Dick came up with a fascinating world in this sci-fi book. In this futuristic America, people with enormous mental talents are counteracted by "prudence agencies" who send out employees to neutralize the effects of real mind readers and pre-cogs (that is, people who can tell the future). Joe Chip works for one such prudence agency. One day, a strange woman named Penny comes in with an unusual mental ability--the ability to simply turn back the clock without anybody noticing. Did the yesterday that you remember really happen yesterday, or did it happen 10 years ago (you just don't remember anymore)?

The combination of Penny's talents with an unusually ineffective bomb leads Joe's world to progressively degenerate into one of the strangest, most confusing narratives I have ever read. It's tough, even frustrating at first, to slog through the increasing levels of hallucinogenic complexity that Dick subjects his characters. But gradually, as more and more mysteries keep popping up, I became enthralled by Joe's predicament. What was happening? Why was it happening? What did it all mean? These questions drove me to read the tortuous narrative with increasing anticipation.

But the ending was terrible. God, was it terrible. The explanation for all the weirdness surrounding Joe--all of that wonderful, fascinating, mysterious weirdness--came out of nowhere. I almost wished that I had just stopped reading and left the ending to my imagination instead.

So, there you are. For the first nine-tenths of the book, Ubik is a fascinating if sometimes confusing read. The conclusion sucks. I would still recommend reading it, but don't expect to finish the book happy.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu