Eye in the Sky in Philip K Dick

Feb 25, 2008 Hertzan Chimera rated it it was amazing

Jack Hamilton, his wife and six other tourists visit a science institution and fall into the particle accelerator. They fall right in. Who is maintaining this institution, we may want to ask. Are the eight people killed in the fall? Are they burned to death in the electric fire?

These are questions that Philip K. Dick initially sidesteps completely.

The eight hapless individuals end up in another world. Dick loves this device; it’s something he used in his novel A Crack In Space (aka: Cantata-140 Jack Hamilton, his wife and six other tourists visit a science institution and fall into the particle accelerator. They fall right in. Who is maintaining this institution, we may want to ask. Are the eight people killed in the fall? Are they burned to death in the electric fire?

These are questions that Philip K. Dick initially sidesteps completely.

The eight hapless individuals end up in another world. Dick loves this device; it’s something he used in his novel A Crack In Space (aka: Cantata-140) to great effect. But here, instead of merely regurgitating the same narrative conclusions, Dick takes himself for a ride.

Dick was above all a great thinker and philosopher, why the hell his work is called science fiction, I don’t really understand. Yeah, I know, there’s usually some scientific angle associated with his work but this is a backdrop to the mind of the book. It is this psychological element that truly rules the PKD product. Plus, I’ll say this again and again; PKD was a very funny writer. Just take this central premise: don’t go to science institutes, you could fall into another universe. I mean; if that’s not funny, I just lost my smile.

Anyway, back to the book - what happens in this parallel world? How do these eight victims escape their dilemma? That, you’ll soon understand, is where the very simple premise of the book unfolds its complex sheathes of narrative possibility to the full. It’s not just a simple case of one parallel world. There is an encounter with God at the centre of a pre-Galilean ‘Solar system’, a house that devours people to survive and a world where sex (in fact all things considered ‘dirty or unhygienic’) are slowly being eradicated. But this isn’t about space travel, aliens and oppressive forces from off-world. Nope, the origin of this parallel world’s horror lies much closer to home.

The characters in Eye in the Sky are distinctive. While they all appear very normal on the surface, dark secrets lurk in the recesses of their minds. And these personal secrets are the key to the power of the narrative twists and turns. It’s really a book about character winning over narrative, the way it should always be in my opinion.

I am so sick of books (or movies) that are just narrative with peaks and troughs of action, merely a tightly written beginning, middle and end. Philip K Dick says to hell with that: reader, you will live the world of my characters, and I will analyse and figurise them and embed you in the consequences.

Eye in the Sky presents a masterful novelist at the peak of his creative art.
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Jul 29, 2018 R. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018

Hell Is Just the Next Guy's Dream of a Perfect World
The most hilarious of PKD's novels, populated with a well-wrought and diverse cast of sympathetic midcentury American characters and (unsurprisingly) timely in its political commentary. A deep cut from the PKD backlist that will both delight longtime fans and hook first-timers. ...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Morgan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, pulp

By the time I read this I thought I'd figured out PKD's tricks: that at the end they were going to end the nightmarish transitions between each person's inner worlds, only to come back to reality and it not be reality.

Imagine my surprise when it had a happy ending. Definitely an early novel for PKD.

In retrospect, it would've been interesting to start reading his works from the earliest to the latest, to watch him change as a writer over time. ...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Themistocles rated it really liked it

Shelves: p-k-dick, scifi

This should be required reading for close-minded fundamentalists. The absurdity of it all perfectly suits Dick's shifting realities, producing one of his best novels. ...more

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May 23, 2018 Simon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

This was not what I was expecting but it was an enjoyable surprise and well worth the read. If it had had a better ending I would have rated it one star higher but...without wanting to give anything away...I think it was an opportunity missed.

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Apr 23, 2008 Bostian added it

I started reading this with Laini two months back, but she finished before I did. I pick it up before bed & read a few pages when I'm in the mood for that PKD take on psychedelic sci-fi. ...more

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