Confessions of a Crap Artist

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Jack Isidore doesn’t see the world like most people. According to his brother-in-law, Charley, he’s a crap artist, obsessed with his own bizarre theories and ideas, which he fanatically records in his many notebooks. He is so grossly unequipped for real life that his sister and brother-in-law feel compelled to rescue him from it. But while Fay and Charley Hume put on a happy face for the world, they prove to be just as sealed off from reality, in thrall to obsessions that are slightly more acceptable than Jack’s but a great deal uglier. When they take Jack into their home, he finds himself in the middle of a maelstrom of suburban angst from which he may not be able to escape.

Confessions of a Crap Artist is one of Philip K. Dick’s most accomplished novels, and the only non-science-fiction novel published in his lifetime.

©1975 Philip K. Dick (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

A gifted author

This is an unhappy story written by a gifted novelist. I have read the PKD biography Devine Invasions. I thought the same thought while listening to this recording that I thought while reading the autobiography. What must it have been like for PKDs third wife to live with the manuscript of this book from the first year of their marriage.

I recommend the book to PKD fans. However, it is not a story about well-balanced happy characters.

Fun and insightful

The book follows a crap artist, a loon, a man who resembles most a YouTube conspiracy nut. What Dick reveals though, is that we are all a little cooky and full of crap.
Everyone's a crap artist. Everyone's full of shit, so don't feel so bad. Embrace that you're full of shit and you can begin to move on.

Don't know what to expect even after listening

I had no expectations about the author or the book. Possibly science fiction or perhaps just a comedy. It isn't either. Possibly you could say Philip K. Dick is in the same style as Kurt Vonnegut but I am not sure. I got sick of the 'he said', 'she said' but I guess that is needed. Peter Berkrot is fine narrating the book but I didn't enjoy this book and have been left a little confused by it.

The moods of the mass can't be fathomed...

"Science in baffled by the unreason of the hoi polloi. The moods of the mass can't be fathomed, that's a fact."
- Philip K. Dick, Confessions of a Crap Artist

Jack Isadore is a bit a lune. He believes in crack-pot theories about the end of the world, has funky obscessions and ticks. He's a couple nuts short of being a fruit cake. Eventually, he ends up living with his rich sister and her husband. With them, Jack discovers he isn't the only crazy one. It seems most people, even those who seem to have "everything" and fit into our reality better, are only a couple inches away from the void.

I went into this book blind. I've read a bunch of other Philip K. Dick novels, but never realized THIS is his only [one of his few]* non-scifi novel[s]. It shares more with Raymond Carver and Jonathan Franzen than it does with Vernor Vinge and Kurt Vonnegut. I liked it, but it was a bit tedious in parts. Dick's ability to capture characters is on point in this book. All the major characters are amazing, especially Jack's sister Fayy Hume and her husband Charley. Wow. I didn't like them, but after finishing this book I felt like I was RELATED to them.

Captivating from the first sentence onward

From the first sentence onward, you know you are not listening to an ordinary story written by an ordinary writer.

This is my first introduction to the author, Philip K. Dick, and it won't be my last. He's noted for his science fiction and this story only skirts around the edges of that genre. Things aren't what they appear and he makes you realize that the normal (the sister Fay) is more crazy than the bizarre (Jack, the brother and crap artist).

The story is a a pure pleasure to listen to. The observations on life in the 50s are cutting and fun. Self serving interest can lead to absurdities. It took me a while to realize who was the real crazy person in the story. Philip K. Dick is now on my to listen list.

Funny, retro dark comedy.

I like PKD's science fiction better, but there are always endearing characters and those you detest. Wish he were with us still writing. He was one of the best.