The Crack in Space: A Novel

Author - Philip K. Dick ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Vintage was reviewed on 26-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:1400030064 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. The Crack in Space: A Novel Reference Book. Classifications : Dick, Philip K. ( D ) Authors, A-Z Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General AAS Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Subje . Click the following link to view the cover of The Crack in Space: A Novel.

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1) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage. I really like this book. This book is an incredibly interesting tale of the political and social ramifications of the existence of an alternative Earth. Truly magnificent story with a great deal of surprises.¤

2) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage. It wasn´t works like these that helped cement Dick´s reputation as a visionary SF author. And every effort to describe this novel returns on some level to a statement of its mediocrity. The basic plot outline here is sufficiently interesting, which is more impressive given that "The Crack in Space" was published over 40 years ago. Still, nothing extraordinary or very exciting is accomplished in this setting. Then again, it could also have been handled much more poorly. In all, a very average story is told here with relatively uninteresting characters, with the notable exception of presidential candidate Jim Briskin, for whom I could feel genuine affinity. It´s then extremely difficult to recommend a story of this kind, which posits some intriguing ideas but fails to create excitement, content in being a novel that is neither good nor bad, but merely fair. It was enjoyable enough upon a first read-through, but I couldn´t conceive of sitting through this again; there just wouldn´t be any value in it. And to learn something of the innovation that often characterizes the works of Philip K. Dick, look elsewhere.

2 Stars, because in all respects "The Crack in Space" is an average work, likely unworthy of the time of the discerning reader, even a Philip K. Dick fan.¤

3) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage.
After passing the half-way point in this book, I began anticipating the traditional "Dick-twist". You know, the part where the book takes an extremely unexpected and bizarre twist and the story you thought you were reading is completely changed. Take, for example, the LSD dart in "Lies Inc", or the "grubbish" from Martian Time-Slip.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn´t go that way with this one, and instead gives us a story with a reasonable beginning, middle, and end. The book starts as many do- Dick presents us with the usual large cast of amusing and seemingly independent characters, that eventually become completely interwoven with each other. The plot- a hole in a "Jifi-Scuttler" turns out to be a door to a parallel Earth (of course we never learn just what a "Jifi-Scuttler" is supposed to do normally), long after our Earth has been crowded past maximum capacity.

I don´t need to tell you any more than that. Dick gives us a wonderful, entertaining premise for a science fiction story, and then tells us that story from beginning to end, complete with the usual hilarious Dick ideas and character dialogue.

I recommend this one 110% for any Dick fan. The only reason The Crack in Space gets 4 stars is because it´s just a shade below his obvious 5-star classics that every Dick fan is already aware of. 4.5 - 4.75 stars would be more appropriate, if Amazon allowed such ratings.
¤

4) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage. The recurrence of the theme of the discovery of living ancient ancestors in modern times, as in Dick´s The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike and The Simulacra, suggests a symbolic incursion into modern consciousness of the buried, primitive self. But despite flashes of the author´s characteristic humor, The Crack in Space is substandard PKD. It relies on routine political intrigue and a meandering plot without compelling characters. Except for Jim Briskin, the first black man ever to run for president, there seem to be none who are not mired down in petty, personal, materialistic concerns. This novel also lacks both the themes of the problematical marriage and the breakthrough to a higher reality that mark much of Dick´s best work. Probably only those who have read just about everything else Dick wrote need seek this one out.¤

5) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage. CRACK IN SPACE is, in my opinion, a minor effort in Philip K. Dick´s career. One will find in it good ideas but scarcely developed.

Later in the 21st century, the world population can decide to be cryogenized in order to quit for a while a society dealing with an endemic unemployment. Those who choose this solution are stocked in piles waiting for a better day. In the meantime, Jim Briskin, the black candidate to the U.S. presidential election, needs desperately new political ideas to gather votes. Incidentally, a little hole that has appeared in a translator seems to lead into a new world and could be the long-awaited solution to the cryogenized people problem.

Well, one recognizes in CRACK IN SPACE some of Dick´s themes as the emergence of an unknown world that defies the intelligence of politicians and scientists. But don´t forget that a "new world" in Philip K. Dick´s terminology is not a world that suddenly appears light years away from the Earth, it´s rather a world that is close to us, so close in fact that this world often exists in the mind of the characters only.

In short, if you want to make an agreeable trip through Philip K. Dick´s main obsessions, you may enjoy CRACK IN SPACE but if you still don´t know this writer , try UBIK or BLADE RUNNER first.

A book for Dick´s fans only.¤

6) Paperback Book The Crack in Space: A Novel by Vintage. In The Crack in Space, a repairman discovers that a hole in a faulty Jifi-scuttler leads to a parallel world. Jim Briskin, campaigning to be the first black president of the United States, thinks alter-Earth is the solution to the chronic overpopulation that has seventy million people cryogenically frozen; Tito Cravelli, a shadowy private detective, wants to know why Dr Lurton Sands is hiding his mistress on the planet; billionaire mutant George Walt wants to make the empty world all his own. But when the other earth turns out to be inhabited, everything changes.

Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 23-Nov-2008, 14000300649781400030064, 340-500-561-641-991-021-291-8

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