The Simulacra is the funniest Philip K Dick book I've read to date. There were some hilarious moments, very funny scenes. That said, it was often hard to follow and somewhat convoluted. I think one major thing that contributes to this is there are so many characters to keep track of. I think I read somewhere that there are over 60 characters in this book, and I believe it. There really is no primary protagonist. The story is told from the point of view of quite a few characters. Among them are First Lady Nicole Thibodeaux, who has somehow remained ageless for her entire 73 years in office (why no one questions this is beyond me), Richard Kongrosian, a psychokinetic pianist on the edge of complete psychotic collapse, who worries about his his "phobic body odor," as well as his turning invisible. We don't really know whether he has an odor or not or whether he turns invisible or not. It's never made clear. Dr. Egon Superb is the USEA's (United States of Europe and America -- basically the US with Germany now dominating) last practicing psychotherapist, as the practice has been outlawed due to the power of the drug cartels which are pushing their psychotropic medications as the real answer to mental illness. Vince and Chic Strikerock are brothers who are employed at rival simulacrum companies who become caught up in a love triangle with Vince's ex-wife and in corporate espionage as well. Nat Flieger is a record company exec who travels to atom bomb-ravaged northern California, which has a group of people called "chuppers" who are basically Neanderthals. He wants to record Kongrosian, only to find out he's at a psychiatric hospital in San Francisco. Bertold Goltz is a neo-Nazi street agitator who is also a time traveler, using the von Lessinger principle in order to accomplish this. There are two fellows who play classical music with jugs, who get to perform at the White House. There's more, much more.One of the zany plots is for Nicole, whose presidential husbands of four years are all simulacrums, to try and bring back Nazi Hermann Goering from the past, yet we're never told why. We're simply told he has to agree to their plans (world domination?), but the answer is never really given and this piece of the plot is kind of just dropped when Goering is shot to death by the National Police (NP). There are Loony Luke car dealerships which disappear and move around at will, selling jalopies that make one way trips to Mars. There are aliens and talking advertisements the size of bugs that everyone hates. There's a device where people make confessions, although the confessing people are treated as though they're being given lie detectors, making for uncomfortable scenes. There are also characters who kind of disappear from the plot, such as Edgar Stone, a conapt resident, and Israeli prime minister Emil Stark. Why are they dropped? What happens to them?Nicole is treated as the mother of the country, as well as the conceptual mistress, because she's totally hot and everyone loves her to death. Her secret? She's an actress. The original one's been dead for some time. She's really a pretty well developed character, unlike a number of the others, and it's a pleasure to watch her and Kongrosian in action.Like many Dick novels, this one ends abruptly, but unlike many of his novels, I thought it wasn't tied up very nicely. I thought it was too open ended and could have been written for a sequel. I would give the ending 3.5 stars; actually the entire book 3.5 stars. This definitely isn't his best work, which is surprising since it was published in 1964, his best writing phase in my opinion. If you're new to Dick, I wouldn't start with this book, but for Dick fans, it's a must read. Cautiously recommended.
3.5 starsORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.Philip K. Dick is one of those authors who I often enjoy reading for his peculiar ideas, cool technologies, bizarre plots, and neurotic characters. But every time I read one of his stories, I need a break from him — there’s a feeling of frantic paranoia permeating his work that makes me feel like I just need to chill out for a while. If you’ve seen the movie The Adjustment Bureau, which was based on one of his stories, you’ll know what I mean. In that story, the main character discovers that the reality he thought he knew was totally wrong. Instead, there is something big going on behind the scenes and his life is being manipulated by The Unseen People Who Are Really In Charge (TUPWARIC).This theme is common in PKD’s stories, and The Simulacra is another example. The government of the United States of Europe and America, which appears to be a matriarchy, is a sham — the President is really a simulacrum. When TUPWARIC gives the contract for building the next simulacrum to a different simulacrum company, and Hermann Goering is fetched from the past with a time-travel device, problems ensue and the USEA government is in danger of being taken over by fascists.Quirky characters include the First Lady who never seems to age, the telekinetic piano player who thinks that a commercial has given him phobic body odor and that he’s becoming invisible, the psychotherapist who has lost his job because a pharmaceutical cartel has managed to have the practice of psychotherapy banned, a couple of brothers who work for simulacra companies and are fighting over an ex-wife, and a couple of guys in a jug band who want to play for the First Lady. Then there’s the reclusive group of Neanderthals, descendents of radiation-exposed humans, who live in Northern California and seem to be waiting for something important to happen...The Simulacra juggles a huge set of characters and several subplots which at first seem unrelated but which Dick successfully brings together into a coherent whole by the end of the novel, which is not necessarily a guarantee with PKD. The whole thing is chaotic, zany, creative, funny, and contains Dick’s usual undercurrent of frenzied paranoia. With so much weird stuff going on, I thought that a plot disaster was imminent, but Dick pulls it off. The Simulacra ends at the climax, though, and a sequel would probably have been well-received.I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version of The Simulacra, which was read by “Golden Voice” and “Voice of the Century” Dick Hill. Mr. Hill, who is always superb, handled all of those characters and that madcap plot with ease. And you should hear him play a jug.
What do You think about The Simulacra (2002)?
I went to the library a couple of weeks ago and walked out of there with The Simulacra and Black Hole in my bag. Two depictions of a dystopian world. The book written today, Black Hole, is set in the 70's and Philip K. Dick's book from -64 takes place in the year 2010. The time change might be part of the Science Fiction genre that I am new to and I wonder what it means.The Simulacra feels very dated. It describes a world split between two super powers, Soviet and USEA. I hoped that Dick would move beyond this image of the future as it must have looked like during the Cold War to elaborate on political hypocrisy, power games and popular apathy in a way that feels relevant for today. The theme and morale of the story - power is symbolic, information is the key to domination and nothing is ever what it looks like, beware truth can be found where you least expect it! - are older than Shakespeare but still novel revelations to liberal arts students every day. In other words, timeless. But history lies heavy on his book and it was hard for me not get stuck on the specific historical situation that influence his writing. The popularity of Freud and psychoanalysis, for example, comes through in both the plot and the character development in a way that feels old and dusty. All the men in the book are in love with the country's first lady, the mother of the nation, and some kind of Oiedepus complex (or is it Electra?) is supposed to explain their pathetic behavior. The first lady is in fact the only female character that is the least bit developed. The other two are demanding and spoiled lovers whose only purpose for the story is to give the male characters a reason to interact. Lame.The Simulacra was perhaps not the best of Philip K Dick's books. He must have written much more engaging books since the material that was made into the movie Blade Runner is as cool and scary as ever, I'll give him another try. But first I'll see what Burns can do with the genre. Maybe it isn't Dick, maybe it is me and Sci Fi? I'll soon find out.
—Lisa
This was my first exposure to Dick, and I was impressed enough to come back for more. See what I did there?This novel is packed with interesting ideas on the future of technology and on its effect on our humanity, much like any dystopian science-fiction book. These ideas kept me reading through the disjointed, over-busy plot. Ultimately, they weren't enough to earn this any more than 3 stars -- Dick seems more interested in these ideas than following any of them through. Chekov says, "The gun that is placed on the mantle in the first act must be shot in the third act." By analogy, the Hermann Goering that you bring back to the present (future) with your time machine in the fifth chapter better not have died without consequence by the tenth. Talk about a let down.I look forward to seeing what else Dick has to offer me.
—Zach
In the far-far future, 'talk' therapy has become outlawed as a sham that has brought the human race to ruin and all psychological ailments must be cured with drugs.... The author's imagination and ability to create another world realistically based on fragments that have survived our world is truly amazing.The set-up is fine, my problem was more with the numerous and far-flung loose ends that were never tied up (seems to be a problem in sci-fi I pick at least--so much has been opened and speculated on, leaving the author to distract with a cataclysmic showdown that actually solves little...) and the female characters were horrible... :x
—I. Merey
