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Our Friends from Frolix 8

3.53 of 5 stars 3.53 · rating details · 999 ratings · 41 reviews

For all the strange worlds borne of his vast and vivid imagination, Philip K. Dick was largely concerned with humanity’s most achingly familiar heartaches and struggles. In Our Friends From Frolix 8, he clashes private dreams against public battles in a fast-paced and provocative tale that ultimately addresses our salvation both as individuals and a whole.

Nick Appleton is...more

Paperback, 224 pages

Published July 16th 2009 by Vintage (first published 1970)

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Aug 18, 2011 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Unlike Philip K. Dick's previous two novels, 1969's "Ubik" and 1970's "A Maze of Death," his 27th full-length sci-fi book, "Our Friends From Frolix 8," was not released in a hardcover first edition. Rather, it first saw the light of day, later in 1970, as a 60-cent Ace paperback (no. 64400, for all you collectors out there). And whereas those two previous novels had showcased the author giving his favorite theme--the chimeralike nature of reality--a pretty thorough workout, "Our Friends" impress...more Unlike Philip K. Dick's previous two novels, 1969's "Ubik" and 1970's "A Maze of Death," his 27th full-length sci-fi book, "Our Friends From Frolix 8," was not released in a hardcover first edition. Rather, it first saw the light of day, later in 1970, as a 60-cent Ace paperback (no. 64400, for all you collectors out there). And whereas those two previous novels had showcased the author giving his favorite theme--the chimeralike nature of reality--a pretty thorough workout, "Our Friends" impresses the reader as a more "normal" piece of science fiction...although glints of Dickian strangeness do, of course, crop up.

Of all the Dick novels that I have read, "Our Friends" seems most reminiscent of 1964's "The Simulacra." Both books feature the downfall of entrenched, duplicitous governments and sport an extremely large cast of characters (56 named characters in the earlier book, 48 in the latter). In "Our Friends," the Earth of the 22nd century is ruled by an oligarchy of two ruling groups: the New Men, bubble-headed mutants with tremendous IQs, and the Unusuals, who command various telepathic, telekinetic and precognitive abilities. The overwhelming ruck of Earth's billions, the Old Men, are precluded from any sort of government/civil service employment and must make do with their menial-labor positions. In the book, we meet Nick Appleton ("the name a character in a book would have," he is told), a "tire regroover," who is shaken out of his mundane existence when his young son "fails" a rigged civil service exam. Swiftly becoming politicized, he drinks illegal alcohol, buys anti-government tracts from a feisty 16-year-old tomboy, and is soon embroiled in the thick of things in this Big Brotherish, dystopian world. A good thing, then, that Thors Provoni, a space wanderer who had left Earth a decade earlier to seek help for mankind's lot, is about to return...with a "90-ton, gelatinous mass of protoplasmic slime"; the telepathic, titular friend from Frolix 8.

Swiftly moving and filled with humorous touches, simply written yet complexly plotted, alternating furious action sequences with thought-provoking discourse, "Our Friends" is yet another delightful Dick confection. It finds the author dealing with some of his pet topics, such as divorce (Appleton leaves his wife during the course of the book; Council Chairman Willis Gram plots to kill his), Carl Jung ("A Maze of Death" was replete with Jungian subtext; he is referred to by Provoni as "the greatest of the human thinkers"), drug use (drugbars are ubiquitous in the novel, and every citizen seems to possess the knowledge of a Walgreens pharmacist) and 20th century fighter planes (this pet subject of Dick's had received especial attention in previous works such as 1967's "The Ganymede Takeover" and "Ubik"). Nick is an especially well-drawn everyman-type character, and the reader's sympathy for him never wavers, not even when he strikes his wife, Kleo (named after Dick's second wife out of five). No dummy, he recognizes the music of Victor Herbert and has a Yeats poem, "The Song of the Happy Shepherd," committed to memory. Charley, the young tomboy "gutter rat" with whom Nick has a rather icky love affair, is also memorable; in one sweet scene, the two make love in the one acre left of Central Park, and she spins around in circles, arms out, when Nick tells her that he loves her.

The book, however, good as it is, has its share of problems. As in "The Simulacra," several plot threads and characters simply peter out, never to be mentioned again. Worse, the author seems to be guilty here of a good deal of inconsistencies over the course of his story. For example, there is the matter of dates. We are told that the New Men have been in power for 50 years, since 2085. So the book takes place in 2135, right? But wait...Provoni later tells us that he was 18 years old in 2103, and now he's 105. So it's 2190, right? But hold on...his 10-year-old spaceship is a model from 2198. So it's 2208, right? See what I mean? Elsewhere, Dick mentions that there are 10,000 New Men and Unusuals on Earth; later, that figure changes to 10 million! He mentions that the army commands 64 different types of missiles; that figure is later said to be 70! He says that the government maintains detention camps in southwest Utah; later, they are said to be in southeast Utah! Provoni lands on Earth 1 1/2 hours earlier than expected; later, he is said to have landed eight hours earlier than expected! And perhaps most surprising, history buff Dick mentions that the name "Ashurbanipal" was Egyptian, whereas it is fairly common knowledge that the dude was Assyrian! (Granted, that last COULD be a bit of ignorance on Provoni's part.) Anyway, you get my point. Dick and his editors surely would have benefited from another rereading of their manuscript before publication. But despite all these many gaffs (very uncommon for this author, to my experience), the book is still as fun as can be. And really, how can you dislike any book with a 90-ton mass of telepathic slime?(less)

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Jul 11, 2010 Leigh-ann rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a novel that could have probably just been made into a short story with a good editor. Two minority groups of humans, one group with super-intelligence and one group that can read minds, end up controlling the government and the fate of a 6 billion+ plus majority of folks who are referred to as "Old Men" and who haven't evolved past the point of having average intelligence. The "Old Men" keep hold alive in the form of their hero, Thors Provoni, who left for the outer reaches of the gala...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Gregory Sadler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative-fiction

This is what I'd call a decent, respectable Phillip K. Dick book -- nowhere near the level of some of his novels, where he plays with, or rather puts to work tricky, paradoxical, or deep ideas from metaphysics, epistemology, psychoanalysis, ethics, or religion, binding them into the interwoven lives, desires, and transactions of ordinary and extraordinary people (e.g. The Man In the High Castle, Ubik, The Martian Time-Slip)-- but even Dick's coasting, writing one of the sorts of story that seeme...more This is what I'd call a decent, respectable Phillip K. Dick book -- nowhere near the level of some of his novels, where he plays with, or rather puts to work tricky, paradoxical, or deep ideas from metaphysics, epistemology, psychoanalysis, ethics, or religion, binding them into the interwoven lives, desires, and transactions of ordinary and extraordinary people (e.g. The Man In the High Castle, Ubik, The Martian Time-Slip)-- but even Dick's coasting, writing one of the sorts of story that seemed to be his forte (he also wrote some excellent "realistic" novels), is engaging, an entertaining read to go along with for the ride.

This novel sees some of the same themes that structure other Dickesian explorations -- a dystopic future state in which solving some problems faced by humanity has done little to fix the truly perennial ones seemingly inherent to the human condition, the paranoiac plots and fractures along lines just as often personal as ideological, moral and speculative introspection advancing the narrative like a kind of action all of its own, the clash of intellectual perspectives played out existentially. . . even a worn-through purported savior figure who turns out to be different from what he's expected to be.

The conflict coming to a head in this book stems from a stasis between two advanced kind-of superhuman groups -- the New Men and the Unusuals -- recently emerged from the mass of humanity, the Old Men. The New Men and Unusuals alternate holding and exercising elective power (and actually do distrust, sometimes despise, each other), but their real enemies are the Under Men -- those of the Old Men, ordinary human beings, who resent the putatively superior classes' stranglehold over politics, the all-present and influential civil service (which only New Mane and Unusuals can get into), the policed and surveilled society they've imposed. The Under Men distribute, read, reproduce, and live by hopes raised by tracts of the political prisoner, physics professor turned political theorist Eric Cordon.

Cordon's thoughts are continually transmitted to the underground movement, edited, and assembled into new tracts, the product of choice in a black marketplace of ideas -- pushed, analogously to illegal drugs (and most drugs are legal in this world, save alcohol), by unsavory types motivated more by wealth, power and rebelliousness than any ethical or political commitment. Cordon is just the thinker of the Old Men's revolt and resistance, however -- Thors Povoni is the actor, the agent, the doer.

Povoni left Earth's system ten years previous to the story's start, declaring his purpose to seek help out there, amongst the stars, for the Old Men, something, some ally, some new technology, anything that would even the otherwise impossibly stacked odds. As the story unfolds, it turns out that he has indeed found something, and that he is traveling back to Earth. This sets -- well, not events in motion, for they already are -- but new vectors of motion, impressing a new urgency to the powerful but also weary ruling decision-makers, bureaucracy, and police-state apparatus.

Arguably the most central character is Nick Armstrong, an Old Man working as a tire-regroover who, in the first chapter, brings his son to take the aptitude test which determines his classification, and thereby his fate, his possibilities in life -- not knowing that the test is actually rigged, even though other, more sour or cynical characters suggest it. Nick is an Everyman, in the most specific sense, picked out as a representative case by a supercomputer involved in the multilayered surveillance surreptitiously penetrating so many aspects of citizens' lives, and used to calculate likely outcomes and events from its analyzed data. Two of the most powerful members of the ruling body, the head of Police, Lloyd Barnes (a New Man), and the rather Churchillian Chairman, Willis Gram (an Unusual, possessing the gift of telepathy) -- whose lives end up intersecting with Armstrong, also view him as an augur of the average person.

That's probably enough glimpses of the characters and plot -- which are, again, done as well enough as they need to be in a Phillip K. Dick novel. One last thing I'd mention is that Dick employs his usual device of telling the story from multiple intersecting perspectives, those of his characters -- often at odds or counterpurposes with each other -- whose thoughts, motivations, choices, and realizations are integral to the unfolding of the tale. Dick provides much of the background, the world-constructing, through the interior reflections, and the dialogue -- often argumentative, even mistaken, or only partly worked out -- of his characters. That's a knack I've often admired in his greater novels, and it's just as well done in "Our Friends" -- there's just perhaps a bit less placed on the table in terms of grand philosophical ideas, even in terms of personal relationships and character development -- than in those other tales.(less)

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Jun 10, 2011 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

Whenever I read Philip K. Dick, I react in exactly the same way. The first few pages, I tell myself that, after all, he isn't very good. And then the jagged paranoiac genius of the man kicks in, takes hold, and carries me along. And what a ride it is! Some 200 years in the future, the earth is under the control of Willis Gram, a telepath who sits around all day in pajamas, robe, and slippers while his "New Men," geniuses with bloated heads, give him advice. If one is not an "Unusual" (telepath)...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Luke Devenish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a quirky little oddity. I haven't read Philip K Dick before - a somewhat embarrassing thing to admit - yet I'll certainly be reading him again, even though, I somewhat suspect, this isn't the finest example of his sci-fi genius. While certainly entertaining, this book is a bit like two hundred pages or so of extended foreplay. By the time the real excitement starts, it's all over in a hail of brainwaves. What I loved most was the telepathic Council Chairman Willis Gram, a hilarious villain,...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Matus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

some of his very best story telling.

then again, reading a pkd book these days is more like hanging out with an old and very close friend. even his usual psychological hangups are adorable (short dark haired girl appears to help (primary) narrator/pkd escape an ailing marriage; narrator/pkd is kindof a wimp, and self-conscious of this, but exhibits strength at surprising (to even himself) moments; the main players in events are not the (primary) narrator, and those players can be pretty epic; the...more

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Apr 14, 2012 William rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a tough one to review. Philip K. Dick is my favorite author mainly because his stories are not just stories, but incredibly imaginative thought experiments designed to explore philosophical and psychological questions.

Having said that, in technical terms, his actual writing is often not very good. From that perspective, this book is one of his worst. The characters are stiff and unbelievable. The dialogue is atrocious. There isn't much of a plot. The situation, however, is interesting, a...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Aries rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantascienza

Tra i tanti veri e propri capolavori scritti da Dick questo “Frolix-8” è quasi un fratello minore un po’ sfortunato, tanto che il genitore stesso l’ha poi messo da parte, considerandolo “non ben riuscito”.

Effettivamente l’impressione che si ha leggendolo è quella di un libro che non decolla del tutto, che parte con ottime idee e spunti (già sfruttati prima e dopo dall’autore) ma che non li fa esplodere come solo Dick sa fare.

Abbiamo uno stato di polizia, una società divisa tra Uomini Vecchi, Ins...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Patrick Nichols rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

What can you say about a book where the very premise is a Deus ex Machina? This is another discard from the Dick pile, with a familiar synopsis. Start off with a vaguely enticing but cliched concept - a future dominated by an "evolved" caste ruling over the dispirited plebs. Now this could raise disturbing and geeky questions about the repercussions of genetic supermen - a world where all men are not created equal. But PKD isn't interested in asking these questions. Instead, the authorial proxy...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Felix Zilich rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: aliens-among-us, dystopia

В недалеком будущем человечество поделено на людей высшей и простой категорий. Успешное прохождение федерального теста может обеспечить любому успешное попадание в десятитысячную элиту, которая реально и управляет этой планетой. Понятно, что далеко не все люди согласны с подобным положением вещей. Многие из них с риском для собственной жизни ведут подпольную борьбу и издают запрещенную литературу, утвераждающую, что все люди равны. Вполне логично, что новое правительство выслеживает и жестоко ка...more В недалеком будущем человечество поделено на людей высшей и простой категорий. Успешное прохождение федерального теста может обеспечить любому успешное попадание в десятитысячную элиту, которая реально и управляет этой планетой. Понятно, что далеко не все люди согласны с подобным положением вещей. Многие из них с риском для собственной жизни ведут подпольную борьбу и издают запрещенную литературу, утвераждающую, что все люди равны. Вполне логично, что новое правительство выслеживает и жестоко карает подобных людей. Но подпольщики все равно не отчаиваются, потому что у них всегда остается надежда. Они верят в одного из своих лидеров Торса Провони , который пять лет назад отправился к другим мирам на поиски помощи.

И вот на этой неделе подпольщики получили сообщение о том, что он возвращается и при этом не один. Его бессмертные союзники с Фроликса-8 продемонстрировали неожиданное и подозрительное желание помочь угнетаемому человечеству. О цене этой помощи никто так и не спросил…

Один из самых последних и при этом самых удачных “классических диков”. С неизбежной для автора юной шизофреничкой, серым лузером “от сохи” и самым ярким диковским антигероем. Председатель Совета Уиллис Грэм –мерзкий подонок, от которого при этом все равно испытываешь полный восторг. У писателя бывали и раньше циничные вожаки, но этот, без сомнения. лучше всех. Даже в самом финале романе Грэм оказывается единственным вменяемым участником происходящего на Земле армагеддона.

Финал произведения открыт. Обычно это добавляет любой книге оптимизма, но только не в этом конкретном случае. Будущее цивилизации рисуется лично для меня в своих самых мрачных цветах. Нужно отметить, что у писателя редко бывают удачные законченные финалы, но здесь мы видим лучший пример обратного. Отсутствие финальной точки очень сильно играет произведению на плюс.

Любопытно, что самая интересная тема романа – это тема алкоголя, который в этом антиутопическом обществе строго запрещен. История о том, как автомеханик Ник Эпплтон стал врагом государства, началась с того, что он всего лишь согласился выпить со своим шефом пива. Поэтому и самым опасным персонажем книги оказываются не мутанты и не пришельцы, а молодой барыга-алкоголик. Возможно, в подобном сюжетном ходе отразилась ирония писателя по поводу запрета на употребление легких наркотиков. (2006.01.31)(less)

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Jun 01, 2012 Thom Foolery rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf, fiction, aliens, dystopia, paranoia, politics, philip-k-dick

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

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Feb 05, 2013 Cathy Ponybutcher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Because it's PKD in between 'just' ace storytelling and going hard on God and issues of people who relate somehow to the problem of the Valentinian Gnosticism and Qumran Scrolls and finding enough pills to go on for the next days (or hours, if the sky is faling - "ain't no need to panic") and contact with civillisations far advanced beyond ours (*rolls eyes* what an amphetamine idea, tweak), it cannot be different then most highly recommended.

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Sep 07, 2012 Bold Bookworm rated it 5 of 5 stars

PKD begs the question “what would happen if a member of the oppressed demographics of mankind was technologically able to flee Earth in search of extraterrestrial help, find it and return?” ...

Read the entire review: http://boldbookworm.com/f8032411.html

~ BB

http://boldbookworm.com

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Dec 18, 2008 Ryan Mishap rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

One of those author's I like simply because I thought I was supposed to, having seen that Blade Runner movie and all when young. But, once I read his books, I find I don't enjoy any of them. I haven't talked about what's in the book because it doesn't matter. It's science fiction, eh.

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Apr 05, 2013 Jared Zehm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another good short read ~ if you know Phil you know he's good ~ almost everything I've read from him has enough substance and wit to see me through with no boredom. A nice little tale about impending doom on Earth and benevolent beings coming to try and sort out our stupidity ~

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Jun 30, 2011 Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars

I actually enjoyed the novel despite the incredibly shallow characters. It was a fun book, but fell flat at the end. Of the 2-3 story threads, none were fleshed out satisfactorily, and some good ideas were left unfinished (as is common from Philip K Dick).

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Sep 05, 2011 James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, i-own-a-copy, 2-stars, read-in-naughties, reviewed, waterstones-sffh-list

I'll be honest, I didn't really get it. As a huge fan of a lot of his other work (I'll resist the urge to suggest I'm a fan of Dick). And, I wanted to love it, I really did. I just didn't get it.

Maybe I'll give it another go sometime...

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Jul 11, 2009 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Better than I had anticipated based on prior reviews. Still not the best work by PKD. Some intriguing elements, but devoid of the what I like about his work...no psychological damage to the author or overlying realities. Mass psychological damage to an entire caste of people though...

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Feb 17, 2013 William Ramsdell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Dick has the classic Asimov 1950's feel in his laser guns and flying cars, but the plot has truly mature and interesting twists, and there are lots of them.

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Dec 29, 2011 Will Siss rated it 3 of 5 stars

Engaging for the first two thirds, but lost me toward the end, which has happened to me before with PKD (Dr. Bloodmoney). I believe the metaphor in this book is about racial prejudice but I'm not 100 percent on that. Most awkard sex scene ever also included.

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Dec 20, 2011 Daniel Díez rated it 3 of 5 stars

Una novela muy interesante pero un tanto deslavazada. Como si la hubiera escrito deprisa y corriendo.

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Dec 18, 2012 Charles Wyatt rated it 5 of 5 stars

wonderful book, hopefully a movie some day but no real ending. someone would have to find a decent ending otherwise it would never be made.

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Aug 12, 2012 Kilburn Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another awesome book by Philip K Dick. Still so many of his books to read. I'm so glad he was was such a prolific writer.

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Dec 08, 2008 Is Allen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Better than 'Do Androids...' - am keen to read everything the man ever wrote!

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Feb 22, 2013 Egil rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my favorites!! Such an entertaining story, quick pace and very fun

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Apr 09, 2013 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's Philip.
Therefore, it's probably good. And this one is.

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Feb 08, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Dick fans

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: sf

This one's a mixed bag. It is definitely not one of Dick's better novels, its theme being more political than philosophical, but I like the democratic and egalitarian sympathies he displays in much of his work and found his portrayal of some of the characters at the bottom of the social heap to be both amusingly absurd and amusing at the same time. Dick's "heroes" are often Everyman and Everywoman types.

I read this one up at my paternal grandmother's cottage in SW Michigan during a cool evening...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Charles Baudelaire rated it 4 of 5 stars

damn good fun. kind of a sexy space couple

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Oct 06, 2011 C.A. Chicoine rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is yet another book that I began reading a couple years or so ago and hadn't finished until now. Although I made it half-way through the first time, I had to re-read it from the beginning. And what made it worse this round was I read it sporadically -- and in small doses -- because of my recent schedule.

The book was an interesting read, but certainly NOT among PKDs' better works.

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Jul 15, 2012 Nick Brown rated it 2 of 5 stars

not his best...

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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 Our Friends from Frolix 8

“God is dead,' Nick said. 'They found his carcass in 2019. Floating in space near Alpha.'

'They found the remains of an organism advanced several thousand times over what we are,' Charley said. 'And evidently could create habitable worlds and populate them with living organisms, derived from itself. But that doesn't prove it was God.” — 39 people liked it

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