Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The image that comes to mind upon completion is that of a flat-lined EKG. Not because of the death connotation, but because this book just maintained from start to finish: no real high points and no real low points.

From simply a language standpoint, I was constantly jarred by the transitions from one scene to another. Large segments of time would pass from paragraph to paragraph without a section or chapter break to alert the reader as to what was happening. Scenes would shift without the reader knowing that a character had gone to an empathy box and had gotten back in a car. Certain facts would be built towards for pages, only to be revealed with as non-chalant a sentence as Dick could write.

From a theme perspective, there were several. To empathize is human. Humans can love anything - animate or inanimate. Loneliness is scary. The list could go on and on. There were other themes that Dick touched on that I felt were unnecessary. Including the “sex with androids” theme was predictable. The death of the goat was too obvious an image for Rick losing a part of himself. The whole thing about Rick fusing permanently with Mercer was too close to a Christ complex for me to find it believable.

Perhaps I'm being a little hard on this book because I expected it to be something it was not. For one that you hear being a sci-fi classic - one that was converted into a popular and timeless sci-fi movie classic - you would expect it to be a little more profound. But it's just a book: one that was written with adequate skill.

The view of Earth in a post-nuclear war state was, for me, the highlight of the text. Describing the dust as penetrating, heavy, etc. was as cutting a metaphor as Dick produced. Think of how we all feel toward the end of winter, when everything is wet and muddy, when trees and grass all still look dead, when the air can't decide whether to be warm or cold. We all, at one point or another, have felt that depression. Fortunately, we know it will change. With a radioactive dust on everything, the scene could never change. I could easily see how everything - buildings even - would appear to decay under the weight of the dust.

As I write this, 20 minutes after finishing the book, I can't decide whether to recommend it or not. As with many other reviews, I can only conclude with a word of caution - it's just a book...an entertaining read, but certainly not a classic.