This Paperback Book item from Vintage was reviewed on 26-Oct-2008.
Search ISBN:1400030072 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Deus Irae: A Novel Reference Book. Classifications : Dick, Philip K. ( D ) Authors, A-Z Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books Zelazny, Roger ( Z ) Authors, A-Z Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy . Click the following link to view the cover of Deus Irae: A Novel. Related topics: Dick, Philip K.. ( D ). Authors, A-Z. Subjects. Books. Zelazny, Roger. ( Z ). Authors, A-Z. Subjects. Books. requestid: e2307353-3674-4c8d-b264-240a1be1c606
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1) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. Here´s a novel with important pieces missing.
That´s not necessarily a bad thing. Most of us would probably prefer a novel with important pieces missing to one with everything spelled out. Then again, there´s a fine line between making readers think for themselves and leaving them in the dark. In this case, the authors may have stepped over the line. Let´s have a look.
In post-apocalyptic America, a new religion has come into being. They worship a new god, the Deus Irae, or God of Wrath. They believe that this god also has a human form (or maybe just a human servant) in the person of one Carleton Lufteufel, a former government official who gave the order that set off the nuclear devastation. Since this god´s works plainly surround the people at all times, the Church of Wrath attracts a lot of followers, and the old Christian church is in a bad way.
The Church of Wrath commissions Tibor McMasters to paint a mural on one of their buildings - a wise choice, since he´s the greatest artist of the age despite having no arms or legs. To that end, the Church sends him on a journey to find Carleton Lufteufel, take a picture, and include his genuine likeness in the work. A local Christian novice, Pete Sands, decides to go along. He tells himself he´s doing this to protect Tibor from harm. He may have other motives - his church would clearly prefer that Tibor fail in this quest. And Tibor has some grave doubts about the whole thing. Will Tibor and Pete find Carleton Lufteufel? And more importantly, if they do, what will they do about it?
Not a bad setup, you´ll agree. What´s more, in their journeys Tibor and Pete encounter some nice freakish details, such as talking bugs and lizards, a carnivorous computer and a cranky automatic factory. Their encounters with these oddities are often funny, thank God; the factory, for instance, attempts to fix Pete´s bicycle and instead produces a torrent of pogo sticks.
The writing is worth the time, too. I´ve said before that Philip K. Dick was not a great stylist, but he could be phenomenal when on his game. Roger Zelazny, his co-writer, had a deserved reputation as one of the best stylists in science fiction. Together, they produced a lot of wonderful passages here, such as when Tibor obtains a dog to keep him company. An armless and legless man in a poisonous wilderness would certainly be happy to have a dog - these passages in "Deus Irae" go one step further and make you feel his joy personally.
So it´s all the more frustrating to read through "Deus Irae" and find yourself with so many unanswered questions. For instance, what in the world is so godlike about Carleton Lufteufel? At one point, Tibor encounters a powerful presence that descends on him from the sky, speaks to him, gives him arms and legs and then takes them away, so the God of Wrath is no mere specter. What´s the connection between this powerful being and Carleton Lufteufel, though? Elsewhere we see Lufteufel himself, living in an old bunker with a developmentally delayed girl, in great pain from the metal shards that the nuclear explosions drove into his head - does this man turn into the God of Wrath periodically? Is he even aware that people consider him to be the God in human form? What the heck is going on?
More sticky yet is the novel´s conclusion. Suffice to say here that an abrupt act of dreadful violence brings the whole quest for Carleton Lufteufel to a sudden halt. It´s plain enough how this event might plunge Tibor into despair, but there´s another witness who realizes at that moment how the event was supposed to play out, and sees that it has not done so. Well, if it had, what would the consequences be? And does the witness wish that things had worked out as planned? And why? In context, these are important questions, and the emotional pitch of the writing bites hard, but the answers are vague at best. Sorry, guys - no pass.
As I said, it´s not an author´s job to spoon-feed us everything, but this is going a little far. Without answers to some of these basic questions, "Deus Irae" reads like a series of unconnected episodes, and it obviously tried for more than that. The last few chapters, indeed, give some hints about what the authors wanted to achieve, and for that, the imaginative content and the quality of the writing, this novel may be worth a read. Too bad it isn´t worth two or more.
Oddly enough, the flaws of "Deus Irae" do not generally appear in the rest of Philip K. Dick´s work - his plotting was usually very clear and he rarely concluded his novels too soon. Those flaws are sometimes to be found, however, in Roger Zelazny´s work. I read somewhere that PKD invited Zelazny´s collaboration because he didn´t know enough about Christianity. I´m not convinced of that, frankly - PKD´s exploration of religion took up his entire life. I suspect it was Zelazny who suggested the road setting, and who may have allowed the story to run out of gas.
Oh well. It´s a PKD story nevertheless. Anyone who has read "Dr. Bloodmoney" will recognize the postapocalyptic America, full of small towns and dangerous mutants, brought on by an evil scientist with a significant German name, and including a figure with no arms or legs. If PKD felt he needed a collaborator, for the second and last time in his career, that was his business.
I also read that when Zelazny learned of PKD´s financial difficulties, he reduced his royalty share from one half to one third. I hope God blesses him for that, and I really don´t care which God does the job.
Benshlomo says, Partnership is difficult, but worth it.¤ 2) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. I have read over a dozen Philip K. Dick books and can say without a doubt this was the worse one I read, and maybe the worst book I have read in a long time. People have claimed that Dick´s Vulcan´s Hammer is the worst, but this has to be up there. I had enjoyed the posthumous collaboration between Alfred Bester and Roger Zelazny called Psychoshop and thought this would be the same caliber. Nope. This novel was aimless and boring. Yes, boring. I plowed through it hoping it would go over some hump and get good. Never did.
I would recommend reading just about any Philip K. Dick book over this one. If you need recommendations I´d say go: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Man In The High Castle, The Divine Invasion, VALIS, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Radio Free Albemuth, Scanner Darkly, Now Wait For Last Year, Ubik, Martian Time-Slip, Time Out of Joint, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said...before even thinking about reading this book.
Last snub, what´s up with the Vintage cover art for this title?¤ 3) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. A disclaimer: Like a previous reviewer, I will read anything Zelazny wrote, because he´s a true master. Amber! Lord of Light! Amazing stuff. He died far too young.
Philip K. Dick, on the other hand, doesn´t float my boat. I´ve read three of his books now, and didn´t like any of them. I´m gonna quit. I should have quit before this one.
Bottom line: If you loved Canticle for Liebowitz and Lord of Light, you´ll like this. I loved Lord of Light, but Canticle is as far as I want to go into questioning Christian theology, so this one gets three stars, mainly for Zelazny´s influence.¤ 4) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. I always wondered how two writers collaborate to write one novel. Does one start and write til he´s stuck, then send it over to the other? Or is one responsible for the dialogue, the other plot and exposition? Do they trade chapters back and forth?
Deus Irae is immediately recognizable Dick. God & theology theme, wacky mutants, and dialogue that cause you think about and examine our basic Christian beliefs. Why not a God of Death and Retribution?
I can´t say I´ve read any Roger Zelazny, so I don´t recognize his style, plotline, or contribution to the book. However, if he was responsible for toning down the paranoia and rambling to which Dick sometimes succumbs, I guess it was a good mix.¤ 5) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. Dick wrote this in collaboration with another sf great, Roger Zelazny, though the end result is not really one of either author´s best efforts. In a post-World-War-III wasteland a religion has grown up around the God of Wrath, whose human embodiment is one Carleton Lufteufel, the government official who detonated the doomsday device that contaminated the Earth´s atmosphere with radioactivity. Limbless painter Tibor McMaster sets off in his cart on a quest to find Lufteufel to capture the god´s true visage in a painting. There´s some interesting speculation around the encounter between a vitiated Christianity with this life-negating religion (Deus Irae means "God of wrath") and a somewhat Zen-like spiritual renewal may be found in the novel´s conclusion. The religious preoccupation gives the novel interest as a kind of reflection of Dick´s other greater novels of the late 60s and 70s, despite the somewhat casual and fragmented history of its composition.¤ 6) Paperback Book Deus Irae: A Novel by Vintage. In the years following World War III, a new and powerful faith has arisen from a scorched and poisoned Earth, a faith that embraces the architect of world wide devastation. The Servants of Wrath have deified Carlton Lufteufel and re-christened him the Deus Irae. In the small community of Charlottesville, Utah, Tibor McMasters, born without arms or legs, has, through an array of prostheses, established a far-reaching reputation as an inspired painter. When the new church commissions a grand mural depicting the Deus Irae, it falls upon Tibor to make a treacherous journey to find the man, to find the god, and capture his terrible visage for posterity.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 23-Nov-2008, 14000300729781400030071, 340-510-780-561-721-991-021-8 
Deus Irae: A Novel, Book, Image © Vintage
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