Finished this book. I thought it was written very well and the waythe two storylines combinewas very fun to experience. What did you think of it?I also thought the idea of Mercerism vs Mass Media was interesting, but I don't seem to be able to figure out what message the author wants to convey with it.
Self-bumping with hope for some discussion.
>>8239754
Indeed excellent read. It is also important to keep in mind that Dick was bombarded with deadlines, which gave him little time to finish his novels. It's very impressive that he can shit out that novel given that fact, which is probably also why Mercerism wasn't fleshed out. It did make many passages in the book more mysterious, which I appreciated.
Have you seen the movie?
>>8239815
Actually, the book did feel somewhat rushed.
I didn't see it, but I think I'm gonna watch it soon!
It seems that a lot of people think Philip K Dick was criticizing religion withBuster Friendly's announcement, but I feel that he actually raises a point that it is the principles given by Religion that are the most importantas shown by Rick's and Isidore's lack of reaction and what Mercer says to Rick.
Moving onto "A Clockwork Orange" now.
>>8239754
>no buttplug sex scene between Deckard and his sheep
Seriously now, this book is easily one of my favorites. There's so much about it, and it's relatively very short. I think Dick is a great writer of characters and dialogues and he does good work in expressing the many ideas and questions that rise from the subjects he deals with. His prose might not be "well-crafted", but he has his own style and it works.
The entire post-nuclear world, the experience of Mercerism and everything really, was aesthetically captivating when I saw it in mind.
I think you can see the contrast between Mercerism and Mass Media as a difference in content between two ways of comforting humans living in the desolate earth. Buster Friendly provides escapism into ridiculous entertainment, while Mercerism is a profound way of bonding, that gives a platform to emotional sharing and compensation.
As I interpret it, Mercerism is the purest form of religion, in the sense that it has no restricting laws etc, and just brings together its practitioners together into some collective state of spiritual elevation. Something that can be considered the closest thing to divinity.
The cycle of the tomb world and rebirth, along with the doubt about Mercer's existence as an actual man or an archetype (or who cares, what's the difference in a PKD work?) in the grim universe that will eventually be overtaken by loads of kipple, makes the whole business to appear as a desperate perseverance of consciousness to bear the inherent pain and depression that comes from being aware to reality and... keep going. You can add the acceptance of animals to the circle of empathy and artificial intelligence, and say we're all the same meaningless beings and we're all stuck in the same meaningless mud. Let's help each other go through this more comfortably.
>>8240794
>Dick is a great writer of characters and dialogues
what the fuck are you smoking
>>8240960
I'm chewing Chew-Z
>>8240960
His dialogue isn't good, but I don't necessarily agree with the criticism that his characters are bland and hard to relate with; even if they don't really have interesting backstories and often don't develop or change much throughout the stories, the surfaces he displays of them are somehow so human and realistic and familiar to me. His books always make me feel less alone.
>>8240960
Isidore is a great character.
>>8239754
Was Rick Deckarda robot?
>>8243536
No, the book doesn't really pose that question, just the movie.
>>8243559
I never watched the movie.
>>8243559
The book does pose that questione.g when he gets arrested, also what it means to be human. It's very much part of the book.
>>8243536
I remember someone here on /lit/ once suggested that all humans on the book were androids and the androids on Deckard's list were the last humans.
>>8243559
What the fuck? The book raises the question explicitly, where in the movie it's an unstated question.
>Buster Friendly and His Friendly Friends
