Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Philip K. Dick had a way of writing moralist science fiction without the moralist, science, or fiction getting in the way of a good story. I believe that is why so many of his stories did well as movies (unlike other more popular authors like Stephen King). This book is one of this best. The book paces well. You meet many characters along the way and one of Dick's strengths is to make you feel involved and care for each one of the characters. Few authors make so many characters meaningful and real. You can enjoy this book from many levels and many points of view, it is not a book simply about the main character, which was something I really liked about the book. Even Charles Dickens would use vanilla characters to tell the tale of more interesting blokes (like Oliver Twist). Not so with Dick in this book. You find yourself deeply involved with each one and cheering for them in their struggle to deal with life.

Scott Brick in one of my favorite readers. His delivery is clear and keeps you interested.

The novel covers themes that Dick often explored in his writing - the nature of reality and how well we can trust our own interpretations of it, as well as the effect of drugs on our perceptions.

In this story of Jason Tavener, a celebrity who wakes up in a fleabag motel to find himself an overnight unknown, there are a lot of possible explanations for what happened, and the listener is kept guessing while Dick takes us through all the various characters who might help Jason figure out how to get back to his real life. I wouldn't like to give away too much of the ending, but I'll just say there was a similar denouement in the short story "The Electric Ant," which I personally liked better.

I think part of the problem for me was that Scott Brick simply wasn't the right narrator for this story. I have enjoyed his narrations in the past, and I bought this story mostly because I am a big fan of Philip K. Dick's, but partly due to the fact that Scott Brick was reading it. Unfortunately, his style just doesn't seem suited to Dick's dark humor. And there is definitely humor in Dick's stories, even though he is usually writing about such topics as drug abuse, police brutality and alienation from society.

For listeners who want to give a Philip K Dick story a try, I would recommend Paul Giamatti narration of A Scanner Darkly instead. It's grim and tragic, but Giamatti will also make you laugh.

This is my favorite Phillip K Dick book, it is well written and well read. Love those electric Sheep.

I don't know many friends I would recommend this too, although I got my book club to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and I was surprised to find they liked it fairly well.

I have several Dick books on my wish list.

I'm a Scott Brick fan, having heard several Nelson DeMille books read by him. He makes dialogue in this book come to life in a realistic way-- which plays against the dream-like feel of the story.

I was a little surprised by some-- shall I say-- debased aspects of the story. I don't recall that element so much in other books by this author. It's a rambling tale, but that's its strength.

This Dick novel started sooo brilliantly but like several Dick books fell apart toward the end in my opinion. I was disappointed to say the least.

I can't believe Scott Brick is the narrator as he is usually very good. This time however, he is so over the top and overly dramatic that I simply can't take it anymore. I think this is the first time I'm going to leave a audio book halfway.

The story also doesn't seem to be going anywhere and quite frankly, I don't care what happens to the main character. What's his name again?