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Time Out of Joint

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 3,594 ratings · 169 reviews

This is a fast moving excursion into a fantasy world of the future. Ragle Gumm, 46, lived with his sister Margo & his brother-in-law Vincent & earned his living by consistently winning a daily newspaper contest labeled Where Will the Little Green Man Be Next? Ragle has moments when his world, recognizably 1959, disappears; he is left alone, seemingly thrust through...more

Paperback, 187 pages

Published October 1969 by Penguin Books Limited (first published 1959)

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Mar 11, 2009 A.K. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: slipstream-n-spec, i-me-mind

Phil Dick writing about the fifties is just as good as Phil Dick writing about the sixties, seventies, eighties, etc. The novel starts up more or less in the mainstream (as opposed to SCI FUCKIN FI)
with an occasional whisper of an occasional frisson of some deep wrongness. Curiouser and curiouser, and now the floor drops out. I love how these total squares suss out the fishiness licketysplit then fixate on it like a wholesome yet crazily engrossing family game of mini-golf. With the same pitch...more

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Sep 16, 2008 Xio rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction, booksfrommy30s

"We can put everything we know together, he realised, but it doesn't tell us anything, except that something is wrong. And we knew that to start with. The clues we are getting don't give us a solution; they only show us how far-reaching the wrongness is."

A neat and welcome dose of paranoia, philosophy, psychology mixed with a nifty little back up story.

You may be reminded of The Truman Show if you read this, but I'm not sticking my toe in that pond (not here, at least. Maybe over at IMDB).

Quic...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philipkdick

I love reading Philip K. Dick, and kind of devoured him during my high school days. And Dick always made me read other things. If I hadn't of read Dick, I wouldn't have discovered who Nathanial West was, and that would have been a shame. After recently reading so many big thick works, with Infinite Jest right behind me, I thought I would dive into a quick Dick read. Although the Hamlet reference is not as overt as that book, don't let that stop you from reading this minor classic in Dick's ouver...more

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Jul 29, 2008 Eddie Watkins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There's a soft spot in my brain for this early novel by P K Dick, probably his first full treatment of ersatz reality paranoia and the mental instability capable of seeing it for what it is. It reminds me of the movie The Truman Show (which I enjoyed) but is 6 to 8 times more involving and interesting.

One great thing about the book is the lovingly detailed 1950's middle class neighborhood setting (less all the counterculture drugginess of his later books). I don't mind drugs or drugginess, but t...more

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Jun 05, 2013 Vanessa Wolf rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review of the Audio Edition

Jeff Cummings does a fine job with this book, his voice is flexible enough to give a real identity to each character who speaks. And it's always amusing to hear him do a woman's voice, its always just distinctly a dude doing a chick's voice, but in a way that is reasonably feminine without it becoming a bawdy caricature. Though, to an extent, all his women do sound the same. The male voices are a real treat, each sounding reasonably different to both the narration and...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Williwaw rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not one of Dick's best works, but it nevertheless touches on a theme that he is famous for: namely, the possibility that "reality" is only a veneer which, when stripped away, will reveal something unexpected. Often, as in this book, characters pick up clues in interesting ways. Here, it's some old telephone books dug up from the "ruins" of an aborted, local housing development, where kids like to play; also some secret radio broadcasts that a boy picks up on a toy "crystal set" radio.

The...more

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May 29, 2013 Scott Holstad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I thoroughly enjoyed Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint. I tell ya, he rarely disappoints. In this novel, he's his paranoid self, delving into alternate realities, but the beauty of this book is that it feels more "innocent," I guess -- much less like his later drug crazed paranoid freak show novels (which I still enjoy). This book was written in 1958, published in 1959, and I think it shows a fresher Dick at work, one who hasn't been addled by psychosis as in the '70s and later.

The story revolv...more I thoroughly enjoyed Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint. I tell ya, he rarely disappoints. In this novel, he's his paranoid self, delving into alternate realities, but the beauty of this book is that it feels more "innocent," I guess -- much less like his later drug crazed paranoid freak show novels (which I still enjoy). This book was written in 1958, published in 1959, and I think it shows a fresher Dick at work, one who hasn't been addled by psychosis as in the '70s and later.

The story revolves around Ragle Gumm (odd name, eh?), who lives with his sister and brother-in-law in a small 1950s town. He makes his living solving difficult newspaper puzzles, for which he is paid, and because of which he has become famous. He has won every puzzle, every day for years. So, the tension to keep on winning is getting to him.

Everything seems reasonably normal until we get a hint of "differentness" while the family is playing cards with their neighbors, the Blacks. Vic, Ragle's brother-in-law, goes in the bathroom and tries to pull the string to turn on the light, panicking when he can't find it, flailing around. He soon realizes there's a light switch on the wall, but KNOWS there was a string, even though no one else can relate. Ragle, too, starts experiencing odd goings on, with things disappearing only to be replaced with pieces of paper with words on them describing what they just replaced, like a soda stand. There aren't any radios in town -- just TVs -- but when Vic's boy constructs a radio using a crystal, they overhear people talking about Ragle and the plot gets crazy.

Ragle starts to realize all is not what it seems, especially so when he tries to leave town, only to get hunted down and returned to his house with his memory largely wiped. Late in the book, he and Vic compare notes and realize something is very wrong, so they try and make a run for it, using a stolen 18 wheeler. They get out, find another town, and find out they're actually in 1998. 1959 is a farce. They're living in a make believe world. And it all centers on Ragle and his puzzles, the importance of which we discover toward the end of the book.

The end of the book, like so many of Dick's novels, seems a little rushed, a little too tidied up without the careful thought that went into the writing of the entire novel. Nonetheless, it's unique and interesting, and it left me wondering why it had taken me so long to discover this entertaining novel. Many reviewers compare this book to The Truman Show film, and I can certainly see why. I don't want to spoil the ending, but suffice it to say, the paranoia is valid, the alternate reality almost believable, and Dick was truly a visionary. Authors today can't compete with what he was churning out 50 years ago. This is a short novel, at only 256 pages, and it took me less than a day to rip through it. I couldn't put it down, even with a somewhat slow opening to the book. I heartily recommend this to, not only Dick fans, but to anyone who likes speculative fiction, as there's not really too much pure "sci fi" in this book -- anyone can enjoy it. Pick it up; you won't be disappointed.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, books-from-1959, sci-fi

When I was a reckless, drug-taking hippie, I must have been hanging out with the wrong people. How else can I explain that I never heard of Philip K Dick just when I needed him the most?

I have only recently begun to read his heady concoction of science fiction mixed with a sort of Zen spirituality. The message in this somewhat disjointed novel is that one can only life safely in the science fictional universe called "reality" if one is half asleep and gullible as hell.

Ragle Gumm is not quite in...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Kaan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kütüphanem

"Ragle kurtulması gerektiğini biliyordu. Ama... bindiği taksi şehrin sınırlarını geçemiyordu... her nasılsa otobüs bileti kuyruğu hiç azalmıyordu... ve aslında o otobüs gerçekten var mıydı?

Umutsuz bir hareketle kasabadan ayrılmıştı ve yabancı bir eve sığınmıştı. Belki burada bir anda muazzam bir entrikanın öznesi haline gelmiş olduğu yanılsamasını alt edebilirdi...

Sonra televizyonu açtı. Bir eğitim filmi vardı. Kendisinin nasıl teşhis edileceği hakkındaydı..."

Philip K. Dick okunmaya değer bir ad...more "Ragle kurtulması gerektiğini biliyordu. Ama... bindiği taksi şehrin sınırlarını geçemiyordu... her nasılsa otobüs bileti kuyruğu hiç azalmıyordu... ve aslında o otobüs gerçekten var mıydı?

Umutsuz bir hareketle kasabadan ayrılmıştı ve yabancı bir eve sığınmıştı. Belki burada bir anda muazzam bir entrikanın öznesi haline gelmiş olduğu yanılsamasını alt edebilirdi...

Sonra televizyonu açtı. Bir eğitim filmi vardı. Kendisinin nasıl teşhis edileceği hakkındaydı..."

Philip K. Dick okunmaya değer bir adam gerçekten de. Şu şekilde bir kitaba giriş yapıyorsanız, gerçekten de iyisinizdir. Askerdeyken okuduğum bu kitabı gerçekten de ilgiye değer. Kitap, paranoyanın ve entrikanın bilimkurguya yedirilmesiyle oluşmuş güzel bir eser. Başından beri uyandırdığı merak unsurunu kitabın sonuna kadar taşıyan ve dahası bağladığı yerle de belli bir oranda tatmin sağlayan bir konuya sahip.

"Küçük-Yeşil-Adam bir sonraki adımda nerede olacak?" adlı gazete yarışmasının tartışmasız gelmiş geçmiş en iyi oyuncusu Ragle Gumm'ın bir gün kazandığı paralara rağmen oyundan çıkmak istemesiyle gelişen olayları anlatıyor. Bir şekilde başka bir geçim kaynağı olmayan, kız kardeşi ve kayınbiraderiyle yaşayan, tüm enerjisi bu oyuna yönlendirilmiş ünlü Ragle Gumm önce hafiften, sonra şiddetle tekrar oyunun içine çekilmeye çalışıyor. "Küçük Yeşil Adam bir sonraki adımda nerede olacak?" yarışması bir tahmin ve öngörü yarışması ve anlaşılan birilerine göre Ragle Gumm bu oyunun içinde kalmak zorunda! 1950'lilerin Amerikası hakkında gündelik tespitlerini de romanının içine yediren Philip K. Dick her kitabında olduğu gibi favori temalarından "gerçeklik sorgulaması" ve "zaman algısını" bu kitapta da işliyor. Ragle kaçma ve neden bu kadar önemli olduğunu bulma çabasında. Peşindeki her kimse o da, onu bırakmama ve elinde tutma çabasında. Olayın sonunda ise "evet, bunun ipuçları vardı" diyeceğiniz satırları yakalamanız gerek.

Tabi Ragle'ın dünyası farklı bir 50'ler Amerikası. Gördüğü bir posterdeki Marlyn Monroe'nun ünsüz olduğu, radyoların olmadığı sadece televizyonların tek kanal olarak varlığını sürdürdüğü, sert içkilerin satılmadığı bir Amerika. Paranoya, gerçek, şizofreni ve halüsinasyon seçenekleri kitabın sonuna kadar aklınızda yer ediyor. Okuduğum bir makalede "Küçük Yeşil Adam bir sonraki adımda nerede olacak?" yarışmasının isminin bilimkurgu yazarları için bir metafor olduğu iddiası vardı. Hulk'un patladığı yıllar olduğunu düşünürsek, gayet mantıklı da. Sadece bilimkurgu yazarı o zamanlar küçüktü. Hulk kadar büyük olmamışlardı. Onun garipliğinde, ondan küçüktüler.

Kitap ilk çıktığında bilimkurgu raflarında yerini almamış, bunun yerine yayıncı ucuz edebiyat rafında yayınlamış. Fazla da satmamış. PKD bu roman için sadece 750 dolar almış. (O zamanlar için dahi çok kötü rakam) Zaten 80'lere gelene dek, Philip K. Dick yazdığı onlarca romandan fazla para kazanmadığını da söyleyebiliriz. Şimdi ise film piyasası sayesinde şöhretin tadını alamadığı doruklarında. Blade Runner, Paycheck, Total Recall, The Adjusment Bureau, Minortiy Report, Next, A Scanner Darkly, The Confessions of a Crap Artist (bilimkurgu olmayan tek uyarlaması), Impostor ve Screamers gibi filmler PKD hikâyeleri veya romanlarından uyarlanma.

Çeviri dili ise zaman zaman zorlayıcı. İki kere okuduğum yerler oldu. Dahası chips'i cips diye çevirmiş çevirmen bir yerde poker masası sahnesi varken. Oil fields'ı yağ tarlaları diye çevirmiş halbuki daha İngilizcesine bakmadan petrol sahası olarak kullanıldığını anlamıştım. "So long" elveda yerine, "çok uzun" denmiş falan. Oturma koltuklu arabalar gibi Türkçe'den uzak lâflar var.

Yine de kurgusuyla okunmayı hak eden tipik bir Philip K. Dick, paranoid-bilimkurgusu.

kanyak: http://moonstationz.blogpsot.com (less)

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Apr 19, 2010 Jaime Nelson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick

THE TRUMAN SHOW meets THE MATRIX

Synopsis

It’s 1959. Ragle Gum lives with his sister and her family. He’s having an affair with the woman next door. He’s the champion of the newspaper contest, “Where Will the Little Green Man be Next?” Oh yeah, and he’s going sane.

It starts with what he thinks are hallucinations—a disappearing soft drink stand, leaving nothing in its place but a piece of paper labeled SOFT DRINK STAND. But then he hears pilots talking about h...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Jack Stovold rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #14 - Time Out of Joint (written Jan. 1958, published 1959)

This is one of Dick’s best sci-fi novels yet! It moved rapidly, and I couldn’t put it down, ended up reading it in less than two days. Dick’s writing is getting better with each novel. One thing I’ve enjoyed during the course of this project is watching the convergence of Dick’s “literary” and “sci-fi” styles. The beginning of this book reads a lot like Dick’s mainstream novels, albeit in a more compressed...more My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #14 - Time Out of Joint (written Jan. 1958, published 1959)

This is one of Dick’s best sci-fi novels yet! It moved rapidly, and I couldn’t put it down, ended up reading it in less than two days. Dick’s writing is getting better with each novel. One thing I’ve enjoyed during the course of this project is watching the convergence of Dick’s “literary” and “sci-fi” styles. The beginning of this book reads a lot like Dick’s mainstream novels, albeit in a more compressed, broadly-stroked fashion. Indeed, it just seems like another Dick story about a low-key family living in small town ???. That should be your first hint that something is amiss, as Dick never fails to note specifically where his stories take place and make use of local color. In fact, this struck me so much when I was reading this that I started to wonder if I had somehow missed it somewhere along the line.
The real masterful thing about this book is all the little details that are just a little off, but all figure into a big payoff at the end. Dick somehow manages to make them nearly as subliminal to the reader as they are to Gumm and his family. The low-key weirdness slowly escalates at just the right pace to build maximum tension and keep you turning those pages.
This book has a lot in common with The Cosmic Puppets, and both hit the sweet spot of guys caught up in some kind of vast paranoid conspiracy that threatens to upset their entire conception of reality, one of my very favorite types of genre story. As is often the case in these kinds of stories is when the characters manage to open the seams of a constructed reality, or go past the barrier they didn’t even know was there but now must cross at any cost. One of my favorite moments comes when Ragle and Vic journey out on the highway farther than anyone was ever supposed to go and marvel as it changes from ordinary asphalt to a mysterious material they couldn’t identify. Their escape leads them to an eerie place, and fundamental truths are altered. And then, best of all, they remember...
It’s hard to talk about this too much without spoiling the plot, so suffice it to say this is highly recommended. It might be my favorite yet.

Stray thoughts:

# Where the heck did Dick come up with a name like “Ragle Gumm”?

# A minor quibble, but one that nags me is that the eventual revelations don’t really explain the dematerializations Ragle sees, or Vic’s eerie experience on the bus...

My edition: Penguin ROC British paperback,

Up next: “In Milton Lumky Territory”!

June 27, 2012(less)

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Jun 11, 2012 Sorana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Are all classical SF books naive by definition? I've only read Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick until now, but all of them had that naivity of language that made the characters seem somehow plain. I suppose the authors emphasize on the idea and not on the means of delivering it. Anyway, besides what I just mentioned, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way in which the confusion and the elements of apparently supernatural made their way into the plot and I believe the story...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Charles Dee Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mid-century-sf

Throughout the 1950's, Philip K. Dick continued to write mainstream novels involving working class characters and realistic situations. His agents were never able to place any of these titles with publishers, at least not until several years after Dick's death when the Dickian industry began in earnest and publishers were scrounging for new material. Dick never looked down on his sf output, but he continued to have faith in these realist novels into the 1960's.

Time out of Joint, published in 195...more Throughout the 1950's, Philip K. Dick continued to write mainstream novels involving working class characters and realistic situations. His agents were never able to place any of these titles with publishers, at least not until several years after Dick's death when the Dickian industry began in earnest and publishers were scrounging for new material. Dick never looked down on his sf output, but he continued to have faith in these realist novels into the 1960's.

Time out of Joint, published in 1959, is a science fiction story that reads, for much of the time, as one of Dick's mainstream efforts. The characters are middle management types, one manages the produce department of a local grocery store, another works for the water department. They live in a new suburb of modest homes and are somewhat civically active. One couple, Vic and Margo, share their home with Margo's brother, Raigle, a war veteran who makes a comfortable living by answering a daily newspaper quiz, Where Will the Little Green Man Land Next. He is always right and has become something of a celebrity.

The first odd moment arrives when Vic looks through a newly arrived brochure from the Book-of-the-Month Club and wonders who Harriet Beecher Stowe might be. It's possible he wouldn't know, but later Raigle sees a layout in Life Magazine and marvels that the featured starlet's breast can maintain the tile they have in the photographs. Since this is a Philip K. Dick novel, all three characters analyze the breasts in some detail but then also wonder among themselves just who Marilyn Monroe could be that she would merit so much attention.

The next day, while Raigle contemplates adultery with the neighbor's wife, he takes her to the municipal swimming pool, and when he goes to the refreshment stand for cokes, the stand and its manager fade from sight leaving behind only a piece of paper with the printed words SOFT-DRINK STAND. Raigle puts the note into a box he keeps in his pocket where similar messages read DOOR, FACTORY BUILDING, BOWL OF FLOWERS.

We are now in Dickian territory, where few people are who they claim to be, and a trip past the city limits is a trip to another world. Dick earns his standing as the connoisseur of American paranoia with this one. Early on Raigle has the insight that he may be the most important person in the world. He's no dummy.

(less)

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Jul 05, 2010 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2010

An enjoyable Truman Show-eque mind-bender (but written way before that film was even a twinkle in someone's eye) that treads ground that Dick fans will be familiar with - Ragle Gumm lives in a small community and makes his living solving where the little green man will be in the daily newspaper competition. When Ragle starts to question his existence following a series of powerful 'hallucinations', it soon becomes apparent that Ragle's world is just a construct designed to keep him docile and co...more

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May 10, 2012 Jim Kinsey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Justified paranoia, things not being what they seem and pulpy 50s Americana makes this an almost perfect novel for those who like Dick's short stories.

According to the excellent afterword this can be considered the first of his more literary, later novels (a sequence including Man in the High Castle and VALIS - good company) as well as bridging the gap somewhat to the earlier work.

I usually read Dick for the atmosphere and ideas, and where those converge in those great capital-M Moments he conju...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Lyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint may very well have influenced the producers of the film The Truman Show. Orson Scott Card may also have gotten some ideas for Ender's Game. PKD tells this one close to the vest for the first half of the book, slowly developing the action and leaving some M. Night Shyamalan type clues along the way for the reader to pick up. This was published in 1959, one of his earlier novels and an observant reader of PKD will notice a more subtle approach than some of his la...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Zoroasterxiv rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Science fiction has the potential to unlock the power of the human imagination, but it is only valuable the hoity-toity literary types like me when the prose and the themes are comparable to the great realist fiction. I feel like Dick does not hit it here; much of the writing felt like scaffolding (first this happened, then this happened, then the big reveal at the end). I remember liking Do Androids Dream considerably more, but then again, that was written nine years after this, when Dick was p...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Katrina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended by a colleague at work, I wanted something different to read that had little romance or fantastical elements to it.

This was perfect. We're introduced to the seemingly normal life of Ragle Gumm who lives with his sister, Margo and her husband Vic. Instead of having a normal job, Ragle enters the daily competition in the local newspaper and somehow manages to win every single day.

Bill Black, the next door neighbour is always popping round with his wife, Junie and making sure Ragle gets...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Kian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-masterworks

Here's a novelty - Dick managed to write a novel for which the main narrative mechanic did not revolve around drugs! Time Out of Joint is part science-fiction, part mystery, part alternative-reality, where the main protagonist, a man who completes competition puzzles for a living, starts to pick apart the reality around him.

The story is good. It's mostly linear, and involves moments of the surreal. Unusually these surreal moments are later explained in a perfectly straightforward manner, somethi...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Luis C rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Hardcore fans of sci-fi

Recommended to Luis by: Jaime Agudo villanueva

La sensación que tengo del libro es que es un poco deslabazado. No sé cuanto tardó el autor en escribirlo, pero no me extrañaría que fuese en dos meses.

Es mi primer libro de Philip K Dick y veo por qué tiene fama: la trama de este libro se adentra en lo filosófico / metafísico y eso le da cierta profundidad, aunque en este caso en particular es un poco pastiche.

El comienzo de la trama es aburrida hasta decir basta, y luego la novela progresa gracias a la maestría del autor para ir soltando dato...more

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Feb 16, 2013 K.Edwin Fritz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Much more stable than Dick's "VALIS" (my first venture into his strange mind), I enjoyed this simple Dystopian Society story. Not that 'simple' should ever be used to describe a PKD story.

In Time Out of Joint, Reagle Gumm is a perennial contest winner who is so obsessed with his contest that he spends all day every day ensuring that he continues his streak. But readers know something is weird because certain things about Gumm's world aren't right, primarily the lack of radios and other such eas...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Ema rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, american, my-library

I picked this book from my brother's library, while I was visiting my parents in my home town. He used to be a SF fan back in high-school, too bad he didn't have any idea what books to buy, thus Time Out of Joint seemed the most appealing novel from the stack.

Being my first PKD read, I didn't know what to expect. I was cautious at first, not sure about the domestic scenes that seemed to stretch a little bit too much, but my patience was eventually rewarded, as the plot began to unfold and from...more

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Jun 17, 2013 angie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can never say enough good things about this mind-bending novel that is both gripping and provocative (as is a lot of Philip K. Dick's work). Having read it at least half a dozen times over the past twenty years, I would have to say I'm glad it's never been made into a movie...it's so good you just wouldn't want anyone to mess with the images and thoughts the book brings out so well.

Topics such as perception vs. reality, known vs. unknown, fifties culture, contentious family relationships...all...more

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May 03, 2012 Saretta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: language-ita, sf, sf-reality-alteration

Molto spesso Dick gioca sui diversi livelli di realtà con risultati più o meno lineari e comprensibili (questo romanzo ricade nella seconda categoria).
Ragle e la sua famiglia vivono in una cittadina americana anni '50 da cartolina e lui per vivere partecipa (e vince) al concorso che compare quotidianamente sul quotidiano locale, la loro vita trascorre serena.
Però c'è qualcosa che non torna, dei piccoli dettagli che fanno pensare a un'altra e molto diversa realtà; a questo punto iniziano paranoia...more

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Nov 13, 2010 Mark Schnell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found I could not put this book down. Because if I did, I would not remember what had gone before if I picked the book up again to resume reading. Since it was difficult to foresee where the author was heading with the story, little details as I read them seemed inconsequential and thus I did not retain them well in memory. If Mr. Dick was trying to convey the sense of disorientation the protagonist felt to the reader, he succeeded admirably.

I was not disappointed with the ending, as some rev...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Corey Pung rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Out of the many books I’ve read by him, Time Out of Joint is my favorite, and it’s the one I’d call essential reading. It’s maybe not critically his best work, as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is written better and Martian Time Slip is more chilling and suspenseful, but Time Out of Joint has its own charm. The title is right out of Hamlet. The main character fills in crossword puzzles for his occupation. There’s a gang of young people appearing at the end that inspired Anthony Burgess to w...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Amanda added it · review of another edition

I really didn't know what to expect from this book, it was a gift and knowing myself I probably wouldn't of had picked it up in a bookstore. But I was pleasantly surprised, I loved the concept and the way it was developed. The characters were shaped well and I loved to read from each characters point of view, adding a nice depth to the story. The book kept you interested from beginging to end trying to figure out what is actually going on. I was more amused than anything about how the "future" w...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american, science-fiction, alt-universe, kindle

Good in parts. The description of first slight but then growing unease in a perfect 50's world (written in the 50's mind you) is a great piece of writing. So often Dick is lauded for his ideas but he can write as well as Austen or Dickens. I have to think that this is an allegory for his times. A perfect time but with a dark underbelly that everyone agreed to not talk about. At various times the characters ask why they did not question the growing sense of unease.

To be sure this is probably Dick...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Calvin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The only thing I don't like about Philip K. Dick's "Time Out of Joint" so far is that the synopsis published on the back -- as well as the one here on Goodreads! -- gives away something that the author himself doesn't reveal, except very gradually, for several chapters. So what if it doesn't really sound science-fiction-y unless you give that part away? I think it would be a much better reading experience for anybody picking up the book if they could somehow avoid reading any synopsis at all, an...more

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May 17, 2012 Edward Keller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book a reread every few years. It's awesome on all levels: on the level of social realism, before stuff goes bonkers (that's Dick the 'real writer' doing his thing); then on the level of stuff going bonkers (would look great with today's TV effects); the plot twist (not quite mind blowing today, but genius in the late 1950's); and his off-hand prediction of how youth subcultures look in the future. To the t. Man's a prophet even when he's just messing around.
Philip Dick, together with...more

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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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Quotes from Time Out of Joint

“In a civil war… every side is wrong. It’s hopeless to try to untangle it. Everyone is a victim.” — 14 people liked it

“The odd thing in this world is that an eager-beaver type, with no original ideas, who mimes those in authority above him right to the last twist of necktie and scrape of chin, always gets noticed. Gets selected. Rises.” — 12 people liked it

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