The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
blanchesblankspace's review against another edition
adventurous
4.75
The plot twists were nice, good read overall. Could've done without the casual sexism though
s_books's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning of this story matches pretty well with the plot of the two films (the Arnold Schwarzenegger version and the Colin Firth version) -- the main character keeps thinking and dreaming of Mars and goes to Rekal to have a memory of him having been there implanted. But then the story veers off (or rather, the film plots veered off from the story) and while the story feels shorter and less satisfying than the movies (in that we never get to see any of the action adventure stuff the character remembers), the conclusion of the story did make me laugh a bit (although still a bit disappointing; we don't get to see that either).
mattpfarr's review against another edition
3.0
This was a really cool idea but it was executed in a disappointing way. Just not much really happened. He gets away and immediately just changes his mind. Getting away did nothing. The ending was really bad though, like laughable. Actually, I think I did laugh. And he just randomly makes the female characters wear no tops so he can describe their breasts as melons. However, the ideas this guy comes up with are pretty amazing. The movies did it better but they used his idea to start from. I think if the story was longer and the plot took more time to conclude it would have been great. Maybe I just prefer longer stories to short ones.
kratositaly's review against another edition
2.0
After reading WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, I can confirm that Philip K. Dick just ain't for me: there are interesting ideas in here about the fascination with fantasies and ambition, and how easily people can be manipulated and beguiled, but it ultimately does not amount to much and loses much of the ambiguity that made the first half engaging. The 1990 Schwarzenegger/Verhoeven adaptation actually delivers solid thrills and interesting themes, without losing the constant sense of doubt on what is real and what is just an imagined wish fulfilment.
otherwyrld's review against another edition
2.0
I read this collection of short stories mostly because I wanted to read "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", which is the story that the film Total Recall (both versions) was based on. Well I read it and thought it was an entertaining story, but I noted that the author didn't really seem to like women in the story. They were depicted almost wholly in negative terms - shrews, nags, etc.
So I continued to read the stories because I hate to not finish something but the damage had been done. In each story I read, the idea that the author didn't really like women resurfaced time and time again. I then read "The Pre-Persons" and not only did the author not like women, he loathed them with a hatred and misogyny I have rarely seen in the pages of a fiction book. That was me almost done with the book, but I struggled through the rest of the stories, and there were one or two towards the end which managed not to be filled with spite and bile, but it was tough going at times.
I read the notes at the end of the book - in it the author said about the Pre-Persons "In this I incurred the absolute hate of Joanna Russ who wrote me the nastiest letter I've ever received; at one point she said she usually offered to beat up people (she didn't use the word "people") who expressed opinions such as this". All I can say is, good for you Joanna, though I suspect it had more to do with the abortion elements of the story than with the woman-hating parts. It seems that the author was surprised by the level of vitriol directed at him because of this story.
Now, I have a issue with my feelings about this, in that the author is such a well-respected one, but if his attitude towards women runs throughout his writings I am going to have a tough time reading anything else by him. It's not the first time I've run across an author who I try to read but I seem to bounce off rather than push through the less enlightened parts of the work to find the meat beneath. It's like an invisible force field that I cannot penetrate, though I can see what it is that makes the author so attractive to many. It may be that I can get past this, but I can't see myself seeking out more of his works if I have the same reaction to him.
So I continued to read the stories because I hate to not finish something but the damage had been done. In each story I read, the idea that the author didn't really like women resurfaced time and time again. I then read "The Pre-Persons" and not only did the author not like women, he loathed them with a hatred and misogyny I have rarely seen in the pages of a fiction book. That was me almost done with the book, but I struggled through the rest of the stories, and there were one or two towards the end which managed not to be filled with spite and bile, but it was tough going at times.
I read the notes at the end of the book - in it the author said about the Pre-Persons "In this I incurred the absolute hate of Joanna Russ who wrote me the nastiest letter I've ever received; at one point she said she usually offered to beat up people (she didn't use the word "people") who expressed opinions such as this". All I can say is, good for you Joanna, though I suspect it had more to do with the abortion elements of the story than with the woman-hating parts. It seems that the author was surprised by the level of vitriol directed at him because of this story.
Now, I have a issue with my feelings about this, in that the author is such a well-respected one, but if his attitude towards women runs throughout his writings I am going to have a tough time reading anything else by him. It's not the first time I've run across an author who I try to read but I seem to bounce off rather than push through the less enlightened parts of the work to find the meat beneath. It's like an invisible force field that I cannot penetrate, though I can see what it is that makes the author so attractive to many. It may be that I can get past this, but I can't see myself seeking out more of his works if I have the same reaction to him.
