Valis cover art

Valis

Valis, Book 1

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Valis

By: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Phil Gigante
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About this listen

What is VALIS? This question is at the heart of Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking novel, the first book in his defining trilogy. When a beam of pink light begins giving a schizophrenic man named Horselover Fat (who just might also be known as Philip K. Dick) visions of an alternate Earth where the Roman Empire still reigns, he must decide whether he is crazy or whether a godlike entity is showing him the true nature of the world.

VALIS is essential listening for any true Philip K. Dick fan, a novel that Roberto Bolaño called "more disturbing than any novel by [Carson] McCullers." By the end, like Dick himself, you will be left wondering what is real, what is fiction, and just what the price is for divine inspiration.

©1981 Philip K. Dick (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Science Fiction

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A fantastic book filled with maddening philosophies which make you know how it feels to be insane. Logical connection in irrational thoughts makes you believe Dick is the Messiah or he has revealed the truth about reality. Additionally the narrative technique of using both Dick and his persona "Horselover Fat" adds an additional element to the plot, that of Dick's own personality disorder.

I do, however, feel some sections, especially those with intense postmodernist rambling styles, are better read from the book than listened to.

Horselover Fat's "VALIS"

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This review has to be at least fifteen words. Jessop. Jessop. Jessop. Three more words.

Quite the ride

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First I want to mention the excellent performance by Phil Gigante. His reading is pacy and expressive, really bringing the story to life.

The book itself is a deep, profound meditation on the nature of reality itself, on mental illness and theology. It incorporates elements of science fiction in an unusual way. The result is a book like no other I have ever read. Mind expanding, thought provoking, strange and wonderful.

Brain-bending brilliance

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But before you start reading it, you must read pretty much all previous works, and ideally have some knowledge of religions and philosophy, otherwise you'll end up with a headache after each chapter. I like this a lot.

This Is Epic

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The performance of this audio book is generally quite good. Sometimes it veers off into dense gnosticism that's a little hard to follow but that's down to the creator. The start of this book is especially strong and it somewhat veers off the rails, I enjoyed it and the Reader did a good job of trying to keep it varied and interesting through their reading.

Weird yet captivating, sometimes dense

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you follow a schizophrenic drug addict in his pathetic life, it's senseless, meaningless, depressing... why would anyone read this is beyond me

utter drivel

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Well that was........... Eh....... Hmm..... 🤔

Not sure what to say about this one.
I found it just so unbearably dull.
Definitely my least favourite PKD. It's less sci fi, more paranoid ramblings.
Most of the time I was listening I was desperate either for it to be over or to start being good, I didn't care which.
Perhaps I didn't like it coz I have zero interest in deities / religions / theology etc... Or maybe it just sucked 🤷‍♀️
Either way there's not a chance of me reading the rest of this series.

Valis

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