Our Friends From Frolix 8 (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
В недалеком будущем человечество поделено на людей высшей и простой категорий. Успешное прохождение федерального теста может обеспечить любому успешное попадание в десятитысячную элиту, которая реально и управляет этой планетой. Понятно, что далеко не все люди согласны с подобным положением вещей. Многие из них с риском для собственной жизни ведут подпольную борьбу и издают запрещенную литературу, утвераждающую, что все люди равны. Вполне логично, что новое правительство выслеживает и жестоко карает подобных людей. Но подпольщики все равно не отчаиваются, потому что у них всегда остается надежда. Они верят в одного из своих лидеров Торса Провони , который пять лет назад отправился к другим мирам на поиски помощи. И вот на этой неделе подпольщики получили сообщение о том, что он возвращается и при этом не один. Его бессмертные союзники с Фроликса-8 продемонстрировали неожиданное и подозрительное желание помочь угнетаемому человечеству. О цене этой помощи никто так и не спросил…Один из самых последних и при этом самых удачных “классических диков”. С неизбежной для автора юной шизофреничкой, серым лузером “от сохи” и самым ярким диковским антигероем. Председатель Совета Уиллис Грэм –мерзкий подонок, от которого при этом все равно испытываешь полный восторг. У писателя бывали и раньше циничные вожаки, но этот, без сомнения. лучше всех. Даже в самом финале романе Грэм оказывается единственным вменяемым участником происходящего на Земле армагеддона.Финал произведения открыт. Обычно это добавляет любой книге оптимизма, но только не в этом конкретном случае. Будущее цивилизации рисуется лично для меня в своих самых мрачных цветах. Нужно отметить, что у писателя редко бывают удачные законченные финалы, но здесь мы видим лучший пример обратного. Отсутствие финальной точки очень сильно играет произведению на плюс.Любопытно, что самая интересная тема романа – это тема алкоголя, который в этом антиутопическом обществе строго запрещен. История о том, как автомеханик Ник Эпплтон стал врагом государства, началась с того, что он всего лишь согласился выпить со своим шефом пива. Поэтому и самым опасным персонажем книги оказываются не мутанты и не пришельцы, а молодой барыга-алкоголик. Возможно, в подобном сюжетном ходе отразилась ирония писателя по поводу запрета на употребление легких наркотиков. (2006.01.31)
Our Friends from Frolix 8, first published by Philip K Dick in 1970 is classic PKD. An observant student of Dick’s work will recognize many recurring themes such as government surveillance, isolation, affinity with the working classes, Biblical and classical references, rejection of elitism, paranoia and drug use. This one turns drug use on its ear, as many drugs are legal but a “dealer” in this novel sales illegal tracts from a revolutionary minority political hero. There is also an underlying absurdist Kafkaesque quality to PKD’s science fiction that is especially highlighted here, though Frolix is not one of his wilder plots. Similar in tone to his masterpiece Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Frolix examines life from the streets in a future harsh with its own understated dystopia yet close enough to be recognizable for us. PKD’s talent for spot on characterization is also in full form here. The character Charlie is an archetypal, pre-cyberpunk, who may have been a template for William Gibson’s Molly Millions.Also evident is Dick’s remarkable visionary ability. There is a scene where a man has a “personal speaker system” built into his clothing. A reader in 2013 will read past this with little notice, but when one realizes that he wrote this in the late sixties, when vinyl record players and 8 track tapes came equipped with huge, cabinet sized speaker systems, his ability to see into the future is remarkable. This anecdote is only one of many that proclaim once again that Philip K. Dick was one of the greatest science fiction writers of the past century and may be considered one of America’s most innovative and farseeing writers of speculative fiction or in any genre.
What do You think about Our Friends From Frolix 8 (2009)?
okay, this is definitely not one for the ages. it didn't really seem like Philip K. was paying attention at all here---i mean, the book's central plot-driving event is inconsistent--Thors Provoni is supposed to secretly be a New Man, but the New Men are easily distinguished from the Old Men because they have giant heads--in fact Provoni even talks to the alien about how his head is weird-looking, and what was up with the ending? why did the frolixan do what it did? it seemed kind of extremely harsh. but i'm not sure i really understand what it did, anyway. and, as a reviewer below said: 'this book runs around at the height of PKD's "wives are horrible, pathetic shrews; the only other women are vibrant pixie sex monkeys' bullshit."having said that---i was going to give this book two stars, but it gets an extra star for Willis Gram. a very fun creation. yeah, i wouldn't mind spending my days in a ginormous bed eating amphetamines and getting expertly pleasured by the telepathic supreme ruler of the planet. finally, PKD, something for the ladies!
—Jess Nauright
This was a novel that could have probably just been made into a short story with a good editor. Two minority groups of humans, one group with super-intelligence and one group that can read minds, end up controlling the government and the fate of a 6 billion+ plus majority of folks who are referred to as "Old Men" and who haven't evolved past the point of having average intelligence. The "Old Men" keep hold alive in the form of their hero, Thors Provoni, who left for the outer reaches of the galaxy a decade earlier looking for a superior life form who would agree to return to earth to help erase the power disparity. The book eventually focuses on the activities of a banned group of Provoni-supporting rebels called "Under Men", and how they manage to distribute illegal reading materials and their own propoganda despite all government efforts to shut them down. For me, the story was sidelined by an unnecessary subplot where a married man (married to a "dried up shrew", of course) meets a hot young tough chick (with "lesbian tendencies", supposedly), and he falls in love with her (despite the fact they've barely had any conversations), and leaves his wife and child to join the rebel cause because it means he can be with his new love interest. Morals and ethics never play into the character's decisions -- he follows a 16 yr. old girl he barely knows and leaves his wife and son behind because of lust, and I guess we're supposed to think that's fine. We're never told what happens to the wife and son, suddenly forced to fend for themselves. I've said in previous reviews of PDK's writing that I loved his short stories and could read them again and again, but in his novels the author keeps revealing himself as being a bit of a slimeball. Sadly, it does take away from my enjoyment of the writing because it's hard to read such consistently condescending attitudes towards women.
—Leigh-ann
Our Friends From Frolix 8 is a pretty good story, although far from perfect. Surprisingly, it's a fairly linear sci fi story from Dick, without his alternate worlds and universes he wrote so much about. And this was published in 1970, while Dick was pretty much at his height of alternate worlds.The plot is about Nick Appleton, a tire "regroover," who lives in a futuristic world (about 200 years from now) governed by large headed New Men (with large IQs) and Unusuals, who possess telepathic abili
—Scott Holstad
