The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

On Mars, the harsh climate could make any colonist turn to drugs to escape a dead-end existence. Especially when the drug is Can-D, which transports its users into the idyllic world of a Barbie-esque character named Perky Pat. When the mysterious Palmer Eldritch arrives with a new drug called Chew-Z, he offers a more addictive experience, one that might bring the user closer to God. But in a world where everyone is tripping, no promises can be taken at face value.

This Nebula Award nominee is one of Philip K. Dick's enduring classics, at once a deep character study, a dark mystery, and a tightrope walk along the edge of reality and illusion.

©1964 Philip K. Dick (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

It is a PKD Book

This follows the typical arc of all the PKD books I have read, excellent prose paint an out of focus but still intriguing sci-fi world. Bizarre to the point of disturbing chaos takes place as various motivated individuals try to work the rules of the setting to their advantage. A weird break in the narrative happens around the middle where the location takes a dramatic shift and the full stakes of what is happening get into gear.

This is when the increasingly unhinged sci-fi Christianity starts to take hold and a really interesting idea of some alien taking over via drugs starts to mobilize and it draws comparisons to the eucharist... But then it goes bonkers and I must assume (like all the other books by him I have read) whatever he was on (likely speed) started to fade and he decided to just wrap up the story with an ending that just putters out.

If you like his stuff (I generally do) then this is one of them, but it is not his best stuff by any means and for all the interesting concepts and strong prose the structure is just awful and really hinders this thing from being everything it could be.

Wow

PKD gets all kinds of acclaim for all the right reasons. This audiobook is awesome, great reader, great voices yadda yadda. But honestly, it’s the triple backflip PKD does in the last 30seconds of this mind curling tale that leaves you breathless. Just wow.

Good performance

Good performance, didnt like the story that much though. It was confusing and the ending was really bad

An awesome Mind f*ck.

this book was incredible. I did not know what to expect at all and was happily surprised. I now know where most of the plot lines for science fiction movies come from.

typical PKD

Great narrator. Similar in style to Ubik. I enjoyed listening, but had to go back frequently to make sure I understood as it takes very strange turns. If you like weird, give it a listen.

one of the best

great narrator, who put effort into voicing the characters. if you're a pkd fan get this one for sure

Strong Voice Acting; Story of Intrigue and Mystery

First things first: Luke Daniels did an amazing job with giving every character not just a separate personality, but a separate voice. I was able, more easily than many audiobooks, to tell every character apart by sound alone.

Phillip K. Dick's writing is always entertaining to me, including tons of small details that build and build to tell a larger picture by the end. Enjoyable as ever. The ever-narrowing gap between reality and the unreal is fantastically portrayed.

My favorite PKD book yet

I’ve read DADOS, UBIK, ASD, and TSOPE. This may be my favorite book yet by him. UBIK was at the top prior. This book is a glimpse inside PKD’s thoughts on reality, superior beings and The Almighty...I think. I don’t 100% know what is the true reality. I don’t know for sure which character is the true soul reality either. I do love how PKD consistently has his characters believe they have an existential answer only for a page later to be upturned. This is so true with all of us. Anyone who says they know the answer is lying to themselves. He considers the idea that we aren’t meant to know and maybe we should concern ourselves with a more simplistic view to be happy. We are tainted. Growing old in our Hovel with a beautiful, intelligent woman, while we tend our vegetable garden. Maybe that’s all it should be? Maybe that’s what higher life forms long for and envy?

I know nothing about life or this book. I just know that it gave me some deep lingering thoughts.

Leo’s Voice

The voice the narrator gave to the character of Leo is profoundly inappropriate to that character.

get lost easily

can be hard to follow but as always, an impressive display of creativity. I fail to understand the end