Ego and celebrity explores -- still relevant

This is a great tale about fame, ego, police-state dystopias and reality bending drugs. At no point do you as a reader have a firm grip on reality -- nor do the characters. Reality forms and slips away several times over. The narrator has a good range of voices. It's a fun listen and one of Dick's best.

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Classic Dick though not my favourite

Well read and well wrapped up but a little... pointless feeling. Sounded like PKD was reading a lot of Kafka. Theres that cyclic beaurocratic vibe to it. Didnt live it. Didnt hate it

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1 person found this helpful

Definitely pertinent as ever

Of all the classic science fiction authors: Nobody but nobody predicted our surreal 21st century like P.K. Dick! It can't be said enough.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a dystopian novel, which is a worn genre at this point. Yet what sets it apart is the way it intersects a deeply paranoid police state... with shallow celebrity pop culture. Feeling familiar yet?

The main character is a very unlikable talk show host, who finds himself an "unperson" one morning: nobody remembers who he is and he doesn't have any papers in order. The way he maneuvers this society makes him an interesting point-of-view character. There is horrifying racism, disturbing sexual deviancy, and very messed up drug trips. 1970s-era Philip K. Dick really lets loose.

Another interesting aspect is giving the readers a perspective of a police general within this setting. Because there are no good guys, or at least we just aren't focusing on the good guys. While the young students in internment camps are only talked about as background, the main guy running for his life couldn't be less worthy of rooting for. This is no Winston Smith. The police figure on the other hand is trying to uncover the mystery, while somewhat doing the best they can in this horror of a world.

A criticism of the novel is the way it resolves in the end. Not to spoil, but the ambiguity is more or less explained by the end. Perhaps this is what makes Dick a science fiction writer, and not a magical realist, because the literary characterization still needs a somewhat pseudoscientific explanation.

When analyzing Flow My Tears, looking through the lens of pulp fiction and 70s counterculture is the point, and I certainly think it's still valid as we are two decades in to the next century. Sure it would be written a different way today, but this shouldn't take away the impact of the text. While less essential than other works by the author, it still holds up well and is an excellent read for completists and casual readers alike.

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PKD review

Absolutely loved this audio book, the narrator is very apt at story telling and had me engrossed in moments. Highly recommend this audio book for all!!

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