[HKE]∎ [PDF] Flow My Tears the Policeman Said Philip K Dick 9780679740667 Books

Flow My Tears the Policeman Said Philip K Dick 9780679740667 Books

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Flow My Tears the Policeman Said Philip K Dick 9780679740667 Books

Only Philip K. Dick could spin a parable about loneliness and disaffection with as much heart and wit as displayed in Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. His themes here are familiar to anyone who has read a Dick novel before. A near future America - which, in this early 70's narrative, means 1988 - that unsuccessfully tries to hide its cultural decay and social dysfunction behind empty celebrity worship and self-gratifying class boundaries. The only problem with living in a rigid stratified society is that, when you're radically removed from your accepted place in it, you effectively lose everything you hold dear... including your own identity.

Jason Taverner is a Leno-esque television host who takes no end of smug pride in his chart-topping viewership. He's the top of the television world, and he makes damn sure everyone knows it. And then it all, somehow, goes away. Quite literally overnight, he finds himself without any identity, he awakes in a flophouse in the bad part of town with little more that the clothes on his back and the cash in his wallet. Trying to call his agent and lawyer, and even his girlfriend, with whom he has spent the previous night, leads to nothing. They have no idea who he is, nor do they seem to care to find out. Jason learns to his horror that his birth certificate doesn't even exist on file. In short, Jason Taverner does not exist.

Instead of fretting and fearing the worst, like most of us would do, Jason treats his situation like a minor setback on the road to recovering his identity, and finding out what has occurred. Throughout his journey, Jason meets some interesting dwellers of a world he never knew existed - such as a neurotic young woman who provides fake IDs and acts a police snitch to ensure the release of a boyfriend, who may not be alive, from a forced labor camp that may or may not even exist. Along the way, Jason catches glimpse of his past life from a perspective he'd never seen before.

Throughout this strange and ingenious dreamscape, Dick returns to some of his favorite thematic concerns: the relationship between objective and subjective realities, and the undeniable human need for connection and companionship. Flow My Tears is mostly a story about subjectivity, and how one's personal sense of the world can be affected by external influences outside of one's control.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is, in the end a deeply humanist novel, which questions the roles life requires us to play, and the way in which those roles may in fact inhibit rather than enhance our growth and our ability to connect to each other meaningfully. It does get a bit overemotional toward the end, and Dick doesn't always concern himself to follow any strict plotting either. But as always, a journey through the mind of Philip K. Dick offers a unique experience that will enrich your own perceptions of our world and move you in ways only the best fiction can.

Four and half stars


Tags : Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said [Philip K. Dick] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. >On October 11 the television star Jason Taverner is so famous that 30 million viewers eagerly watch his prime-time show. On October 12 Jason Taverner is not a has-been but a never-was -- a man who has lost not only his audience but all proof of his existence. And in the claustrophobic betrayal state of Flow My Tears,Philip K. Dick,Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said,Vintage,067974066X,FIC028000,Identity (Psychology);Fiction.,Science fiction.,Television personalities;Fiction.,DICK, PHILIP K. - PROSE & CRITICISM,Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,Fiction-Science Fiction,GENERAL,General Adult,Identity (Psychology),Science Fiction,Science Fiction - General,Television personalities,United States

Flow My Tears the Policeman Said Philip K Dick 9780679740667 Books Reviews

Although the novel starts as if it was midway through the story, it is compelling and kept me reading. It's an investigation of identity and society (albeit one of PKD's imagination) that plays with the reader's mind throughout the read. One's expectations of both the characters and the story will hopefully be taken for a ride. Really well worth reading!
An amazing read through and through, a nightmare that has you confused (and I suspect Dick was confused writing it too), set in a world that you you learn about from peripheral information, one of Dick's more subtle works for sure, and a very good read. The only problem is "Part 4". The Epilogue. Honestly, to anybody considering buying this book, I would honestly suggest just not reading it. I know it is tempting, but it takes away a lot of the punch that the book offers.
Wow! What else is there to say after reading this wild prototypical Philip K. Dick novel? Published in 1974, it’s about the future world of 1988 where there are flying cars, floating houses, packs of marijuana for sale, and all sorts of other crazy things he got wrong. Could that have been on purpose? In this world, it’s a typical Philip K. Dick police state where having your ID means likely freedom. Not having ID means forced labor camps, where they also send university students at war with the police and national guard. Bizarre, right?

So much happens in this book, but the book is an easy, quick read with a typical twist of an ending, and I cautiously recommend it. It did, BTW, win a major award and was nominated for several others, so many people hold this book in high esteem. It's not my favorite of his, but it is good.
A classic science fiction choice. Read if you are interested in one of the earlier dystopian stories. I recommend anything by Philip K. Dick.
Finally got around to reading this and was not disappointed. But not blown away either. The overall plot seems to meander a bit and while the characters are memorable (but rarely likeable) I didn't find myself deeply concerned for the happiness of any of them. Then again, that's PKD. There are no clear heroes or villains. And at times the whole thing feels like a drawn-out meditation on the meaning of - what exactly - celebrity? power? love? time? existence? All of the above, maybe.

The biggest critique I have is that the choices and behavior of some of the characters seems so erratic at times that it disrupts the flow. The strange cat-and-mouse game between the protagonist and the police kept my attention but the constant intro and outro of one psychotic, tragic, or dislikable character after another didn't really seem to help the plot along that much. But again, that's not unusual for PKD.

Despite its issues, it somehow all works, and makes the time spent reading it rewarding in its own way. Dick has always been able to work magic and turn what would otherwise be odd bits and pieces of philosophy, futurism, and social commentary into something entertaining and thought-provoking. The bottom line is that if you like the PKD style, you'll enjoy Flow My Tears.
Only Philip K. Dick could spin a parable about loneliness and disaffection with as much heart and wit as displayed in Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. His themes here are familiar to anyone who has read a Dick novel before. A near future America - which, in this early 70's narrative, means 1988 - that unsuccessfully tries to hide its cultural decay and social dysfunction behind empty celebrity worship and self-gratifying class boundaries. The only problem with living in a rigid stratified society is that, when you're radically removed from your accepted place in it, you effectively lose everything you hold dear... including your own identity.

Jason Taverner is a Leno-esque television host who takes no end of smug pride in his chart-topping viewership. He's the top of the television world, and he makes damn sure everyone knows it. And then it all, somehow, goes away. Quite literally overnight, he finds himself without any identity, he awakes in a flophouse in the bad part of town with little more that the clothes on his back and the cash in his wallet. Trying to call his agent and lawyer, and even his girlfriend, with whom he has spent the previous night, leads to nothing. They have no idea who he is, nor do they seem to care to find out. Jason learns to his horror that his birth certificate doesn't even exist on file. In short, Jason Taverner does not exist.

Instead of fretting and fearing the worst, like most of us would do, Jason treats his situation like a minor setback on the road to recovering his identity, and finding out what has occurred. Throughout his journey, Jason meets some interesting dwellers of a world he never knew existed - such as a neurotic young woman who provides fake IDs and acts a police snitch to ensure the release of a boyfriend, who may not be alive, from a forced labor camp that may or may not even exist. Along the way, Jason catches glimpse of his past life from a perspective he'd never seen before.

Throughout this strange and ingenious dreamscape, Dick returns to some of his favorite thematic concerns the relationship between objective and subjective realities, and the undeniable human need for connection and companionship. Flow My Tears is mostly a story about subjectivity, and how one's personal sense of the world can be affected by external influences outside of one's control.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is, in the end a deeply humanist novel, which questions the roles life requires us to play, and the way in which those roles may in fact inhibit rather than enhance our growth and our ability to connect to each other meaningfully. It does get a bit overemotional toward the end, and Dick doesn't always concern himself to follow any strict plotting either. But as always, a journey through the mind of Philip K. Dick offers a unique experience that will enrich your own perceptions of our world and move you in ways only the best fiction can.

Four and half stars