduled to be "adjusted," and it is imperative that every person and thing (or, officially, an "element") involved in the sector be present therein. Ed's tardiness caused him to arrive at the area while the adjustment, of which he was supposed to be a participant, is in progress. Every person, every thing, every element has been turned to a terrifying, strange gray. Ed, at the risk of sounding deranged, later tells Ruth, "Yeah. Strange is hardly the word for it. I poked my hands right through them. Like they were clay. Old dry clay. Dust. Dust figures."

The repetitive mention of dust (evoking a verse in Genesis), a team of "adjusters" with capitalized common nouns for names, and frequent, winking interjections of "In the name of God," "Good God," and "For God's sake," point to a thinly veiled religious allegory that runs underneath the story's sheen of science fiction. In this respect, the group of men in white who carry out the adjustment process with hoses and equipment and chase Ed when he inadvertently exposes himself a witness of the secret operation are barely disguised angels tasked to perform occasional terrestrial housekeeping at the behest of an omnipotent God-figure. Here he is called the Old Man, and he summons Ed to his "top-level Administrative chambers" for a lecture on free will, or the apparent absence thereof in the world as Ed knows it, that serves as the story's expository climax.

Dick's austere prose is a perfect counterbalance to his story's grand, just-hidden ambitions. George Nolfi, the director and screenwriter of The Adjustment Bureau, appears to have built a bigger world, a wider sector to adjust, upon Dick's short story, and in doing so dares to manage an even grander set of aspirations. If everything goes according to plan, with or without the help of stylish, otherworldly men of mystery, his adaptation should be at least as modestly thrilling as its source material.

--
Originally posted on The Polysyllabic Spree.(less)

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Apr 27, 2011 Benjamin Duffy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, fantasy-sci-fi

I'd been meaning to start reading Philip K. Dick for a long time now, at least for the twenty-plus years since I realized that Blade Runner and Total Recall were based on books by the same guy. Two decades and probably three or four more Dick film adaptations later, including the excellent A Scanner Darkly, the decent Minority Report, and the mediocre The Adjustment Bureau, and I'm finally getting started.

This story, the basis for that last film, was rather disappointing. It just felt skeletal a...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Adarsh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-to-movie

A magnificent theme.

I wonder where PKD gets his ideas from!

Adjustment Team has the makings to be an even better book that 'we can remember it for you'. But, the slightly 'less-than-awesome' climax lets it down a tiny bit.

The 'Old Man' is the almighty overseeing force. He makes subtle 'adjustments' to the Earth whenever required.

To make the adjustment, the section is de-energized and the adjustment team enters to make the necessary changes.

Due to a little clerical error, Ed Fletcher enters his of...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Eli Shayotovich rated it 2 of 5 stars

Watched the movie "The Adjustment Bureau" and discovered that it was based on this Philip K. Dick short story.

The movie was FANTASTIC (5/5 fantastic) so I had to read the story it was based on. Um, it's absolutely NOTHING like the movie. In fact, it's a pretty poor read. Huge kudos to the screenwriter/director, George Nolfi (of the The Bourne Ultimatum) who turned the premise of Dick's story into something truly spectacular.

Dick's story, which was first published in the Sept-Oct 1954 issue of...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Dale rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The original short story that the movie is loosely based on.

Length: 58 minutes (1 CD)
Read by Phil Gigante

Originally written in 1954 and titled The Adjustment Team , this audiobook was renamed so that it can be tied in with the movie that is very loosely based on this short story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick.

The one hour length and subject matter put me in mind of an episode of the Twilight Zone - one of the really good ones where we find out the world does not work quite the w...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Tressa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy, science-fiction

I liked The Adjustment Bureau. It was an interesting short story that could be interpreted in, at least, two different ways. I'm not exactly certain how to categorize the genre of the story.

The narrator, Phil Gigante, did a marvelous job with the interpretation of the characters. He injected a lot of emotion and different tones. I think he enhanced the story.

In case anyone thought that the film version of The Adjustment Bureau is anything like the actual short story, you will be disappointed. Th...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I watched the movie Adjustment Bureau and noticed at the end of the movie that it was based losely on the book, so I decided to read it. I didn't realize it was just a short story, like 18 pages or something like that. It was ok, but I thought the movie was way better. I guess maybe I was expecting more and shouldn't have. I also bought this book and now wish I had tried to rent it instead, but still, I guess whatever. It's not terrible, but not fantastic. It's a lend me book on my Nook, so I gu...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Brendan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, audio, fantasy, fiction, philosophy-religion

As a story, The Adjustment Bureau has lots of great little moments. We follow poor Ed Fisher, who gets a peek behind the curtain when a clerical error makes him late for work on the day of an "adjustment." The story revels in the paranoia we've all felt at times when we wonder if the modern world is more orchestrated than we realize, and it ponders what a god who could govern all reality might be like. Other movies it reminded me of:

-The Matrix: the moment when Trinity reveals that Neo's deja v...more

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Aug 03, 2011 James Korsmo added it · review of another edition

This is a great story, and the recording is well done (listened to this story as an audio book, in case that's not already obvious). In this one-hour short story, Philip Dick builds a great little tale investigating the very fabric of reality. Ed and his wife Ruth are normal, everyday people with normal, everyday jobs. But one morning, Ed shows up late to work. And it turns out to be the day that his work segment is being "adjusted." So he stumbles unaware into a piece of reality that is deactiv...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Bryan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fun

I don't see have they can credit Philip K Dick as a writer for the movie that is based off this book. Basically the title(maybe) and a concept that a group is "adjusting" your fate. None of the characters are the same and the plot is completely different. The basic concept of the storyline does inspire some thought and reflection, which is a good thing. I like books that make me think even after I am done reading them. I may have like this better if I hadn't seen the movie first.

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May 15, 2012 Abe Something rated it 2 of 5 stars

Well, if you like P.K.D., then you may like this short story. I tend to think he isn't a very good writer. His concepts often far outshine his execution. The dialogue is a bit wooden. But if you're looking for multiple descriptions of women pulling on their jeans, their breasts heaving as they breathe, pulling cotton shirts over those breasts, and how slim their waists are - you've come to the right place. 2 stars for the concept.

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Feb 21, 2013 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sort of interesting novella listened via audiobook. Was this story interesting - the plot outline was better than the story. It definitely had a 1950s flavor to it. If you need a book about an adjustment bureau - that was really unclear even after an explanation, exactly what they were doing and need a workout book to pass the time - then the length would be ideal. Otherwise, television program might be more interesting.

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Jul 04, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

After seeing the Adjustment Bureau movie, I read this to see how it differed from the original material and found that they shared a basic concept a little else. The short story had the creepier feel of a Twilight Zone episode and was an interesting little story, while the movie did a very good job of modernizing the story and fleshing out the theme of free will v. predestination, before closing with a corny ending.

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Mar 11, 2011 Romana rated it 2 of 5 stars

What the screen writers did to this short story is short of amazing. They extracted the concept and turned into a shmalzy love story. The short story, however, has the main character encounter extraordinary events, but ultimately, he is unchanged. This was my first encounter with Philip K Dick's work (aside from having seen Blade Runner a gazillion times); I'm a little disappointed, but encouraged by the sheer number of books he wrote. Still, it was enjoyable.

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Mar 14, 2011 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Adjustment Team was the first Philip K. Dick story I read. I went through this quick story in preparation for the movie. The setting and characterization was sparse, but I gather that's the norm for a Philip K. Dick short story. I couldn't help thinking of scenes in Dark City when I read about the adjustment hours. I probably would have liked this story better if I hadn't known what it was about.

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Jun 29, 2012 Bill Bradford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Very interesting. After seeing the movie, I expected something philosophical along the lines of free will vs. predestination. It is more of a psychological story, and although it does not present an orthodox picture of God (at least from a Christian standpoint) it does present a very traditional picture of sovereignty. I especially like the dog.

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Mar 17, 2011 Theresa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

It was interesting to read the story after seeing the movie based on the story. I think the movies a much more flushed-out version of the story and there are some issues with this story. Over all I liked it and thought it was interesting the way the life insurance salesman and the vacuum cleaner salesmen were used to affect the plot.

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Jan 09, 2013 Catalina rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great short story. I read this after watching the movie, and while there are obvious similarities. The short storie's characters are compltely different. I like the overlying theme that with one different choice you could change the path not only your life but thousands of other people affected by your decisions.

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Mar 09, 2012 Jordan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Good short story...I found a website that I bookmarked on my phone that I can go and read it whenever I want. It was a really amazing and really fascinating concept, actually. That's what kept me interested. I would recommend it. I would also recommend the movie, the Adjustment Team, which is actually my favorite movie!!!!

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Nov 14, 2012 Mιss •kαthєяίиє• Τhε Emεrαℓd Pяίиcεss® rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: distopian, paranormal-books

Oh, wow! Even though it was really small as a book, it was so graphic. I had seen the movie and I wanted to read the book to form a better opinion and I didn't get the chance to read it sooner. Still, it was very very good. I wish that there could be a bigger story in which "Adjustment Team" would be a part....

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Aug 31, 2011 Brian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

After seeing The Adjustment Bureau, I decided to read the short story that inspired it. The romance in the movie is absent from the story. This is one of Dick's lesser works and is accompanied by a couple other stories. The other stories are also fair. One of the good things about Dick's fiction is not knowing what's going to happen next. I figured out the outcome of these stories long before the end.

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Sep 16, 2012 The Casual Librarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: eclectic-reader-challenge-2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 14, 2011 Perri rated it 2 of 5 stars

I decided to read the story after seeing the movie (which I really liked) to see how much difference there is between the two. In many ways I found the story less satisfying than the movie but It was interesting to see where the kernel of the idea for the movie came from

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Mar 24, 2011 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great find!! Everytime a movie comes out that was from I book I HAVE to read the book before I see the movie. I saw this for free on Kindle and picked it up. It was original and engrossing. I love the 50's mystery genre and this did not disappoint.

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Jan 07, 2013 Tim Petersik rated it 3 of 5 stars

More a short story than novel, "The Adjustment Team" was the inspiration for the movie, "The Adjustment Bureau." Except for a couple of key scenes, don't expect the story to parallel the movie too much. Worth reading. Should take you less than an hour.

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About Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more

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