VALIS

Apr 23, 2010 Aerin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: litrachur, philosophy, science-fiction, well-that-was-awesome, twisty-turny, what-if-it-all-means-something

One of the tasks of being human is to find a satisfactory answer to why we live in such an ostensibly cold and uncaring universe. Horrible things happen for no reason. Goodness is often rewarded with suffering, cruelty with success. Tragedy can strike at any time and there is nothing we can do about it. And even if we find an acceptable explanation for this chaos - through science or philosophy or religion - we then are tasked with trying to reconcile ourselves to all of it. Valis is Philip K. D...more

49 likes · like · see review

Mar 12, 2012 Maureen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, books-dangerous-to-my-sanity, break-on-through, novels

VALIS stands for vast active living intelligence system. it is also a trigger to my crazy. i am a perfect breeding ground for it: i read a lot of gnostic texts in university, and struggled against tipping points when i read the book within franny and zooey "the way of the pilgrim" and when i saw mike leigh's film, "naked" and it made me think many crazy things, like chernobyl means wormwood, and the disaster was the third trumpet.

when i first read VALIS, i embraced it. i could feel it insinuati...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jul 05, 2012 RandomAnthony rated it 3 of 5 stars

If someone were to make the “You seem to like Philip K. Dick, and I want to maybe give him a shot, but I don't know where to start because he's written dozens of novels” statement my instantaneous response would be, “NOT Valis!” Then I would add I've only read five or six of PKD's novels and I'm giddy with the prospect of reading further into his catalog. But no, no, don't start with Valis, or else you may never pick up another PKD book and you'd miss out on his masterpieces.

PKD wrote Valis late...more

22 likes · like · see review

Nov 09, 2011 Simon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-masterworks, sf

The book that profiles the author's descent into madness. He both narrates the story as himself and is also another character, "Horselover Fat", who whilst we are told he is the same person, interacts with the narrator as seperate person. Presumably indicative of PKD's own split personality disorder?

I don't know how much of this we are to take as real, or at least PKD's genuine belief as to what's real, but we can either take it as the whole world being insane with messages and signs of rational...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2012 Mike Philbin rated it 2 of 5 stars

CURRENTLY RE-READING VALIS, but this was my initial (vicious, or empathy-free) review.

"It is about madness, pain, deception, death, obsessive delusory states of mind, cruelty, solitude, imprisonment, and it is a joy to read." quotes The Washington Post on the cover of VALIS. One can only wonder which of Philip K. Dick's books this review blurb was borrowed from. Horselover Fat (a kinky replicant of Philip K. Dick's name) is having woman trouble. He is having money trouble. He is having severe me...more CURRENTLY RE-READING VALIS, but this was my initial (vicious, or empathy-free) review.

"It is about madness, pain, deception, death, obsessive delusory states of mind, cruelty, solitude, imprisonment, and it is a joy to read." quotes The Washington Post on the cover of VALIS. One can only wonder which of Philip K. Dick's books this review blurb was borrowed from. Horselover Fat (a kinky replicant of Philip K. Dick's name) is having woman trouble. He is having money trouble. He is having severe mental health trouble; not a surprise with all the drugs he's swallowing. Sounds like the life of a self-disrespecting writer on planet Earth. But there's a difference. Fat has 'seen the light'. Fat has found God. Or rather God has found Horselover Fat - in the form of a blinding bright pink laser beam of cosmic information. Sounds like a good premise for a good book, right?

VALIS hails from the critically-acclaimed golden era of Philip K Dick's 30-year writing output, alongside his books The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly. I'd been trying to get hold of a copy of VALIS for a few years already. I finally got a copy and the book is shit. Well, the first 48 pages are truly stagnant, let's say. A brave editor would have insisted VALIS started on the second paragraph of page 48, "Fat had never been locked up before." as that's where the actual story (if you can call it that) seems to begin. It's the same thing with the way Dick confesses early on that Horselover Fat is as an externalised aspect of himself. It breaks the agreement with the reader that he is here to read something truly mind-blowing. Already you've crushed all confidence that Dick can deliver. The book has already failed. Disbelief has been cruelly suspended. Dick is admitting that this isn't an entertainment as are most of his other books. Dick is confessing that he's burnt out. He has nothing more to say. He is over as a human being and as a writer. Spent. A cranky dry husk.

But read on and you'll be further disappointed that the 'story' actually goes nowhere. There's nothing to say other than Philip K. Dick went a bit mad eventually and thought writing it all down would be a good idea for fans of his fiction. Throughout this turgid purgatory of a book, detailed reference is made to Horselover Fat's scientific/ religious 'Exegesis' - this is actually a notebook Philip K. Dick had been adding to for the last ten years as well as writing about 20 books. From the examples delivered here, one can only estimate how utterly tedious that 8,000 page tome is gonna be.

Both are a criminal case of the writer getting in the way of his writing - it's about too much thought going into what is usually (or so it seems for Dick) a truly spontaneous, creative process. Let's just say Dick is lucky VALIS is not this reviewer's first experience of his writing style or many great books would have been needlessly neglected. Looking at the (familiar) cover art again, I remember now that I'd tried to read this unforgivably boring book about 15 years ago and didn't get very far into it back then. I got further this time but the work hasn't mellowed with age, it's just got more painful. As a side project I'd recently thumbed through Emmanuel Carrere's I Am Alive And You Are Dead : A Journey Into The Mind Of Philip K. Dick, and was far more entertained by that external rendering of Dick's fateful life than VALIS' internal outpouring from the horse's mouth (so to speak). But there are (with classic PKD irony) a couple of laughs here and there along the way in this dire tale of a human life gone wrong hence this charitable score.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 23, 2008 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's a well known fact that science fiction authors often do their best work when they're straying into quasi-religious territory (think Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc.). It's also well known that crazy people make the best conspiracy theorists. So when Philip K. Dick, an extremely crazy, extremely talented sci-fi author writes a book about religion-as-conspiracy, it's a safe bet that some serious head-messing is about to ensue.

Someone (I think it was Ursula LeGuin) once remarked that Phi...more It's a well known fact that science fiction authors often do their best work when they're straying into quasi-religious territory (think Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc.). It's also well known that crazy people make the best conspiracy theorists. So when Philip K. Dick, an extremely crazy, extremely talented sci-fi author writes a book about religion-as-conspiracy, it's a safe bet that some serious head-messing is about to ensue.

Someone (I think it was Ursula LeGuin) once remarked that Philip K. Dick was the American version of Borges, and this observation is at least half right. Like Borges, PKD is obsessed with themes of identity, memory, time and alternate realities. But where Borges' writing is a series of extraordinarily controlled thought-experiments, Philip K. Dick is one of the least controlled writers I've ever encountered; he seems to be at the mercy of his plots, the words pouring out of him helter-skelter, and the the identity and memory that he questions is clearly his own.

Valis is arguably his best book, and in every respect it's a wild -- and disturbing -- ride. To summarize the plot almost feels like an exercise in futility, but in brief it revolves around the experiences of one Horselover Fat, aka Philip K. Dick, who is shot by God, aka an ancient satellite orbiting Earth, with a beam of pure reason in the form of a pink laser which causes him to slip in time between 1970s California and ancient Rome. But this really doesn't do justice to the weirdness and occasional startling insight of the novel.

Theologically, Valis reads a little like Gnosticism for Dummies but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since Gnosticism for Serious People probably would involve lengthy passages in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, and various fiendishly elaborate codes developed by secretive monks with too much time on their hands. At the end of the day though, what makes this book interesting isn't it's theology or even its plot, but as a portrayal of one man's struggle with the possibility of having an immediate encounter with God -- a notion that, these days, seems far stranger than any acid trip.(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Aug 22, 2008 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, philip-k-dick, 20th-century-fiction

I hesitate to say this book disappointed me because it actually delighted me in a number of ways - its inventive first person/third person narrative voice, its delving into Gnostic philosophy, the funereal humor especially at play among the Rhipidon Society members. Phillip K. Dick gives his readers plenty to chew on, as usual, and the pseudo-autobiographical tone is intriguing. However, in this case I found his plot on the thin side.

Now, I like idea-driven novels. I require no literary equival...more I hesitate to say this book disappointed me because it actually delighted me in a number of ways - its inventive first person/third person narrative voice, its delving into Gnostic philosophy, the funereal humor especially at play among the Rhipidon Society members. Phillip K. Dick gives his readers plenty to chew on, as usual, and the pseudo-autobiographical tone is intriguing. However, in this case I found his plot on the thin side.

Now, I like idea-driven novels. I require no literary equivalent of car chases and explosions to keep me interested. I relish the mind games Phillip K. Dick plays with his reader and himself in exploring Horselover Fat's descent into (a perfectly sane, as it turns out) insanity. Perhaps what I missed in this novel, then, is not the dearth of plot, although I still stand by that assessment - it is thin the way an Aldous Huxley plot can be thin - built to convey philosophy and little else. And the plot-heavier portions of the novel, toward the end especially, seem only modestly thought-out, almost tacked on when the author realized he was almost done with his book and hadn't really told much of a story. That opinion notwithstanding, what I missed most was being taken into one of Phillip K. Dick's wonderfully crafted future worlds full of excellent detail - new powers-that-be, new slang, new drugs, old hangups.

So perhaps a foiled expectation has disappointed me more than anything the author did or did not do, but I won't rate this book any higher than I already have. Expectations or no, I found VALIS far less compelling than I am used to finding Phillip K. Dick's novels. I think this, perversely, has to do with the fact that it purports to depict events from the author's own mental life. That should be fascinating, but in the case of VALIS it's like listening to someone describe a half-remembered dream in confused generalities that function as detail. You wish he would just stop. You've already gotten the idea as well as you ever will, but the description goes on. The nature of dreams is that they cannot be described well. Especially half-remembered ones. Dreams are experiential events. And so is Horselover Fat's insanity. So is faith. And so are human relationships, for that matter. Not that we shouldn't attempt to describe these things, but if one does so in the form of a novel, it is kinder to the reader to provide her some tangibles along with the intangibles, some details to sink her teeth into while she ponders the deeper meanings of all of the philosophy. Communicating through metaphor? Perhaps that's what I'm getting at. Otherwise, write a treatise, an essay, something meant to educate and not necessarily entertain. Phillip K. Dick usually excels in this department.

All of this said, I will still surely read The Divine Invasion.

(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 11, 2007 Josh rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was certainly the most difficult PKD book I've read so far. However, I think it is my favorite after Man in the High Castle. This is the story of Horselover Fat (aka Phillip Dick) and his wild/brilliant theories of gnosticism. Of course, this mirrors the final 8 years of Dicks life and how he increasingly "lost it" in the construction of an Exigesis. This book works on at least two levels; first, as the story of a man falling apart while being totally aware of it and second, as a sci-fi tak...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 22, 2008 Karl rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed it a lot. It is PKD's views on the nature of god, of course with a sci-fi bent. I loved the David Bowie stand in (Eric Lampton) and the 'Man Who Fell To Earth' references (the film VALIS) with the idea that PKD was receiving psychic messages from the film.
I found the book more interesting because of the unreliable narrator. Sometimes the book was written in the third person, sometimes the first. So, from the first chapter you realize that the narrator is PKD and he's out of his tiny l...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2007 Blue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Best Dick I've read, and I collected all of his novels after reading this one. It is a great story, funny and awful at the same time. Unpredictable, and complex. Experiences in a mental hospital truly realistic.
Horselover Fat is a man finding his way through a labyrinth that is reality - a multilayered series of palimpsests and maps of eras overlapping each other and throwing his perceptions into turmoil, but also allowing him to gain insight into religious experience. His journeys also seem to...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 26, 2008 Samantha Brockfield is currently reading it

Guess you could say I'm a Dick-head

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars

VALIS is not a science fiction novel. Science fiction is merely a coat it wears. It is, in fact, wisdom literature. It is an attempt by Philip K. Dick to wrestle with reality as he sees it. The universe threw a curveball at Dick in 1974 when a glimpse of the ichthys on a beautiful young woman led to two months of visions. Dick believed that these experiences were an invasion of his mind by another intelligence, and had objective validity. For example, the voices in his head informed him of a lif...more

like · see review

Mar 05, 2013 Michelle Morrell added it

Shelves: unfinished

I have wanted to read this book for a while, it's supposedly PKD's own personal experience with a drug-induced mental break and the religious experience he had then. He is such a cornerstone of accuracy in science fiction predictions and so predictably good a writer, I wanted to peek into his mind and see what called to him and his religious side.

I gave it a good try, but it was like reading a schizophrenic's visions while on a bipolar manic high. There were nuggets of wisdom or insight or even...more

like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 K.Edwin Fritz rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how many way I can say how utterly and completely WEIRD this book is, but I'll give it a try...

So, the protagonist is named Horselover Fat. Everybody else has a normal name.
And one of Horselover's friends is a guy named Philip K. Dick, who happens to be a sci-fi author.
Yes, you read that right. The author put himself in the book as a character.
But wait... there's more.
Horselover Fat has schizophrenia and he isn't Horselover Fat at all, he is actually Philip K. Dick, though he does...more

like · see review

Jan 08, 2013 Dave marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: calibre, fiction

SUMMARY: In 2007, Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s became the fastest selling title in The Library of America’s history. The 2008 companion volume, Five Novels of the1960s & 70s, broke series records for advance sales. Now comes a third and final volume gathering the best novels of Dick’s final years, when religious revelation, always important in his work, became a dominant and irresistible theme. In A Maze of Death (1970), a darkly speculative mystery that foreshadows Dick’s final...more

like · see review

Nov 30, 2012 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I don't know what I think. At first I liked it, though with the caveat that a little self-indulgence seems to be a feature of everyone who came of age in the 60s and did too many drugs. But then Maurice made it for me, saying everything I wanted to say (get over your crazy death wish and live well), and so I felt like I had said it and so it didn't bother me anymore. With that and the language and story itself, I found it instead deeply personal and tragic and quite moving.

I was enjoying the wa...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 25, 2012 Laura Fudge rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This one took a while, mainly because it was quite a strange and complex novel. It tells the story of Horselover Fat and his search for the truth behind visions he has, and a meaning to life, told by Phil, who we later find out is just another personality of Horselover, that they are the same person (perhaps Schizophrenic?)

He starts on a search for God aided by some friends after his friend Gloria kills herself. He has a vision from a pink light of a world where the Roman Empire still exists, an...more This one took a while, mainly because it was quite a strange and complex novel. It tells the story of Horselover Fat and his search for the truth behind visions he has, and a meaning to life, told by Phil, who we later find out is just another personality of Horselover, that they are the same person (perhaps Schizophrenic?)

He starts on a search for God aided by some friends after his friend Gloria kills herself. He has a vision from a pink light of a world where the Roman Empire still exists, and thinks that this is the basis of his search. Him and his friends discover a film which tells the story of VALIS (which stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System) and ties into a lot of the visions and theories that Horselover has been having, so they go to visit the film maker, who believes that his daughter is the messiah or saviour. She is killed in a freak laser accident, and the main characters of the book lose faith in VALIS - causing Horselover to go off on his own quest all over the world to find the next incarnation.

My brief synopsis probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, although to be honest, this book is a little confusing... whether this is supposed to be a science fiction novel about VALIS and where the Christian ideas of religion originated, with some themes of alternate reality and time travel, or Phillip K. Dick's own personal account of some sort of nervous breakdown or schizophrenic episode (I don't know enough about Schizophrenia or Phillip K Dick to know if this is the case?) or an analogy about Christianity, religion and theology as a whole, or maybe all 3, or maybe none of the above... well I just don't know, but this book raised some interesting questions and didn't answer many...

It has made me want to read more on the subject, and the other two books he has written in this set. I have read "Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep" and this was a very different style of book. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the sort of Sci-fi fiction novel I was expecting. It was all over the place - but I liked the way in which the narrator was sometimes Horselover, sometimes Phil, there was some humour between the characters, and the ideas were, whilst in some cases outlandish and weird, altogether very interesting, and as I have said, left me wanting to read more.

Of course, this book has all the things I love in a novel, conspiracy theories, time travel, theological themes, big ideas, good characters, but it was weird and a little disturbing as well, so whilst I like it, I would not necessarily recommend it to everyone... I have also been told since starting it, that I should have read more of his work before reading this one... but it hasn't put me off.(less)

like · see review

Aug 14, 2012 Rich Knight rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Weirdos

What did I just read? VALIS is such a strange book (By the strange author, Philip K. Dick, I might add) that I'm not sure how I really feel about it. What was real, what was fiction, and is it possible that they were one in the same in this book, or least in PHK's frayed mind?

It's well-known that PKD did go on a spiritual journey throughout his life, but it's hard to sum up if it was because of drugs (Which is very possible), or if it was a real religious experience (Which is questionable). VAL...more

like · see review

Aug 11, 2012 Bengt rated it 4 of 5 stars

VALIS is, as stated on the jacket, a theological detective story. Kind of. Well, mostly. I think. Our detective is a severely unstable schizophrenic in the throes of existential despair, and his hand lens is made from Alice's looking glass. Apparently, Philip K. Dick really had a similar epiphany and subsequent spiritual crisis as expounded on in the book by the dubious protagonist Horselover Fat (the name eventually makes complete sense), and apparently, this book was part of Dick's attempt to...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 15, 2012 Frank rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I think this could have been subtitled "The Gospel according to Philip K. Dick". Definitely one of the strangest and disturbing books I have read in some time. I don't know if I would classify this as sci-fi or as religious philosophy. Anyway, it was definitely thought-provoking! The book is also auto-biographical and expands on an event that happened to Dick in 1974. From Wikipedia:

On February 20, 1974, Dick was recovering from the effects of sodium pentothal administered for the extraction of...more I think this could have been subtitled "The Gospel according to Philip K. Dick". Definitely one of the strangest and disturbing books I have read in some time. I don't know if I would classify this as sci-fi or as religious philosophy. Anyway, it was definitely thought-provoking! The book is also auto-biographical and expands on an event that happened to Dick in 1974. From Wikipedia:

On February 20, 1974, Dick was recovering from the effects of sodium pentothal administered for the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth. Answering the door to receive delivery of extra analgesic, he noticed that the delivery woman was wearing a pendant with a symbol that he called the "vesicle pisces." This name seems to have been based on his conflation of two related symbols, the ichthys (two intersecting arcs delineating a fish in profile) that early Christians used as a secret symbol, and the vesica piscis. After the delivery woman's departure, Dick began experiencing strange visions. Although they may have been initially attributable to the medication, after weeks of visions he considered this explanation implausible. "I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane," Dick told Charles Platt. Throughout February and March 1974, he experienced a series of visions, which he referred to as "2-3-74", shorthand for February–March 1974. He described the initial visions as laser beams and geometric patterns, and, occasionally, brief pictures of Jesus and of ancient Rome. As the visions increased in length and frequency, Dick claimed he began to live a double life, one as himself, "Philip K. Dick", and one as "Thomas", a Christian persecuted by Romans in the 1st century A.D. He referred to the "transcendentally rational mind" as "Zebra", "God" and "VALIS." Dick wrote about the experiences, first in the semi-autobiographical novel Radio Free Albemuth and then in VALIS, The Divine Invasion, and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, i.e., the VALIS trilogy.

The book tries to address some of the immortal questions such as Is God trying to communicate with us? Is Life and Death just an illusion? Is the second-coming (or is it the 5th or 7th coming) near at hand? VALIS was a difficult read at first and left you wondering about many unanswerable questions.(less)

like · see review

Nov 20, 2011 Felix Zilich rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-a-dream

Когда Глория Кнудсон прыгнула из окна одиннадцатого этажа, то убила этим не только себя одну. Она убила своим поступком также и Жирного Лошадника, в гостях у которого была за неделю до своей смерти. Он не смог спасти ее от суицида. Совершенно также как не смог спасти за год до этого свою жену-наркоманку. Смерть Глории Кнудсон стала спусковым крючком безумия Жирного Лошадника. Он впервые осознал, что стремление сойти с ума - иногда вполне адекватная реакция на окружающую реальность. Его заразила...more Когда Глория Кнудсон прыгнула из окна одиннадцатого этажа, то убила этим не только себя одну. Она убила своим поступком также и Жирного Лошадника, в гостях у которого была за неделю до своей смерти. Он не смог спасти ее от суицида. Совершенно также как не смог спасти за год до этого свою жену-наркоманку. Смерть Глории Кнудсон стала спусковым крючком безумия Жирного Лошадника. Он впервые осознал, что стремление сойти с ума - иногда вполне адекватная реакция на окружающую реальность. Его заразила вполне рациональная просьба Глории дать ей умереть. Первый раз в своей жизни он понял, что безумие может быть рациональным.

Спустя месяц после этого с ним впервые заговорил Бог. Он заговорил с ним из маленького глиняного горшочка, подаренного ему знакомой юной наркодилершей. У этого Бога было имя. И Он знал Истину.

- Жирный Лошадник – это я, - скажет писатель на самой первой странице. Скажет, а спустя пару листов напрочь забудет об этом факте, позволив своему альтер-эго погрузиться в пучину безумия.
- Жирный Лошадник – это ты, - скажет ему маленькая Мессия за сорок страниц до конца книги и этим вернет его в рамки реальности.

ВАЛИС – автобиография Филиппа Дика. Почти с самой первой и до самой последней строчки это хроника его собственного безумия, его личного религиозного откровения… одним словом, всего того, что перевернуло автору жизнь и выкинуло его за пределы привычного и узнаваемого мира
Историю этого безумия вы можете прочесть здесь…
http://www.livejournal.com/users/f_ra...
… а пока прошу вернуться к книге.

РАССКАЗЧИК. Итак, Филипп Дик и Жирный Лошадник – это одно лицо. Именно по этой причине рассказчик всегда осторожен и очень коварен. С одной стороны, этот маленький фокус нужен ему, чтобы попытаться объективно извне изучить собственные проблемы. С другой стороны, чтобы показать состояние собственного сознания. С третьей - а эта самая хитрая сторона – проиллюстрировать воплощение своих собственных слов. По ходу книги герой осознает, что является единым целым с огромной кучей народа, существующей в прошлом и будущем. При этом они не являются его реинкарнациями или чем-то подобным. Наоборот, они существуют здесь и сейчас, ибо времени и пространства попросту нет. Просто Господь заставляет вещи меняться, создавая этим у глупого человека иллюзию времени.Это очень важная и хитрая идея. Если задуматься, она дает любому автору серьезное моральное право отождествлять себя с любым из собственных героев.

МУЖЧИНЫ. В начале я собирался списать спутников Лошадника на прогрессирующее расщепление его сознания. Потом обнаружил, что это далеко не так. Остальными героями романа оказались ближайшие друзья Филиппа Дика и его самые преданные ученики. Yапример, злобный циник Кевин – это КЕВИН ДЖЕТЕР. Тот самый который потом напишет БЛЕЙД РАННЕР 2 и БЛЕЙД РАННЕР 3. Казанова-католик Томас – это ТИМ ТОМАС ПАУЭРС, один из лидеров стим-панка, чей роман “Врата Анубиса” уже неоднократно издавался на русском. (Между прочим эта книга удостоена премии имени Филиппа Дика) Вдобавок к этому пару раз мелькает на горизонте фэнтезист ДЖЕЙМС БЛЕЙЛОК. Его “Эльфийский корабль и ”Исчезнувшие гномы” лежат сейчас на прилавках всех книжных магазинов. Это реальные люди. И реальные идеи.

ЖЕНЩИНЫ. Филипп Дик был женат пять раз. Про остальных женщин даже вспоминать не станем, ведь и без этого понятно, что именно женщины оставались для него одной из главных загадок мироздания. Пролистаем его книги и увидим, что они почти всегда несут зло. Даже если не несут, то до последней страницы остаются где-то за хрустальной стеной. Странные, чуждые и почти всегда безумные. Достаточно рассмотреть женских персонажей этой книги романа, чтобы сновав этом убедиться. Глория – ее самоубийство после выхода из психушки ломает жизнь Лошадника. Стефани – юная наркодилерша кормит героя наркотой и дарит ему горшок с Богом. Шерри – католичка-мазохистка, умирает от рака и этим окончательно калечит героя. Линда – безумная жена рок-звезды, уверенная, что стала матерью Пятого Мессии. София – Пятая Мессия – бррррррр… Хмм, других женских персонажей в книге нет.

БОГ. Его Зовут ВАЛИС. Или Зебра.Ну, или типа того. (2005.05.04)(less)

like · see review

Nov 19, 2011 Terence Blake rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, philosophy

VALIS: GNOSTIC SCHIZO EXISTENTIAL SF MASTERPIECE

I cannot review VALIS objectively, as it is a book that belongs to no pre-existing category, combining elements of autobiography, philosophy, science-fiction, gnostic theology, psychoanalysis,and existential self-construction. Like the newly published EXEGESIS it takes its origin in the need to understand respond to the events of February and March 1974 (which he called 2-3-74). He was irradiated by a brilliant pink light emanating from a Christian...more VALIS: GNOSTIC SCHIZO EXISTENTIAL SF MASTERPIECE

I cannot review VALIS objectively, as it is a book that belongs to no pre-existing category, combining elements of autobiography, philosophy, science-fiction, gnostic theology, psychoanalysis,and existential self-construction. Like the newly published EXEGESIS it takes its origin in the need to understand respond to the events of February and March 1974 (which he called 2-3-74). He was irradiated by a brilliant pink light emanating from a Christian fish-symbol (ichthys) necklace worn by a young woman. He had a series of visions over the next two months, and spent the rest of his life trying to understand them.The novel splits Dick into two characters: the narrator, Philip K Dick, a moderately successful science-fiction writer; and Horselover fat his crazy illuminated friend, to whom the visions arrived, and whose life became a quest to resolve their enigma. The principal framework of explanation is a science-fictional variant of gnostic cosmology in which this universe has been constructed by a false, evil and crazy, god, which explains all the irrationality and the suffering that it contains. The world is the Black Iron Prison, and we are its suffering prisoners. The true God is outside the universe and breaking through to heal it and us in various ways, including the pink light that Dick experienced.After many surreal experiences and visions the book ends with the narrator, Philip K. Dick, sitting before the TV, watching and waiting. He is clear that this is his way of continuing the search and keeping to his mission: keeping awake and open.
I think many of us experience moments of revelatory intensity and also of intense despair at the emprisonment of our daily lives and of our very selves. I first read VALIS in 1981, when it first came out. I was all alone in a student room in a god-forsaken empty outer suburb of Paris, unable to speak French, dreaming repeatedly of being shut up in a prison that was shrinking and squashing me out of existence. I empathised with the Gnostics and their idea of this life as a prison.I read VALIS and it spoke to me instantly and deeply. My "pink light" came at a moment of extreme existential and intellectual isolation in my birthplace, in Sydney: I read Deleuze and Guattari's ANTI-OEDIPUS, and it changed my life. I left Sydney for Paris, attended Deleuze's lectures for 6 years, and finally took on French nationality and settled down as an English teacher on the French Riviera. And I'm still trying to understand what happened to me.
Dick's novel opens with the beginnings of his eventual crack-up and suicide attempt:
"Horselover Fat's nervous breakdown began the day he got the phonecall from Gloria asking if he had any Nembutals. He asked her why she wanted them and she said that she intended to kill herself."
This is no message from a divine light, but the beginning of a soul-destroying relationship with a toxic, thanatotic individual, whose name "Gloria" is an ironic mockery of her real state and aims.
The novel ends with an optimistic phonecall from Horselover Fat reporting on his quest to find the 5th Messiah:
"one day I got a phonecall from Horselover Fat: a phonecall from Tokyo. He sounded healthy and excited and full of energy, and amused at my surprise to be hearing from him."
The split between Dick and Fat continues, but it enriches his life instead of despairing it. Eros has come to win out over thanatos. After all the speculations and synchronicities, after all the encounters both toxic and salvific, there is no final explanation only a new sense of optimism and openness:
"My search kept me at home; I sat before the TV set in my living room. I sat; I waited; I watched; I kept myself awake. As we had been told, originally, long ago, to do; I kept my commission."(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 17, 2011 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Yesterday I started AND finished one of PKD's most profound works. I literally could not put it down. Painful, REAL, bittersweet, funny as hell, bizarre, brilliant, utterly profound. I always find it hard to write about a PKD experience because they are all life-altering, and I truly mean that. I think most scifi folks love his work before 1974 because it's simply FANTASTIC WRITING. Everything after 1974, I believe, is for the die-hards only. For people like me, who have not only read a lot of h...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 28, 2011 Matthew Fitzgerald rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's strange to have somehow stumbled upon a sloppy bootleg copy of "Radio Free Albemuth" years before reading through this novel. And I'm somewhat chagrined to find that I enjoyed that book so thoroughly - it's bold and epic dash into a surreal, dystopian future that would make Kafka weep, with a profound and unapologetically dark ending - and felt pretty lukewarm with Valis on the whole. Valis feels so much more grounded in mundane reality, with a lot of ... well, people, just hanging out and...more It's strange to have somehow stumbled upon a sloppy bootleg copy of "Radio Free Albemuth" years before reading through this novel. And I'm somewhat chagrined to find that I enjoyed that book so thoroughly - it's bold and epic dash into a surreal, dystopian future that would make Kafka weep, with a profound and unapologetically dark ending - and felt pretty lukewarm with Valis on the whole. Valis feels so much more grounded in mundane reality, with a lot of ... well, people, just hanging out and pontificating on philosophy and religion. Fat's break with reality is so heartbreakingly sad that at first it's funny, and while the dark narration at the begging of the novel offers a lot of cynical, mocking laughs, it's soon smothered by the aforementioned glut of hanging out and weighed down by Dick's myriad and aimless mystical and/or spiritual tangents. I liked the structure of the book, of the reality coming apart at the seems for Horselover Fat, and the schizophrenic narrator who is both a character, narrator, and Fat himself. That fractured and unreliable narrative was intriguing, but ultimately, the many references to a host of different religions and philosophies, and the blunt intrusions of Fat's exegesis (which may have some deep profound resonance that I honestly couldn't be bother to ferret out), threw off any kind of narrative momentum. Once "Sophia" is revealed, I anticipated this finally leading somewhere that was rewarding, but that train is promptly derailed. The book seems to really just unravel toward the end, with a long post-Sophia denouement that seems return the characters to their "normal" lives, waiting for something ... and as a reader, I wanted that thing to come in this book, for Dick to use what he'd written as a springboard for something that might at least try to answer all the questions that had been raised, and not have this thing merely hinted at in the final lines.

I just really don't know about this book. Dick's exploration into metaphysical theories from around the globe creates a fascinating mix when he tries to thread them all together and unite them as different expressions of the same VALIS awakening. He tackles questions about life and spirituality, about humanity and what it means to be, and he attempts to do it all while combining thoughts and traditions of the devine from around the world. Dick accomplishes this with a deftness that you almost don't even appreciate as you're just going along for the ride, trying to follow what you can and seeing how it all fits together. But really, when you step back from all the interesting bits, you get a novel that has some brilliant ideas and fascinating insight, but falls far short of Dick's on standards for telling a compelling story.(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 25, 2011 Robert B. Miller added it

Read by Rich, Spring 2007:
"The intended reading audience for this book I would have to assume is adult, as it is by far the most difficult read I've done for this class all semester. This was not intentional, I was simple watching a movie based on one of Dick's books--there are several of them, such as "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Paycheck," and "Minority Report"--and I decided I wanted to read some more of his stuff. How this book ended up being the one I did for this assignment is simple:...more

like · see review

Jul 28, 2010 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, philosophy

Late in his life PK Dick suffered from an epiphany. This book was his attempt to make sense of it.

I didn't much care for the story of Horselover Fat (the most ridiculous name I've ever seen), but it was told with great style. Dick frequently has religious and spiritual components to his stories, which are evidenced in this novel. Dick shares with us a quest through the gnostics and the caballists to find truth--of a sort.

SPOILERS

The search for the messiah, and her loss and rebirth feature promi...more

like · see review

Apr 28, 2010 Andrew Yoder rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This was one of the most fascinating and bizarre books of fiction I've ever read. It's an incredibly mind-bending read and look into the troubled but brilliant mind of the Author himself, Phillip K. Dick.

Be warned: one Amazon reviewer (giving it 5 stars) called it "the Feel Bad book of the century!" Depending on your emotional response to dark themes of madness, existential anxiety and death - this may be true.

VALIS is part of a trilogy of books including The Divine Invasion and The Owl in Day...more

like · see review

Nov 04, 2009 Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars, really.

What the book accomplishes best is making you feel mad yourself, with the constant flip flopping philosophy and the frantic nature of the character themselves. It's pretty masterful writing/author intent there, making you feel mad just by making YOU scramble as much as the characters. And the fact that really, the debates in this are quite accurate to a lot of net debates I've seen concerning religion adds some credibility to how people act.

Very little happens in the way of an...more

like · see review

Oct 06, 2009 David Shaw rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: philip-k-dick

Well, I don't really know where to start in terms of a review for this book. But I can definitely attest to this being one of the most challenging pieces of literature out there. At least of the post-modern era. I would also have to note this as being one of the most complex reads, not to say it doesn't make sense, but mainly of the intricacy of its design.

This was the 5th book I've read of Dick's, and probably the best, although each of his works are brilliant in their own unique way.

A stimulat...more Well, I don't really know where to start in terms of a review for this book. But I can definitely attest to this being one of the most challenging pieces of literature out there. At least of the post-modern era. I would also have to note this as being one of the most complex reads, not to say it doesn't make sense, but mainly of the intricacy of its design.

This was the 5th book I've read of Dick's, and probably the best, although each of his works are brilliant in their own unique way.

A stimulating metaphysical inquest into the mystery of an almighty presence or presences, mixed with a battle to comprehend one's own sanity.
I think that serves as the most succinct summary.

Not to mention, Dick has the uncanny ability to mix in material of a heavily serious or existential nature with poignant and clever humor.

Plot-wise, the book (and his books) are designed well enough to maintain your interest. In the case of 'VALIS', the first half of the book introduces the main character, Horselover Fat, and his growing desire to commit suicide. The narrator, Horselover Fat's dual personality--Philip--establishes early on that he will refer to Horselover in the 3rd person even though Philip and Horselover are the same person. Thus, distinguishing the fact that Fat is insane and chooses Philip to be the conscious voicing of this fact.

In addition, the rest of the 1st half mainly follows Philip explaining how Horselover Fat has been working on his 'exegesis' manuscript. This 'exegesis' was not only to serve as an inquest to ratiocinate his cosomogonic beliefs, but as a response to a 'theophanic' experience that endowed him with prophetic knowledge.
To explain within his 'exegesis' Horselover formulates his own theories surrounded by references to historical philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Parmenides, Paracelsus, to more modern thinkers such as Schopenhauer, and Carl Jung. All in all, really heavy and metaphysically-laden introspection and detective work. That is, all his arguments have a progressive logical connection to his ultimate findings ; whether in reality they hold true, it would be quite profound to conceive in the idea.

To know specifically what I am talking about, you'll have to find out for yourself. READ VALIS!!!(less)

like · see review

Sep 27, 2009 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Dick, Philip K. VALIS. (1981). ***. Right off, I have to admit that this was a difficult book to read. It represented a new direction for the author, one away from science fiction to what I would describe as metaphysics. This novel was the first in a trilogy, that was later completed with “The Divine Invasion,” and “The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.” Most critics believe that it is in large part autobiographical, and represents Dick’s attempt to describe and/or define some mystical experienc...more

like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
First of a Trilogy??	6	71	Jan 20, 2013 11:53am
Philip K Dick: VALIS Group Read (Spoilers)	34	56	Aug 29, 2012 12:52pm

title link	preview: VALIS
avg rating	preview: VALIS Goodreads rating: 3.98 (9605 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216377.VALIS?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348199628l/216377.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216377.VALIS?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]VALIS by Philip K. Dick[/url]

VALIS (VALIS Trilogy #1)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (49)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Philip K. Dick

Books by Philip K. Dick

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About VALIS

Quotes from VALIS