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Jul. 13th, 2012
I just finished Ubik by Philip K. Dick through a sheer force of will. Just to get the stupid thing out of my purse (metaphorically speaking--I read the ebook).
I hated it. HATED IT.
I can see why Philip K. Dick is so popular, and particularly why he's inspired so many films. He's a very visual writer. And I don't mean that in the way that Bradbury is--Bradbury's writing evoked such vivid images in my mind that rereading his work almost twenty years later, I still remembered the tiniest details of some of the scenes.
Dick's writing is visual in the sense that he describes how things look. Exhaustively. In ways that I'm sure, when interpreted through a production designer and a costume department, would be pretty cool. In fact, I know they are. I've seen the movies. But on the page, oh my god, I couldn't take it. Especially since some of the characters were only described by what they were wearing.
Which brings me to the characters. I didn't give a crap about any of them, which to me, is a fatal failing. I had no empathy, so I don't actually care about anything that's happening. All I know about the main protagonist is that he's broke and likes tits. Woo.
The descriptions of this book hail the many plot twists. Bullshit. From fairly early in the book, it's clear that what's happening could be one of two things. And which one it is is not some clever trick that's hidden in the narrative, like in a well-written mystery, it's an entirely arbitrary decision of the author's. If your whole game is breaking your own world-building, then you can't actually maintain a mystery. All you can do is stick a title card on the end "explaining" things. Which to me makes the entire book feel like the author's just jerking me around.
( teeny bit more plot detail )
It is possible to tell a compelling mystery/thriller with ambiguous reality. Inception does it very well. And sure, when you step back from Inception, not all of it quite holds together. But while you are experiencing it, it plays within the rules of its own world-building enough for there to be real stakes.
Ubik is just lots of random shit happening for random shit to happen. And I CANNOT STAND THAT. I know some other people (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chuckro, I'm looking at you) like that kind of thing, but to me, this just felt like author wanking.
Well, I feel I've done my duty to sci fi comprehensiveness by reading this. And now I feel free to never read anything by him ever again.
I hated it. HATED IT.
I can see why Philip K. Dick is so popular, and particularly why he's inspired so many films. He's a very visual writer. And I don't mean that in the way that Bradbury is--Bradbury's writing evoked such vivid images in my mind that rereading his work almost twenty years later, I still remembered the tiniest details of some of the scenes.
Dick's writing is visual in the sense that he describes how things look. Exhaustively. In ways that I'm sure, when interpreted through a production designer and a costume department, would be pretty cool. In fact, I know they are. I've seen the movies. But on the page, oh my god, I couldn't take it. Especially since some of the characters were only described by what they were wearing.
Which brings me to the characters. I didn't give a crap about any of them, which to me, is a fatal failing. I had no empathy, so I don't actually care about anything that's happening. All I know about the main protagonist is that he's broke and likes tits. Woo.
The descriptions of this book hail the many plot twists. Bullshit. From fairly early in the book, it's clear that what's happening could be one of two things. And which one it is is not some clever trick that's hidden in the narrative, like in a well-written mystery, it's an entirely arbitrary decision of the author's. If your whole game is breaking your own world-building, then you can't actually maintain a mystery. All you can do is stick a title card on the end "explaining" things. Which to me makes the entire book feel like the author's just jerking me around.
( teeny bit more plot detail )
It is possible to tell a compelling mystery/thriller with ambiguous reality. Inception does it very well. And sure, when you step back from Inception, not all of it quite holds together. But while you are experiencing it, it plays within the rules of its own world-building enough for there to be real stakes.
Ubik is just lots of random shit happening for random shit to happen. And I CANNOT STAND THAT. I know some other people (
chuckro, I'm looking at you) like that kind of thing, but to me, this just felt like author wanking.Well, I feel I've done my duty to sci fi comprehensiveness by reading this. And now I feel free to never read anything by him ever again.