We Can Build You

"We Can Build You" by Philip K. Dick is an odd duck of a book. (I know a Dick book that is odd is perfectly normal.) Like most of Dick's books it deals with identity and what make a person human. It starts off with a piano salesman being thrown off of his game when his partner makes simulacra of Edwin Stanton and Abraham Lincoln. It twists through a decent into a twisted love triangle, a decent into madness, and finally a recovery of the self through the reassertion of personal will.
The novel is full of doubles.
There is the fact that the Rosen piano company is in two parts: the manufacturing arm and the sales arm. They make two products: a spinet that is popular and an electric organ that is not. They make two simulacra: Stanton and Lincoln. There becomes two teams: the Rosen team and the Barrows team. There seem to be only two mental states: sane and crazy. The story even has two distinct parts: the simulacra story and the Rosen and Pris story.
The simulacra story focuses more on the question of what make a person a human. On the one side you have the simulacra: Stanton is cold and efficient, Lincoln is melancholy and insightful. Both are morally upstanding and loyal. On the other side you have Pris and Sam K. Barrows. Pris is cold and introverted and schizophrenic. Barrows is a charming slumlord. Both are willing to betray people to achieve their ends. Who is more human in this equation? The simulacra are at least as human as anyone else in the story.
The Rosen and Pris story deals with Rosen's descent and recovery from insanity. His love for the cold, crazy Pris drives him to the brink. His actions become less rational and his eventually lands in the care of a mental institution. (I find the test used to determine mental illness pleasingly insane.) To cure Rosen's insanity, the doctor pumps Rosen full of hallucinogenic drugs. Durring these fugue states Rosen lives a fantasy life with Pris. It is not until the real Pris tells Rosen to assert his own will power that Rosen is recovered. (This is the only warm thing Pris does for Rosen). In the end we are left to wonder if Rosen was every really crazy.
I didn't find "We Can Build You" to be the best work Dick did. It was, however, an above average book. Dick's prose and plotting is controlled. His subject matter is deep and handled well. The only off putting bit was the lack of resolution for the simulacra story line. I sort of want to know what becomes of Stanton and Lincoln.

Palm Sunday

I'm a long time fan of Kurt Vonnegut. When he is on, his work is sublime. When he is off, his work is still pretty good. He somehow managed to combine humor, sci-fi, and social commentary. At times he is too cute and sometimes his prose comes off as sloppy. Still he is a member of the last generation of great American novelists.
I borrowed Palm Sunday, one of Vonnegut's memiors, from the library last week. I find Vonnegut's non-fiction more problematical than his fiction. He is a convicted humanist and his forthrightness often makes his prose stilted. The humor comes through, but it can be obvious that it is a thin finish on strongly held and long considered positions.
I'm personally fond of his expositions on the value of human life and the importance of reading. These are ideas that are not given enough coverage. The book is a good reminder that we are all flawed, but still valuable, creatures. We need to laugh at ourselves and act in ways that make the world a happy place.

Too Many Books?

One of my favorite features of the Boston Public Library's e-book system is that you can add yourself to the waiting list for a book. When your turn in the list comes up, the system sends you an e-mail and gives you five days to check out the book. I've used it more than a few times since the books I gravitate to are either popular or in short supply.
All was well until this week. I was on the waiting list for two books and they both became available with in days of each other. Why was this a problem? It's not like one can ever have too much to read....
Well, it happens that I've been very busy as of late and my time for reading is tight. On top of this, the lending period for an e-book is 14 days with no obvious renewal option other than checking the book out again. So, I have two books I want to read that I can borrow, but if I cannot get through one of them I'll have to add myself to the bottom of the list and wait to finish it.
An abundance of riches is a lovely problem to have:)
I still think the waiting list feature is great. I think from now on I'll only put myself on one waiting list at a time.