Finished my First PKD novel: UBIK
Hi all!
Okay so I preface this with the fact I am not a great writer, not in the slightest but I love to read so I hope my thoughts will be clear and coherent.
I finally finished my first PKD novel in its entirety, originally I was and still am reading a scanner darkly but boy that book is incredibly tough to read for me. Not from a reading comprehension standpoint but from a thematic standpoint.
I love and adore everything I've read so far in a scanner darkly but UBIK I cannot say the same for. I found the most compelling aspect in the start of the novel and then almost entirely dropped, alongside the other themes I found compelling.
I know this novel is very well loved and none of this from my end is hate but a sadness, I love so far do androids dream of electric sheep and when contrasted with UBIK it becomes clear to me it lacks something.
In my humble opinion it lacks more character interactions and retrospectives. I really like how PKD is able to comment in an interesting way on the world around him. I found UBIK to be too religious and dealing with this whole idea of almost a profound spiritual journey that to me doesn't have any great take always.
When compared with how I view do androids dream of electric sheep, it feels so much more in that novel has a clear and defined purpose, critique or irony to it i just find UBIK lacks.
I also find it to be full of what more feels like filler over what I have been loving in the other two that are small interactions that build up to a more defined and what feels more purposeful of a conclusion or idea.
However I do think UBIK has quite a bit of flash his other novels may not with the twists and turns.
Overall I rate UBIK a 5/10 just an all around average novel.