A Scanner Darkly

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Paul Giamatti

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Bob Arctor is a dealer of the lethally addictive drug Substance D. Fred is the police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, Fred takes on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D, which Arctor takes in massive doses, gradually splits the user's brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesn't realize he is narcing on himself.

Caustically funny, eerily accurate in its depiction of junkies, scam artists, and the walking brain-dead, Philip K. Dick's industrial-grade stress test of identity is as unnerving as it is enthralling.

©1977 Philip K. Dick (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Scanner Darkly Illuminated

Paul Giamatti brings this Philip K. Dick classic to life. The characters are distinct and fully realized under Giamatti's vocalization. I easily slipped into the story and the warped, paranoid and dual world Dick created, Giamatti enhances that voice and provides access to the action not to mention the subtext of this dystopian tale. I flew through the recording and would heartily recommend it to any Philip K. Dick fan. I hope to find more Giamatti narrations on Audible in the future. He does more than justice to this book.

Beautiful

No book has encapsulated so many aspects of the war on drugs. a beautiful twisted world is lightened.

One of my favorites!

“They were like children playing in the street; they could see one after another of them being killed but they continued to play anyhow. But it was for such a terribly brief time, and then the punishment was beyond belief: even when we could see it, we could not believe it…”

Paul Giamatti is a rare treat as a narrator, only a full cast performance from the movie’s actors could improve this audiobook.

Other PKD must-read: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldridge,

trippy story

dark and twisty story with great reading, but one that is likely better read than listened to due to the overlapping storylines that unravel so quickly.

Good, IMO

Giamatti does fine as a narrator. Story is a little bleak, but it's put together well enough and interesting at the least. Would recommend.

Drug addicts.. the glasses they see the world

Spoiler alert

The writing and performance are on point.
The book can be disturbing at points, the main character left his family and everything for substance D. We get to see the spiral of everyone around him including him on the drug.
The personality split and loss of reality make this book really interesting. The characters are so relatable and feel very real and grounded in drug culture. Its not a cautionary tale nor is it one that promotes drug use, just shows the reality people deal with a sci-fi spin.
Good but disturbing.

Flipping amazing

Do yourself a favor and listen to this a hundred times. Paul's narration is freaking brilliant. The story is brilliant. You're brilliant. I love you.

Good but what the heck is going on

I liked it. It was engaging and kept my interest which far too few books do these days. However, I either missed it or it wasn't fully explained exactly what the heck was happening in the bigger picture ie with Donna and the guy from new passage. I would have liked to known... Oh well. Paul is a great narrator, I had no idea. I will listen to more of his if he does something other than Stephen King.

Disturbingly Real

I enjoyed this book very much.

PK captures the ethos and ecology of the '70's drug culture very well.

The conversations between the mind-altered denizens are the best part of the book.

This book also asks questions of personal identity and values.

This is all enclosed in a Dickian envelope of paranoia and deception.

Paul Giamatti does an awesome job reading this book. He is a very good Actor! Who knew? It gave me a new-found appreciation of him.

Good, but depressing

This was a good book, but it's a bit of a downer. And definitely slow at times. But it's worth the read