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The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 10,576 ratings · 483 reviews

In this wildly disorienting funhouse of a novel, populated by God-like--or perhaps Satanic--takeover artists and corporate psychics, Philip K. Dick explores mysteries that were once the property of St. Paul and Aquinas. His wit, compassion, and knife-edged irony make The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch moving as well as genuinely visionary.

Cover Artist: Bob Pepper

Mass Market Paperback, 192 pages

Published March 1st 1983 by DAW (first published 1965)

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Oct 19, 2011 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

As usual, Phillip K. Dick has left me with spirally eyes and a whirring brain. I'd like to give a plot summary, but I'll let someone else do that and egotistically save this space for my own musings: http://www.philipkdickfans.com/ttsopa... There are summaries I found that I like better, but this one provides a useful foil against which to formulate my own thoughts about this book, which rather has my mind tied in knots. To start with, I don't see the book's theme as revolving around drugs and h...more As usual, Phillip K. Dick has left me with spirally eyes and a whirring brain. I'd like to give a plot summary, but I'll let someone else do that and egotistically save this space for my own musings: http://www.philipkdickfans.com/ttsopa... There are summaries I found that I like better, but this one provides a useful foil against which to formulate my own thoughts about this book, which rather has my mind tied in knots. To start with, I don't see the book's theme as revolving around drugs and hallucinations, cut and dry. Rather, I see it as questioning the relationship between a drug experience or hallucination and a bona fide religious experience. This reader saw Can-D as the "mere" drug, the one reliant on Perky Pat mini-worlds and the one where the drug experience is clearly demarcated from and never confused with the "real" world. In contrast, Palmer Eldritch's Chew-Z provides a fundamentally different experience. Takers of Chew-Z (and Dick's readers, once the substance has been taken by two main characters, Leo Bulero and Barney Mayerson) cannot separate the drug experience from reality. They do not simply wake up from their trip (or "translation" as Dick has it) and leave it behind. The drug punches a hole in the usually non-permeable layer between hallucination and reality. In the end this confusion of hallucination and reality only poses the question of whether what we call hallucination is not true reality, and sobriety (or "reality") the veil we cast over it so that we don't go bonkers by embracing the truth, the *really* real. Leo's and Barney's Chew-Z experiences are hellish, and other users describe their experiences the same way because in each case, for each person, Palmer Eldritch seems to be in control of their hallucination, in control of the world in which they find themselves. And when they think they've awoken from the trip, it is only to have friends or coworkers suddenly morph into Eldritch (they appear with Eldritch's prostheses, his three distinctive physical, and nonbiological traits - his three stigmata), demonstrating that users are still in the thrall of Chew-Z...and of Eldritch who, we grow to understand, is not the man who left earth 10 years ago, but some entity controlling his body and perpetuating itself through the use of Chew-Z. As Barney Mayerson comes to understand (or believe he understands - and I'm inclined to agree with him), the thing occupying Eldritch is outside of time and indescribably ancient. It falls so beyond human understanding that the closest way Barney, an atheist, can describe it is through reference to God. I wish I had the book here in front of me and I'd quote, but I have to paraphrase - humans call it God, because they need something to call it, but it's beyond understanding simply on the merit of being so damned old, so damned different from humans. This is also the reason Eldritch and the Chew-Z "translations" come across as hellish - they are simply so alien from humanity as to feel palpably "other", positively ahuman - and part of their alien-ness is a kind of amorality, which is not to be confused with immorality. The Eldritch-creature wishes no harm (no spiritual harm, physical harm is another matter), but perhaps doesn't know how to do good, in our common human sense of the word. The final fascinating thoughts on this topic go to Anne Hathaway, a neo-Christian colonist on Mars, who instructs Barney about ontology - you must not confuse the pot with the potter, she warns him. Do not confuse the creation with the creator, the matter with the substance, the vessel with the contents. And I suppose that's all meant to imply that even the stigmata of Palmer Eldritch are just vessels in that metaphor, containing something we really can't describe or ever know. Even when we've brushed right up against it and are only separated from it by the thinnest of membranes. (less)

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Jul 01, 2009 R. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Cyberpunks and Christians

Shelves: 2009

An incredibly prescient satire on multimedia* addiction - losing oneself in artificial environments to escape (or at least muffle) an undesirable reality.

The picture PKD paints of the sad Martian colonists taking drugs and playing with dolls (becoming one with the dolls) reminds me of the...stereotypical...image the world has of the American nerd stuffing himself with junkfood and playing Sims, losing track of the time, of the day while living a better - or at least dynamic - life on a more vib...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Apatt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading this book felt a bit like dreaming, after a while it became like a dream within a dream, soon after it became like full on Inception!.

Without going into the synopsis in any detail (;) this novel features a drug induced virtual reality, initially with the aid of Ken and Barbie-like dolls in their nicely furnished dollhouse. The VR sessions are called "translations", a very popular past time in the hellish Mars colony. The drug is caled Can-D, later on a new type of drug called Chew-Z com...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Matthew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Hardcore Philip K. Dick fans

I'm a fan of Philip K. Dick, but I read his stuff years ago. I eagerly sought this book out because I heard from a couple of people that this one was one of his best. Maybe I merely disagree, maybe my affection for PKD has waned, maybe I need more now than he can give.

Dick is famous for his drug use and for taking speed before cranking out an entire novel in fifteen hours flat. This book, to me, feels like his most drug-influenced book. Not because of his crazy ideas, those are to be expected. I...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Nate D rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Searching for meaning in drugs, god, corporate culture, human evolution. And then searching for meaning directly from and of a god -- of sorts. Completely berserk in terms of pacing and plotting, and borders on incoherency in the second half, but totally worth it anyway. Dick's conceptual reach exceeds his grasp by a decent margin but the reach is broad and esoteric and stimulating nonetheless.

Incidentally, the covers for the old editions of his are so much better than the one I've got:

I mean, i...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Lemar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

I heard about Philip K. Dick through the movie Blade Runner and am a fan of Jonathan Lethem's books. He wrote an introduction to a recent Dick collection. This book is a fascinating immersion into the question of how our essential self recognizes reality and struggles to remain buoyant when drugs and brainwashing swamp our senses.

The prose is smart and often funny. It's not a spoiler to say that in this future Earth some citizens are drafted to be colonists on often hellishly brutal planets. On...more

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May 09, 2008 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-in-2008, first-time-reading-author

First experience with Philip K. Dick. Enjoyable story about rival drugs in the distant future and the battle between their owners for domination. Ties into United Nations colonies on Mars with forcibly relocated individuals who need the drug as a link to their past on earth

A bit heavy on plot and sheer volume of mind bending ideas (earth too hot to exist outside, gene therapy, virtual drug induced worlds, alien encroachment into solar system, colonies on other planets, future seeing individuals,...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Jack Stovold added it · review of another edition

My Philip K. Dick Project

Entry #33 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (written early 1964, published Nov. 1964)

For anyone's who ever entertained the paranoid fantasy that nothing is really real, or that it's all in your head, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch will do little to allay your fears, and that is what makes it so terrifying. Once you've had even a taste of Chew-Z, the new drug mysterious industrialist Palmer Eldritch has brought back with from the Proxima Centauri system, you...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Steve rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science, fiction

In the future, Earth has many colonies where life is hard, and there is nothing much but work. Except Can-D, the illegal drug that enables the colonists to experience shared virtual reality experiences, far removed from their drab lives. For the manufacturer of Can-D, times are good. Until that is, the entrepeneur Palmer Eldtritch returns from his trip outside the solar sytem, bringing with him Chew-Z, which gives anyone whatever they want. But Palmer Eldritch rules as God in everyone� s virtual...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awesome-books

No other author has the power to make me question reality quite like Philip K. Dick. The basis of THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH is a great example of this.

The story takes place in a time when we've colonized every habital planet in the solar system. The people living in these colonies live such a tedious and miserable existence that they resort to living vicariously through a doll and playset called Perky Pat with the help of an illegal drug called Can-D (which is sold to them by the co...more

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May 02, 2013 Lise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Weird. Strange. These are the words that describe this book to me most. So, I had to go on the net to figure out if Philip had written about a LSD trip he'd had or whether the novel was just part of an avant-garde milieu. I can't really say that I found a satisfactory answer, so this is what it is. While the technology in this books was dated, the book itself could have been written today by someone with the right mind-set (not mine obviously).

"The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" was first pu...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Isidora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Και μόνο με μια πρώτη ανάγνωση της βασικής πλοκής ήξερα ότι θα ήταν δύσκολο να προτείνω αυτό το βιβλίο σε κάποιον μη εξοικειωμένο με λογοτεχνία ΕΦ: οι σύμβουλοι προ-μόδας της εταιρίας Μελέτες Κατασκευών Η Πεταχτούλα Πατ, ένας μυστηριώδης Πάλμερ Έλντριτς που μόλις επέστρεψε (;) από ένα ομοίως μυστηριώδες διαστρικό ταξίδι, η μανιώδης κατανάλωση περίεργων και (όχι τόσο;) παράνομων ναρκωτικών από αποίκους στον Άρη...
Βέβαια, εξοικειωμένος είτε όχι, ο αναγνώστης της συναρπαστικής και καλογραμμένης αυ...more Και μόνο με μια πρώτη ανάγνωση της βασικής πλοκής ήξερα ότι θα ήταν δύσκολο να προτείνω αυτό το βιβλίο σε κάποιον μη εξοικειωμένο με λογοτεχνία ΕΦ: οι σύμβουλοι προ-μόδας της εταιρίας Μελέτες Κατασκευών Η Πεταχτούλα Πατ, ένας μυστηριώδης Πάλμερ Έλντριτς που μόλις επέστρεψε (;) από ένα ομοίως μυστηριώδες διαστρικό ταξίδι, η μανιώδης κατανάλωση περίεργων και (όχι τόσο;) παράνομων ναρκωτικών από αποίκους στον Άρη...
Βέβαια, εξοικειωμένος είτε όχι, ο αναγνώστης της συναρπαστικής και καλογραμμένης αυτής νουβέλας του Dick (1965) είναι σίγουρο ότι δεν θα πλήξει. Με μαεστρία που μου θύμισε το eXistenZ του Cronenberg (1999, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz) ο Dick με ξεναγεί σε μια πραγματικότητα που πλέει σε μια πραγματικότητα που πλέει σε μια πραγματικότητα. Θίγει θέματα που άπτονται της σφαίρας του πνευματικού, όπως και το ρόλο των ναρκωτικών ως μέσο «απόδρασης» από τον ανθρώπινο πόνο.
Αν και δικαίως ανήκει στα ‘60s, η τρελή αυτή ιστορία παραμένει προφητική και εμπνέει τη σκέψη μου να δοκιμάσει ξανά (και ξανά) τα όρια μεταξύ προσωπικού και συλλογικού, πραγματικού και ονειρικού. Για μένα, αυτό είναι τέχνη! Και αυτό είναι ΕΦ!!
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Apr 21, 2013 Johanna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I must confess, I have never read much science fiction writing so I am unsure how this novel compares to others within its genre. One thing I am sure of is that this may be one of the oddest and strangely wonderful books I have ever come across. After reading this book, I think it would be impossible for someone who was not suffering from self-confessed hallucinations to write a novel that is so strange and yet so humanistic. The essence of each character is superbly communicated in a mixture of...more I must confess, I have never read much science fiction writing so I am unsure how this novel compares to others within its genre. One thing I am sure of is that this may be one of the oddest and strangely wonderful books I have ever come across. After reading this book, I think it would be impossible for someone who was not suffering from self-confessed hallucinations to write a novel that is so strange and yet so humanistic. The essence of each character is superbly communicated in a mixture of loneliness and personal greed. In a world where power comes from the company who controls the drug supply, you can expect a certain instability in a majority of Dick’s characters. This instability is magnified to a surrealistic point when the hallucinogenic substance Chew-Z is ingested.

In this futuristic world of precogs and colonisation, Earth as we know it has changed drastically. The outside temperatures are so high that prolonged exposure would kill a man within minutes. The government solution is to colonise surrounding planets; however, the conditions on the recently colonised planets are even more terrible than those on Earth. Colonists frequently abuse a drug called CAN-D, which causes users to enter a shared illusion where all women inhabit the body of Perky Pat and all men inhabit the body of Pat’s boyfriend Walt. The UN is more than happy to turn a blind eye to the extensive drug culture within the colonies as long as CAN-D is banned from Earth. But when a new drug, called Chew-Z, seeks to replace CAN-D a host of problems arise. Chew-Z has been introduced by recently recovered renegade colonist Palmer Eldritch. The drug promises to create a higher spiritual experience that is superior to the one users encounter under the influence of CAN-D. In reality, Chew-Z offers a kind of immortality to Eldritch in which he is master over everyone’s hallucinogenic experiences once they have fallen victim to Chew-Z. The UN can only advocate the use of one drug on the market which sends the company behind the pushing of CAN-D and Perky Pat into a tailspin.

The aftermath of reading this novel is that I now have a much higher appreciation for science fiction and a desire to read more Phillip K. Dick. To me this novel reminded me of a cross-breeding of traditional science fiction combined with the hallucinogenic nightmares found in the writing of the beat-generation – and that’s pretty awesome.
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Nov 22, 2012 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scififantasy, has-good-review

I wonder what it is about dream sequences in stories that makes them so dissatisfying. There is the obvious sense of feeling cheated; the reader/viewer builds up a relationship with a character. If it turns out that relationship was built on false premises, on nonsense, we feel conned, mocked even. Our trust in the author was broken.

Yet at the same time, what does it matter? The story within a book or a film is more or less just a higher level dream sequence, isn't it?

The Three Stigmata is full...more I wonder what it is about dream sequences in stories that makes them so dissatisfying. There is the obvious sense of feeling cheated; the reader/viewer builds up a relationship with a character. If it turns out that relationship was built on false premises, on nonsense, we feel conned, mocked even. Our trust in the author was broken.

Yet at the same time, what does it matter? The story within a book or a film is more or less just a higher level dream sequence, isn't it?

The Three Stigmata is full of PKD hallmarks. Sentient appliances. Precogs. And the blurring of the line between reality and fantasy, hallucination and sense. Yet while the other PKDs I've read managed to maintain a life-line back to reality, The Three Stigmata sets us adrift.

The major gist of the Three Stigmata is this: the Earth is a harsh place to live. In his own act of precognition, PKD foresaw the global warming epidemic that we would face. It's so hot that you can't go outside without a proper suit. As such, the UN (implied to be the only government left standing) has begun drafting citizens to become colonists on other planets, notably Mars.

Mars sucks. Nothing grows. Telepathic jackals feed on colonists. In order to combat this dreariness, colonists use a dollhouse and a drug called Can-D (get it?) to transport themselves into the better life of Perky Pat, the doll of the dollhouse. If that sounds a little trippy, it is. But it's not all that much of a stretch. Don't we do the same thing with television today? Live vicariously through others?

But then Palmer Eldritch arrives with an alternative to Can-D, a drug he's calling Chew-Z, and that's when the reader is shortly set adrift.

There comes a point, about mid-way, that we can no longer be sure what is, or is not, reality. You read on, thinking it to be clarified, but it never is, not quite. What is real, what is fiction? We don't know.

That was PKD's point and it was aptly done.

Yet when I open a book, I am not seeking an open-ended experience. What I like most about books is that they end. No matter what horrible things might happen to our protagonists, we know that it will be over for us. Even the happiness we might feel when trapped within the pages will eventually go away. It's not like life. It doesn't keep going on and on. Our happinesses don't grow wearied and atrophied. We don't have to replace them with new ones. A book is a self-contained unit, a story with a clear beginning and a clear end. It always begins on page 1 and always ends on page X.

So I take issue with the blurring of reality in Three Stigmata. It was not satisfying to me. I don't need a book to tell me how subjective consciousness and reality is. Every single day of my life tells me that.

It was a good book, for all of that, but I'd take PKD's Ubik over Three Stigmata any day o' the week.(less)

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Nov 19, 2012 Raúl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

El libro más desquiciado del mundo

Han pasado 45 años desde la publicación de Los tres estigmas de Palmer Eldritch, de Philip Dick. Una de las mejores novelas de ciencia ficción de todos los tiempos es también una historia alucinada y febril, llena de droga, paranoia y un anti héroe envuelto en las contrariedades de un mundo dominado por una figura satánica y misteriosa: Palmer Eldritch.

Hay una pastilla que se mastica y que te lleva a un mundo irreal mientras tu cuerpo físico yace inerte, allí, d...more El libro más desquiciado del mundo

Han pasado 45 años desde la publicación de Los tres estigmas de Palmer Eldritch, de Philip Dick. Una de las mejores novelas de ciencia ficción de todos los tiempos es también una historia alucinada y febril, llena de droga, paranoia y un anti héroe envuelto en las contrariedades de un mundo dominado por una figura satánica y misteriosa: Palmer Eldritch.

Hay una pastilla que se mastica y que te lleva a un mundo irreal mientras tu cuerpo físico yace inerte, allí, donde sea que te haya hecho efecto. El Can D, además, es la más social de todas, porque te permite crear alucinaciones colectivas. Se trata de una sustancia ilegal que de paso sostiene una millonaria industria, la de Equipos PP. ¿Y a qué se dedica Equipos PP?, nada menos que a fabricar una serie de artículos en miniatura relacionados con una muñeca estilo Barbie llamada Perky Pat. Oficialmente, una manera de jugar y hacer más llevadera la miserable vida en un mundo calcinado por la radiación solar. Pero la verdad es diferente, porque las miniaturas de sillones, autos y artículos de Pat se usan para fines mucho menos prosaicos. Estos se colocan cerca del lugar donde se llevará a cabo la ingesta de Can D y cuando el colocón se materializa, entras de inmediato a un mundo de maravilla, de autos descapotables, playas de arenas blancas y libertad sexual a destajo.

Pero como toda droga y los millones implícitos en ella, existe otra que le hace la competencia. El Chew Z es más potente aún y de quien la fabrica se sabe poco; sólo que es poderoso, millonario y que su nave se ha estrellado en algún lugar de la galaxia. Palmer Eldritch anda suelto y el mandamás de Equipos PP, Leo Bulero, ve tambalear su imperio.

Para solucionar las cosas, se le encomienda a Barney Mayerson y sus habilidades precog, estar a la altura de las circunstancias. Debe matar a Eldritch, pero aquella titánica misión no sólo lo llevará a la superficie de la Luna o a decadentes refugios marcianos, sino que a perder el control. Así es, Mayerson es un adicto que se cambia de droga, y los resultados son inimaginables.

Los tres estigmas de Palmer Eldritch es la novela número 14 del prolífico autor de ¿Sueñan los androides con ovejas eléctricas?, llevada al cine bajo el nombre de Blade Runner y detonador de su fama póstuma. Nada fue igual desde aquella obra maestra y Hollywood no ha parado de llevar a la pantalla grande película tras película inspirada en las historias de un escritor fallecido el 2 de marzo de 1982. Dick, quien en vida padeció las penurias de la inestabilidad psíquica y la narco dependencia (pentotal sódico), construyó Los tres estigmas de Palmer Eldritch no sólo como una alegoría a las drogas y sus efectos, sino como una aguda crítica a la religión, la corrupción industrial y al destino errático de la humanidad. En este libro se ejecuta con habilidad el objetivo más profundo de su visión sobre el futuro, algo que va mucho más allá de la evolución técnica y que se conecta más bien con las múltiples y nuevas formas que toma el miedo entre los seres humanos. ¿Ciencia ficción de matiné? no gracias, prefiero leer a Philip Dick.(less)

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Nov 07, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction

When I was a kid, I loved to watch the James Bond movies on TV. My dad was a fan, too, and every time one of them aired, we'd sit down together and watch it, commercials and all. But I could not then, nor could I now, tell you which Bond movie involved which plot, or which villains, or which Bond girls, etc., with a few obvious exceptions (Goldfinger, of course, as well as Moonraker, Goldeneye, and a few others). They all kind of blended together into one big, entertaining mash of improbable vil...more When I was a kid, I loved to watch the James Bond movies on TV. My dad was a fan, too, and every time one of them aired, we'd sit down together and watch it, commercials and all. But I could not then, nor could I now, tell you which Bond movie involved which plot, or which villains, or which Bond girls, etc., with a few obvious exceptions (Goldfinger, of course, as well as Moonraker, Goldeneye, and a few others). They all kind of blended together into one big, entertaining mash of improbable villain hideouts, cool gadgets, droll one-liners, and half-naked girls.

Although many of Philip K. Dick's books are truly distinctive and unique, there are a handful that utilize his favorite tropes to the point where one could argue that they are somewhat interchangeable. For PKD, such tropes include an earth that's gone to hell--and, by comparison, off-world colonies that make that hell-on-earth look positively idyllic to the book's more unfortunate characters; weird artificial-intelligence objects (such as sentient taxicabs or suitcase psychiatrists); intense, life-altering psychotropic drugs that often trap their users in a parallel nightmare world; nagging questions of identity; characters with superhuman abilities (such as precognizance or evolved intelligence) that nonetheless don't seem to help that person very much in life; all-too-human alien entities; religious uncertainty; struggles with moral ambiguity; etc.

The thing is, some of PKD's books that use these tropes are better than others, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is one of the best. What I particularly like about Three Stigmata is the main character's journey. Barney Mayerson is a bit of a jerk in the beginning; self-centered, petty, coldhearted, power hungry at work. But by the end of the book he's started to do everything he can to atone for his sins and flaws. He's not what I'd call a hero, but he's one of PKD's more effective human characters.

If you've never read a PKD book before and you're wondering where to start, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a pretty good choice.(less)

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Oct 07, 2012 Babak Fakhamzadeh rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Dick is astounding in some of the subjects he uses: global warming, the internet, born again Christians and homeopapes, best described as, yes, iPads. And this from a 1964 science fiction novel, written nearly an astonishing 50 years ago, but still reading as fresh as if it was penned yesterday. And the book has precogs!
This is one of Dick's finest novels, mixing outlandish themes with crossovers into alternate realities as well as questioning the meaning and purpose of religion. In the (now) n...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Bengt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You know that one scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Dr. Gonzo says, "I think I'm getting the fear?" Now imagine that, but instead of Dr. Gonzo it's me, and instead of mescaline it's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and instead of Circus Circus it's in the middle of a packed Indian restaurant. That was me, last night, a chapter away from finishing not only my new favorite book ever, but also the first book (or an idea within) to ever almost give me a full-blown panic attack.

Wi...more You know that one scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Dr. Gonzo says, "I think I'm getting the fear?" Now imagine that, but instead of Dr. Gonzo it's me, and instead of mescaline it's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and instead of Circus Circus it's in the middle of a packed Indian restaurant. That was me, last night, a chapter away from finishing not only my new favorite book ever, but also the first book (or an idea within) to ever almost give me a full-blown panic attack.

With regards to The Three Stigmata Philip K. Dick himself probably said it best: "it was an extraordinary book -- so extraordinary that it may have no peer. It may be a unique book in the history of writing -- nothing was ever done like this. And then I've read it over and thought it was completely crazy, just insane; not about insanity, it is insanity. God, it's a weird book." (from D. Scott Apel's The Dream Connection)

And that's exactly what makes it so great. On the surface, though, the book sounds almost absurdly not worthwhile: the story follows the artificially evolved Leo Bulero and his precog employee Barney Mayerson, who work at P.P. Layouts Inc., and make miniature objects to accessorize layouts for a Barbie-esque figure named Perky Pat and her boyfriend Walt. However, despondent colonists on Mars covertly use these layouts alongside a drug called Can-D, which transports the user into the world of Pat and Walt (or is it just back to Earth?) for a brief period of time. That is, until Palmer Eldritch returns under mysterious circumstances from galaxies far and away with a new drug, Chew-Z, whose slogan goes "God promises eternal life. We deliver it." At this point, things truly are not what they seem.

Without spoiling anything, the novel quickly spirals into bizarre multi-layered realms of hallucination, time, ontology, etc. There are of course a multitude of parallels to be made in the modern world -- be it technology/media or the proliferation of outre drugs like Salvia, but the real profundity of this novel lies in its ontological and spiritual exploration, which I think most people fail to fully appreciate, as did the author in several interviews. My first PKD novel was VALIS, which also explored similarly blurred lines of philosophy, theology, and reality, but The Three Stigmata is like a much cleaner, more powerful, and somehow more organized trip than the former. And if that's the kind of thing that turns you on, then you'll find here a plethora of ideas to scratch your head at. Until it bleeds.

This is not light reading -- this is crushingly heavy metaphysics that can potentially have a profound, haunting effect on you. My earlier anecdote about the panic attack wasn't a joke. I read another interview where Dick was quoted as saying he was so terrified by what this novel possibly entailed that he refused to edit what the publisher sent back, since he'd have to read it again. The Three Stigmata is quite akin to a hallucinogen itself -- the same anxieties of the unknown, the same double-edged threat of a cripplingly bad trip, the same profound unanswered questions to explore. But, also like hallucinogens, they can be radically mind-opening and, depending on the person, highly recommended. The uninitiated, casual reader will leave this novel confused and dismissive. But for those of you who have made it a point to explore the recesses and possibilities of both mind and reality, you'll walk away far more confused (in a good way!)... and possibly quite hungry, depending on whether or not it hits you, like me, right in the middle of your dinner.(less)

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Aug 10, 2012 Hugo Schoen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

The best sci-fi novels engage the reader with questions of their own humanity on current terms. Space travel, advanced robotics and interactions with alien species can be fascinating, yet, without the deep human aspect involved the story itself becomes nil. The fact that 'The Three Stigamata of Palmer Eldritch' addresses an overheated Earth, and the beginning stages of the colonization of Mars, issues that are raised in our current consciousness are fascinating considering this novel was written...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Adam rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900-1969, prose

Between the ages of 13/14-18, I mostly read genre fiction, lots of SF and non-hardboiled detective fiction especially. All the PKD books I had read I had read in this period, and I was a fan, but probably for the wrong reasons. I don't mean to sound like I think I've grown beyond SF. In a sense, it's a shame that I read so much SF at that age, because then all of it was about how much of a mindfuck a book was, how inventive, etc. and I missed the philosophical and emotional weight of many of the...more Between the ages of 13/14-18, I mostly read genre fiction, lots of SF and non-hardboiled detective fiction especially. All the PKD books I had read I had read in this period, and I was a fan, but probably for the wrong reasons. I don't mean to sound like I think I've grown beyond SF. In a sense, it's a shame that I read so much SF at that age, because then all of it was about how much of a mindfuck a book was, how inventive, etc. and I missed the philosophical and emotional weight of many of the renowned novels I read during that period. PKD is an acute example. I honestly recall liking PKD because his novels were wacky and frenetic and seemingly insane. I had a general sense of what was going on on a deeper level, but no interest in thinking about it.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch was not a PKD novel I'd read before, but I'd rather it was. I imagine this book would have had a tremendous influence on me, and I probably would have made myself even less well-liked in high school with my ceaseless rantings on the subject. This is one tremendously mind-bending mind-fucky book. It's nearly entirely conceptual; characters exist merely to allow for ideas to bounce around chaotically. Drugs, religion, gene therapy, human civilization in diasporic disarray. And some of this book's treatment of these issues is intelligent, but for the most part it reads like PKD had a list of things to write about, and sat down, took amphetamine, and proceeded to write about said things. It's got the crucial elements of great SF: a keen conceptual sense, a vivid setting, and social awareness in the form of an understanding of the human condition that transcends the specific time and place of writing. But it feels strangely incomplete despite its obvious completeness; it feels something like a rough draft, a jumble of scenes and concepts.

Basically, it's a book with a lot of stuff going on that I, at 15-16, would have referred to as "really cool," "intense," and even "dope as fuck." Reading it now, I suspect that I'd find more to like about PKD novels I was relatively disappointed in back then, A Scanner Darkly and Ubik come to mind, than this book. That's not to say this book is adolescent; I'm just pointing out that its flaws make it the kind of book that smug teenagers would probably get really into. When we studied Vonnegut in high school, I remember talking to fellow smug, self-satisfied outcasts about what we'd read, and us just talking about all the "cool shit" in Vonnegut, but never about the sadness and philosophical weight of his writing, and it all seems so narrow to me now. Palmer Eldritch is all "cool shit" and while providing food for thought and genuinely interesting concepts, PKD's treatment of what he comes up with is perfunctory and shallow, though still mostly engaging.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 John Dawson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In an interview, Philip K. Dick said about his own novel:

"I have read [3 Stigmata] and have the distinct impression that it was an extraordinary book -- so extraordinary that it may have no peer. It may be a unique book in the history of writing --nothing was ever done like this. And then I've read it over and thought it was completely crazy, just insane; not about insanity, it is insanity. God, it's a weird book."

The novel is mind-bending. If you don't think too much about it while reading it,...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Bill added it · review of another edition

I just finished rereading this recently. Just like I remember from the first time I read it, it starts off engaging but becomes a bit of a slog later on. Not coincidentally, it also starts off with a standard plot, but then descends into the kind of confusion you only really see in a PKD novel.

I didn't like this book as much as I did when I first read it. If there's one thing that pulls most sci-fi together, it is a lack of effective characterization. The characters in this book (as in most sci-...more I just finished rereading this recently. Just like I remember from the first time I read it, it starts off engaging but becomes a bit of a slog later on. Not coincidentally, it also starts off with a standard plot, but then descends into the kind of confusion you only really see in a PKD novel.

I didn't like this book as much as I did when I first read it. If there's one thing that pulls most sci-fi together, it is a lack of effective characterization. The characters in this book (as in most sci-fi) are defined not by who they are, but by what is happening to them. The ideas and circumstances are far more important than the people. Maybe this hit me harder when I was younger, but I have a very hard time dealing with writing like that nowadays. I look for something to captivate me in the people in the story, and it's just not there.

Which isn't to say that's the thing that bothered me the most about this book. This isn't necessarily bad, but as I said, PKD bends reality in his books. One shouldn't be totally surprised that characterization falls a little flat, because a central idea in these books is often that the characters have no clear idea who they are themselves, or what reality is.

Three Stigmata falls apart in many ways, but the passages that have and will stick with me the longest will always be the passages towards the end of the book. These are the times when it seems like reality has picked up again, and the narrator is finally on a firm foundation. Then, suddenly, something seems awry about a person in the scene, they aren't acting right somehow. Then the stigmata are revealed - the person is not real, the scene may not be real, reality itself may not be real. Practically the entire plot of this novel may be discarded in favor of this device, because once it starts happening, little else seems to matter.

I didn't have an easy time reading this novel when I first read it years ago, and I didn't this time, either. I read the first 200 or so pages a few months back, and finally picked it up and finished it last week. Although it made less sense to me, I remember enjoying VALIS more. And of course I remember Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? as being far and away the best of all of them. I'll have to revisit them sometime soon, I think.(less)

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

Shelves: aliens-among-us, dystopia

2016 год. Из-за парникового эффекта жизнь на планете превратилась в настоящий ад, и человечество так и не смогло найти из него выход. Но зато оно придумало способ разрешения демографической проблемы – выбранные федеральной лотереей мужские и женские особи принудительно отправлялись теперь на пожизненную колонизацию других планет Солнечной системы.

Понятно, что довольно быстро лучшим бизнесом в колониях стало распространение наркотика Кэн-Ди, способного на некоторое время вырвать человека из окру...more 2016 год. Из-за парникового эффекта жизнь на планете превратилась в настоящий ад, и человечество так и не смогло найти из него выход. Но зато оно придумало способ разрешения демографической проблемы – выбранные федеральной лотереей мужские и женские особи принудительно отправлялись теперь на пожизненную колонизацию других планет Солнечной системы.

Понятно, что довольно быстро лучшим бизнесом в колониях стало распространение наркотика Кэн-Ди, способного на некоторое время вырвать человека из окружающей его суровой реальности и погрузить его в совершенно иную – игрушечную идиллию Подружки Пэт. При этом если потребитель Кэн-Ди покупает в реале игрушечные автомобили или микроволновки, то потом они обязательно возникают в его наркотических галлюцинациях. Именно торговля этими миниатюрными наборами является главным прикрытием для распространителей Кэн-Ди из концерна “Наборы ПП”.

Однажды глава “Наборов ПП” Лео Булеро узнает о том, что на Землю с Проксимы возвращается полубезумный миллионер Палмер Элдрич. В тот же день один из экспертов-провидцев сообщает Лео о том, что он видит в недалеком будущем заголовки, обвиняющие Лео в убийсте Элдрича. Пытаясь разобраться в причинах возможного преступления, Лео узнает страшную правду – Элдрич привез с Проксимы новый наркотик, которому дал название Чуинг-Зет. Любой человек, хотя бы однажды испробовавший эту дурь, навсегда оказывается в плену созданной Элдричем реальности..

Хороший фантастический роман похож на коробку с сюрпризами – никогда не знаешь с какой стороны и каким макаром она откроется. Или же на Кубик Рубика – вертишь в надежде увидеть одно, а получается совсем другое. При этом Кубик Рубика и его создатель не становятся от этого хуже или лучше – хуже или лучше становится впечатление от человека, который попытался этот кубик разобрать. Роман Филиппа Дика “Стигматы Палмера Элдрича” я прочел впервые лет двенадцать назад, будучи еще школьником, совершенно незнакомым с такими словами как ЛСД и гностицизм. С тех пор ни разу его не перечитывал, поэтому намедни был изрядно поражен. Оказывается, это книга совсем не про то, про что я думал раньше. Это книга про то, это, еще вот это и еще про целую уйму довольно жутких вещей.

Во-первых, “Стигматы Палмера Элдрича” – ультимативная книга про наркотики. Даже более ультимативная, чем хрестоматийное “Помутнение”. Уже здесь можно узреть все основные сюжетные ходы этой книги, а Барри Майерсон, без сомнения, является одной из предтеч Боба Арктора. Во-вторых, “Стигматы Палмера Элдрича” – ультимативная книга про вторжение пришельцев. В этом романе их ужасные треноги не будут шагать по улицам Лондона и пить кровь у прохожих. В этом романе ни один прокс вообще не появится в пределах Солнечной системы, но человечество само падет к их ногам. А все лишь потому, что вместо себя проксы пришлют Палмера Элдрича и наркотик Чуинг-Зет, который подобно “огненной воде” колонизаторов Америки расчистит плацдарм для будущих завоевателей. “Наркотики – порождение Сатаны или же пришельцев из космоса”. Признайтесь, в этой мысли нет ничего особо революционного. В-третьих, “Стигматы Палмера Элдрича” – это ультимативная книга про религию. В ней довольно подробно, хотя и аллегорически рассматриваются все основные аспекты христианства. Стигматы, призраки, вечная жизнь, посмертное воздаяние и обряд крещения – все эти символы приобретают у Дика совершенно новое значение.

То же самое происходит и с персонажами романа. Марсианские колонисты – это народ Израиля. Лео Булеро – Анна или Каиафа. Барни Майерсон – то ли Иуда, то ли Петр, то ли апостол Павел. Кто же тогда сам Палмер Элдрич – Мессия или Антихрист? К сожалению, ответ на этот вопрос осмелится дать только настоящий гностик. Или же хардовый фанат Филиппа Киндредыча. (2005.10.13)
(less)

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Oct 18, 2011 Mina Villalobos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, horror

I started to audio-read this book almost a year ago and picked it again this week, so parts of it are kind of blurry in my memory. After a while I thought maybe I should go back to the beginning but.. it probably wouldn't help much, as this is a pretty blurry book. It definitely explored a lot of complex themes, like the juxtaposition of drug use and religious experience or the value of living versus the value of experiencing. The thing that gets me the most, perhaps, is that much like in Martia...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-literature, science-fiction

As a SF novel, 3 Stigmata is brilliant. The ideas alone are enough to ensure its strength; like Perky Pat and Can-D (which I felt was sheer genius on PKD's part), the hovels on Mars, the extreme temperatures on Earth (although this gets little attention as the book progresses), E-therapy, and of course Palmer Eldritch himself and Chew-Z. The time-travelling as a result of Chew-Z provides some of the best moments in the book, and the ending, where Barney and Palmer Eldritch merge into one... well...more

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Dec 15, 2010 abo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Cosa cazzo si può scrivere su un libro così?
È stata più o meno questa la prima cosa che ho pensato quando mi sono deciso a scrivere questo commento.
E quindi ho deciso di rileggere il romanzo una seconda volta, seguendo il consiglio di Giuseppe Di Costanzo nell’ottima postfazione, che poggia su una preparazione filosofica (e dickiana) infinitamente superiore alla mia.
Comunque, ho riletto Le tre stimmate di Palmer Eldritch, e in effetti questo mi ha aiutato parecchio a districarmi tra l’infinit...more

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May 02, 2010 Tom Lichtenberg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Stigmata was written in 1964 and it's got global warming in the early 21st century.

It's got suitcase psychiatrists that you hire to make you insane.

It's got Can-D, the drug you take to put you into the lives of your Ken and Barbie dolls (Walt and Perky Pat), where people spend more time and effort on that 'virtual reality' than their own dismal one (think sims, second life, 'social networking').

It's got rival drug cartels from outer space ('be choosy. chew Chew-Z!). It's got news clowns. News Cl...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Agnostics

Shelves: sci-fi

This book is an interesting read.

It is about a terrifying vision of the future, where the earth is heating up, and the solar system is being forcibly colonized by a draft system.

Insert into this a drug czar who legitimately sells the paraphernalia to use his drug, but makes his fortune by the illicit sale of a mind-escaping drug called Can-D. The Drug enables the user to enter into a simulacra in an idealized world made up of the miniaturized copies of everyday objects.

Leo Bulero, the drug czar...more This book is an interesting read.

It is about a terrifying vision of the future, where the earth is heating up, and the solar system is being forcibly colonized by a draft system.

Insert into this a drug czar who legitimately sells the paraphernalia to use his drug, but makes his fortune by the illicit sale of a mind-escaping drug called Can-D. The Drug enables the user to enter into a simulacra in an idealized world made up of the miniaturized copies of everyday objects.

Leo Bulero, the drug czar, has several precogs on his payroll, one who passes for his friend. Barney Mayerson is a sad man, who still loves his ex-wife and regrets most of the choices he has made in his life.

Everything seems to be going all right, when Palmer Eldritch returns to the Solar System crashing on Pluto from a ten year (there and back) voyage to Proxima. He has brought back with him a lichen from Proxima, which we learn is the main ingredient in the new competition drug--and get this--called Chew Z.

After this point, it is impossible to explain what is exactly going on, because it is just a complete mind-fuck.

Dick gives us no indication as to whether any of the drug-fueled imaginings of any of the characters are meant to be real, or if once we go down the rabbit hole, there is never any coming back. This serves well and good for Dick's quandary over the existence of free-will, original sin, the transubstantiation and of course the existence of God.

While I don't mind being messed with, I do like to come out of the rabbit hole eventually, and like know what I just read, which is where this book is lacking. If you personally have less inclination to disappear into false realities, you may enjoy this better. A good read, and clearly Dick is a master of prose that you have to go back and re-read, to make sure that you didn't miss something, cause you get to enjoy the mind-fuck along with the characters.

Also note that St. Paul makes an appearance in this book as well--I think PKD was a might bit obsessed.(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Tessa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative, fictive

After watching Looper I asked my companion to recommend a Philip K. Dick book to me, and he recommended this one. I have always intended to read PKD but never bit the bullet, and I'm glad that I liked it as much as I hoped I would, and surprised that it reminded me so much of reading Kurt Vonnegut (I thought PKD might be a little denser, but he had a similar light tone and humor while retaining inventive situations and ideas).

Anyway - the actual book. I'm not one of the kind of people who feels...more

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May 08, 2013 Genevieve Sharon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dick's speed-enhanced gift was to capture the illusion sometimes encountered by the deadline-conscious hack, hyped on adrenaline, playing with transcen- dental notions that creator and creations, illusions and reality are one. As with hallucinogens, the condition can cause obsession and psychosis, a distinct sense that the book is writing you. You become merely a medium. Common sense usually brings you back to shared reality. But in the case of Dick or L Ron Hubbard, inventor of Scientology, the...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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“But-let me tell you my cat joke. It's very short and simple. A hostess is giving a dinner party and she's got a lovely five-pound T-bone steak sitting on the sideboard in the kitchen waiting to be cooked while she chats with the guests in the living room-has a few drinks and whatnot. But then she excuses herself to go into the kitchen to cook the steak-and it's gone. And there's the family cat, in the corner, sedately washing it's face."
"The cat got the steak," Barney said.
"Did it? The guests are called in; they argue about it. The steak is gone, all five pounds of it; there sits the cat, looking well-fed and cheerful. "Weigh the cat," someone says. They've had a few drinks; it looks like a good idea. So they go into the bathroom and weigh the cat on the scales. It reads exactly five pounds. They all perceive this reading and a guest says, "okay, that's it. There's the steak." They're satisfied that they know what happened, now; they've got empirical proof. Then a qualm comes to one of them and he says, puzzled, "But where's the cat?” — 17 people liked it

“But an artist, he realized. Or rather so-called artist. Bohemian. That's closer to it. The artistic life without the talent.” — 9 people liked it

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