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feelsattack's review against another edition
3.5
Premise is so interesting and it fits great in a short story format. The little bits of fast world-building was great, and I wish it could have been a full length book, LOL. The longer format could have gone into the confusion of the two realities that Quail was experiencing, his run from Interplan, and maybe even an exploration of what is revealed at the end. But it's also so fun as a short story.
anisha_inkspill's review against another edition
4.0
This is so different from the movie Total Recall but just as entertaining without all the wacky characters, special effects and chase scenes. The ending is unexpected, I didn’t know if I should be amused or be stunned.
neculara's review against another edition
2.0
This book has mostly very good reviews here on GR. Mine is going to be more critical.
I think I would have given it 3.5 stars if not for the gender stereotypes and sexism. I understand that most of these stories were written in the golden area of the American housewife, and that gender roles were more rigid back then. But that does not automatically translate to the condescending depictions of women I found in the majority of these stories.
But let's come back to that.
The stories themselves were a mixed package. Some were a bit boring. I were easily able to foresee the plot twist in most of them, and that does necessarily diminish the excitement. There were quite a lot that depicted a society torn to pieces by nuclear war - a bigger fear back in the fifties than today. I didn't much care for the war stories. I liked it better when I was presented with fantastical worlds than broken ones. And some of the stories did have truly interesting concepts, and a few were really exciting - page turners. A lot of them seem to underline how destructive human society is. The last story in the collection has a touching message about how important it is to take good care of our planet - a message more relevant today than ever before.
The characters are on the simple side, and a lot of them are called Ed, for some reason. But I guess these stories were not originally intended to be published as a collection, and as most of them are really short and focused on describing societies rather than individuals, so that naturally limits the depth it's possible to give a character.
Back to the depiction of women.
Women in these stories are either devoted mothers/girfriends, who obeys the orders given by the men in their lives, or mean bitches that scream at their husbands a lot. There is one strong, independent woman in this collection. Her name is Allison, and things do not end well for her. For the most part, the women are treated like children. They are described as vain, silly, stupid and they often have tantrums. They scream a lot, either out of fear or anger. If a man says to another man "nice little girl you've got there", he's talking about the other guy's wife/girlfriend, not his daughter.
The women are often described as having big eyes and lush hair. Oh, and let's not forget their full breasts. A woman who puts on - some sort of cape, I think - is described as fastening it over her shoulders and her breasts. Just to get the word breast in there one more time. The stories are clearly directed only at a straight, male audience.
One of the male protagonists reveals a secret to his wife. He is later scolded for it by another man, in this way:
"Your wife knows." The Old Man's face twisted angrily. "A woman. Of all the things to tell - "
And then there's Lori. A grown woman, who wants to take a walk before making dinner for her husband and his father. She has to beg them for permission before she can leave the house, and when she gets it, she is so happy! Oh, lucky you, Lori!
"Don't ask me, Steve. Just let me go. This is the last time." She writhed in agony. She clenched her fists. "Please!"
"All right. But it's going to snow. I don't see why you want to - "
Lori ran to get her coat from the closet. "I'll be back to fix dinner!" she shouted joyfully.
This scene depicts the relationship between parent and child, not between two equal adults who wants to share their lives with each other.
A while ago, I DNF-ed Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics on a somewhat related basis. What annoys me is that these two authors are trying to - and are recognized for - writing brand new, fantastic worlds or concepts, completely different societies - that in their maleness, whiteness and heteronormativity, are nothing different or new after all. And they don't seem to see it themselves. They can't really see, or see beyond, their own prejudices. When you are not in a marginalized position, it seems to be very easy to not recognize that there is a problem, a fundamental injustice, at all. Maybe this classifies as a pet peeve when I react so strongly to finding it in older books, but I couldn't let it go and it pretty much shaped my reading experience.
In some books, I can see past stuff like this. I like Poe, even though his ideal woman is a corpse - a beautiful, dead object. But then again, I can't stand Strindberg. He is a brilliant author, but he is also a complete misogynist.
I have read books from the 19th century, written by men, that depicts women a lot better and more positively than Dick and Calvino - books that describes them as thinking individuals. And most of the stories in this collection were not written that long before Le Guin's [b:The Left Hand of Darkness|18423|The Left Hand of Darkness|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488213612s/18423.jpg|817527]. PKD cannot be excused solely because of the time in which he wrote. He could have done a lot better than describing women as silly, helpless, hysterical and inferior.
I spite of all of this, I can see why other people might enjoy these stories much more than me, and if you like older sci-fi, go for it. It is interesting to see how the past pictured the future. Just - please - read it with a critical mind. That way, books that are racist, sexists etc. does good by developing our critical sense and promoting good discussions.
I think I would have given it 3.5 stars if not for the gender stereotypes and sexism. I understand that most of these stories were written in the golden area of the American housewife, and that gender roles were more rigid back then. But that does not automatically translate to the condescending depictions of women I found in the majority of these stories.
But let's come back to that.
The stories themselves were a mixed package. Some were a bit boring. I were easily able to foresee the plot twist in most of them, and that does necessarily diminish the excitement. There were quite a lot that depicted a society torn to pieces by nuclear war - a bigger fear back in the fifties than today. I didn't much care for the war stories. I liked it better when I was presented with fantastical worlds than broken ones. And some of the stories did have truly interesting concepts, and a few were really exciting - page turners. A lot of them seem to underline how destructive human society is. The last story in the collection has a touching message about how important it is to take good care of our planet - a message more relevant today than ever before.
The characters are on the simple side, and a lot of them are called Ed, for some reason. But I guess these stories were not originally intended to be published as a collection, and as most of them are really short and focused on describing societies rather than individuals, so that naturally limits the depth it's possible to give a character.
Back to the depiction of women.
Women in these stories are either devoted mothers/girfriends, who obeys the orders given by the men in their lives, or mean bitches that scream at their husbands a lot. There is one strong, independent woman in this collection. Her name is Allison, and things do not end well for her. For the most part, the women are treated like children. They are described as vain, silly, stupid and they often have tantrums. They scream a lot, either out of fear or anger. If a man says to another man "nice little girl you've got there", he's talking about the other guy's wife/girlfriend, not his daughter.
The women are often described as having big eyes and lush hair. Oh, and let's not forget their full breasts. A woman who puts on - some sort of cape, I think - is described as fastening it over her shoulders and her breasts. Just to get the word breast in there one more time. The stories are clearly directed only at a straight, male audience.
One of the male protagonists reveals a secret to his wife. He is later scolded for it by another man, in this way:
"Your wife knows." The Old Man's face twisted angrily. "A woman. Of all the things to tell - "
And then there's Lori. A grown woman, who wants to take a walk before making dinner for her husband and his father. She has to beg them for permission before she can leave the house, and when she gets it, she is so happy! Oh, lucky you, Lori!
"Don't ask me, Steve. Just let me go. This is the last time." She writhed in agony. She clenched her fists. "Please!"
"All right. But it's going to snow. I don't see why you want to - "
Lori ran to get her coat from the closet. "I'll be back to fix dinner!" she shouted joyfully.
This scene depicts the relationship between parent and child, not between two equal adults who wants to share their lives with each other.
A while ago, I DNF-ed Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics on a somewhat related basis. What annoys me is that these two authors are trying to - and are recognized for - writing brand new, fantastic worlds or concepts, completely different societies - that in their maleness, whiteness and heteronormativity, are nothing different or new after all. And they don't seem to see it themselves. They can't really see, or see beyond, their own prejudices. When you are not in a marginalized position, it seems to be very easy to not recognize that there is a problem, a fundamental injustice, at all. Maybe this classifies as a pet peeve when I react so strongly to finding it in older books, but I couldn't let it go and it pretty much shaped my reading experience.
In some books, I can see past stuff like this. I like Poe, even though his ideal woman is a corpse - a beautiful, dead object. But then again, I can't stand Strindberg. He is a brilliant author, but he is also a complete misogynist.
I have read books from the 19th century, written by men, that depicts women a lot better and more positively than Dick and Calvino - books that describes them as thinking individuals. And most of the stories in this collection were not written that long before Le Guin's [b:The Left Hand of Darkness|18423|The Left Hand of Darkness|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1488213612s/18423.jpg|817527]. PKD cannot be excused solely because of the time in which he wrote. He could have done a lot better than describing women as silly, helpless, hysterical and inferior.
I spite of all of this, I can see why other people might enjoy these stories much more than me, and if you like older sci-fi, go for it. It is interesting to see how the past pictured the future. Just - please - read it with a critical mind. That way, books that are racist, sexists etc. does good by developing our critical sense and promoting good discussions.
fastel's review
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
lire ces nouvelles parfois 70 ans après leur publication n’était peut-être pas une bonne idée : les plot twist sont classiques et prévisibles, tandis que le sexisme est étonnement dans quasi chaque nouvelle …
mais globalement un bon moment quand même
mais globalement un bon moment quand même
gallienw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ewh's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
blanchedoesthings'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).