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Ubik

Philip K. Dick

Start date: February 1, 2024

Finish date: February 29, 2024

Discussion: Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Science Fiction and Fantasy

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What Members Thought

Mar 17, 2008 Jaci McCon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008, own

This was the first book that I have read by Philip K. Dick, and I was not disappointed. This novel was a page-turner and relatively quick read. It is hard for me to explain what I got out of this book because it dealt with some very abstract concepts, but here are my thoughts (as disjointed as they may be).

How do we know if what we are experiencing right now is life, and not half-life, death, or a reincarnation of ourselves? This was the main question that the characters of Ubik faced.

The book This was the first book that I have read by Philip K. Dick, and I was not disappointed. This novel was a page-turner and relatively quick read. It is hard for me to explain what I got out of this book because it dealt with some very abstract concepts, but here are my thoughts (as disjointed as they may be).

How do we know if what we are experiencing right now is life, and not half-life, death, or a reincarnation of ourselves? This was the main question that the characters of Ubik faced.

The book presents a juxtaposition between two worlds, real life and half life. Those who are "alive" exist as we know life to be. Those who are in "half life" have died and been placed in a cold-pac, similar to the cryogenics that we have today, except that the cold-pac keeps the essence or spirit of the person alive. In this state, the deceased can still communicate with the living as well as other deceased people in the cold-pac facility.

After a massive explosion, the protagonist Joe and his coworkers try to get their dead employers body to cold-pac and then experience series of events that lead them to believe that they are deceased. They are able to communicate with their boss, who they believe is alive. By the end of the novel, however, the employer begins to see signs in the changing environment around him that indicate that the deceased employees are influencing the "real world". Or is HE the one who is deceased? The novel ends without providing a resolution or clearing up who is dead and who is alive.

While this lack of resolution can be frustrating to many readers, I saw it as a stroke of genius. Ubik, derived from the word ubiquitous meaning "everywhere", hints that perhaps we can exist in multiple ways and places at once. It is possible that we continue to exist in some form, or many forms, once we die, but it is also possible that the same could be true for our existence while we are alive. This concept reminded me of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, where doors could be opened to different "whens" and the same characters existed in multiple "whens". ...more

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Aug 23, 2024 Douglas Beagley rated it liked it

Ideas! Here are some science fiction ideas. Characterization, motivation, setting, and etc? Eh. Ideas!

The other thought I had about 3/4s through is that this book is Inception. The movie with DiCaprio. Layered realities folded around psyches, etc. Right down to the weirdness about businesses being the ultimate motivation that leads to the main action. Inception is cleaner, more focused, and attempts to create characters with believable motivations—Ubik spends more time poking around the network ...more

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