Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

A lot more fun than I thought it'd be! I read this mostly since it was like paying a tithe into the sci-fi community; like, ugh, it Simply Must Be Read (eventually). And certainly I enjoyed Blade Runner; but mostly for its atmospheric set design (yeah Moebius), moody music (yeah Vangelis, yeah synth) and, oh wow, do I love Harrison Ford (luv ya big time). So I figured this'd be a kinda dated, kinda whatever obligatory read that would make me just want to listen to the OST again.

Imagine my surprise when: the electric sheep are real! Literally real! OK, I thought they were a metaphor! But get ready for lots of fake animals, and Rick Deckard pining after them with great bourgeois yearning. It is initially trashy-feeling, but grows into an increasingly wonderful plot point/prop.

Imagine my further surprise when: I really enjoyed this! I'm a troublemaker and always say Ghost in the Shell is the One True Cyberpunk Tale; since, honestly, I could never hear any of the mumbly Blade Runner dialogue over all that rain, and they spend a lot of time in Ghost in the Shell explaining philosophical issues to each other (in a good way). But here! In this book! Suddenly it's all clear and - complicated and nuanced and heartstring-pulling and omg am I an android? I certainly have bourgeois yearnings! And as much as I enjoyed the crunchy, slimy body-horror type stuff of Blade Runner's props and set design (JR Isidore, what a great character; those weird tiny puppets?!), this book had some truly surreal sections which were - gosh - startlingly weird and fun. Like, that Mercer stuff. Wtf was up with that wonderful, weird Mercer stuff?!

A book to pick apart at length, over coffee. Definitely recommended.

PS I heard once, on the winds of the internet, that Paul Giamatti had been tapped to play Philip K. Dick in a biopic. IMAGINE THAT. That would be so cool.