Ubik

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Warning: Use only as directed. And with caution.

Written in 1969, Ubik is one of Philip K. Dick???s most popular science fiction novels. It???s set in a future 1992 where some humans have develop psi and anti-psi powers which they are willing to hire out to individuals or companies who want to spy (or block spying) on others. Also in this alternate 1992, if you???ve got the money, you can put your beloved recently-deceased relatives into ???coldpac??? where they can be stored in half-life and you can visit with them for years after their death.

As Ubik begins, Glen Runciter, the head of one of New York City???s top anti-psi organizations, discovers that all the operatives of the top psi organization (whose telepathic fields they like to keep track of) have disappeared. This means less work for Runciter???s employees and he???s concerned about how they???re going to get paid. When Runicter???s company is offered a big job on the moon, he figures they???ve found the missing telepaths and he???s eager to hire out as many of his inactive inertials as he can, including the new one who has a strange and disturbing power: she can nullify events before they happen. But when Runciter???s inertials get to the moon, disaster strikes, and when they return to Earth, they find that life is not how they left it. In fact, time seems to be going backward and something is killing them off one by one. The only thing that might help is Ubik ??? a mysterious product in an aerosol spray can... If only they can find it!

Ubik is a fast-paced SF thriller full of classic PKD themes such as an unreliable reality, time running backward, precognition, telepathy, paranoia, drug abuse, hallucinations, and spirituality. The story is quite funny in places and includes a bit of horror, too.

There are several plot twists in Ubik, including a big one at the end, which means that the reader is as unsure about what???s going on as the characters are until the big reveal and, still, there are some questions left unanswered. Mainly we're left contemplating what PKD is suggesting about death, salvation, and God. Ubik is one of those books where, at the end, you have to review the plot in light of your new knowledge just so you can try to put it all together.

I listened to Blackstone Audio???s version read by Anthony Heald. Heald successfully handles a rather large cast of alive and dead humans, not to mention the talking appliances and doors. Thanks to Heald???s skills, Ubik on audio was thoroughly entertaining.

Ubik has been named by Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 English-Language Novels From 1923 (list compiled by Lev Grossman). I can???t say that I agree with this accolade, but I can say that I enjoyed Ubik and can recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction. For Philip K. Dick fans, Ubik is an essential read.

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Este livro foi parar as minhas mãos sem saber muito bem como, li a descrição e achei interessante, mas nunca na vida ía achar que o livro é tão bom só pela descrição. Como foi a minha primeira leitura do Philip K. Dick toda a permissa do livro surpeende-me imenso, mas sendo que já vi outros livros dele apercebi-me que a temática do “o que é real o que é na minha cabeça” é bastante comum nos livros dele.
Eu acho que é daqueles livros que não deviam ter muita coisa a dizer na sua descrição, e desse modo também não vou explicar muito. Só sei que vale imensa a pena ler este livro se gostam de fantasia e ficção científica. E especialmente quem nunca leu Phillip K. Dick.