Name: A Scanner Darkly
ISBN: 9780575076815

Philip K. Dick

Substance D -- otherwise known as Death -- is the most dangerous drug ever to find its way on to the black market. It destroys the links between the brain's two hemispheres, leading first to disorentation and then to complete and irreversible brain damage. Bob Arctor, undercover narcotics agent, is trying to find a lead to the source of supply, but to pass as an addict he must become a user, and soon, without knowing what is happening to him, he is as dependent as any of the addicts he is monitoring.

A Scanner Darkly

Evan

"Will I ever be like I was again?" Bruce asked.

"What you were brought you here. If you become what you were again then sooner or later it'd bring you here again. Next time you might not make it here, even. Isn't that right? You're lucky you got here; you almost didn't get here."

"You're fortunate. The next time they might not. They might dump you on the side of the freeway somewhere and say the hell with it."

Bob Arctor is a junkie and a drug-dealer, both using and selling the mind-altering Substance D. Fred is a law enforcement agent, tasked with bringing Bob down. It sounds like a standard case. The only problem is that Bob and Fred are the same person. In order to infiltrate the drug ring he hopes to bring down, Fred has had to use Substance D, but Substance D, or "Slow Death," causes the consciousness to split in two, creating distinct personalities that are entirely unaware of the other's existence. Now, Bob must keep from being caught by Fred, while Fred must keep his suspicious superiors at bay. In this semi-autobiographical novel, Dick looks back on his own drug abuse and his own friends who he lost to drugs. By turns thrilling, mind-bending, laught-out-loud funny, and heart-wrenchingly sad, A Scanner Darkly is an award-winning book made into a cult film and may just be Dick's best novel.

"A Scanner Darkly" starts pretty humorous, then loses a lot of humor but starts getting schizophrenic and interesting, before seemingly losing itself a bit and ending rather abruptly and poorly. I actually think it should have been a bit longer. Still, I had a good enough time with it to go for 3/5 stars.

My favorite character was Charles Freck and he basically disappears from the book halfway through. His disappearance actually reminds me a lot of the character Timothy Price in "American Psycho" -- the funniest character vanishing and leaving a tangible void behind. Charles' drive through town, some of the first few pages, was probably my favorite part of the whole story -- and it's almost totally disconnected from the rest of the book.

Still, there's stuff to enjoy. Bob Arctor, the undercover cop, having to investigate himself is funny and written in an interesting way (where the line between "Bob" and "Fred" goes, etc.). I believe PKD wanted to speak a lot about 'Identity' and perceiving ourselves, perhaps even asking what is "ourself" while using substances? He clearly wanted to speak about how fragile our internal chemistry is, how 'You' can be changed into someone new, irreversibly, with enough drugs. A horror he's undoubtedly seen.

I hesitate to call it "the most interesting" part, but I did really like PKD's brief writing in the Author's Notes at the end. I thought his candid insight on drug usage would be considered by many to be... "mean", but I think there was a sincerity to it. I agree that the natural and intertwined punishment is too severe, but what can be done?

I enjoyed "A Scanner Darkly" enough, but I'm not sure I liked it enough to recommend it. PKD likely has better material to check out.

"A Scanner Darkly" starts pretty humorous, then loses a lot of humor but starts getting schizophrenic and interesting, before seemingly losing itself a bit and ending rather abruptly and poorly. I actually think it should have been a bit longer. Still, I had a good enough time with it to go for 3/5 stars.

My favorite character was Charles Freck and he basically disappears from the book halfway through. His disappearance actually reminds me a lot of the character Timothy Price in "American Psycho" -- the funniest character vanishing and leaving a tangible void behind. Charles' drive through town, some of the first few pages, was probably my favorite part of the whole story -- and it's almost totally disconnected from the rest of the book.

Still, there's stuff to enjoy. Bob Arctor, the undercover cop, having to investigate himself is funny and written in an interesting way (where the line between "Bob" and "Fred" goes, etc.). I believe PKD wanted to speak a lot about 'Identity' and perceiving ourselves, perhaps even asking what is "ourself" while using substances? He clearly wanted to speak about how fragile our internal chemistry is, how 'You' can be changed into someone new, irreversibly, with enough drugs. A horror he's undoubtedly seen.

I hesitate to call it "the most interesting" part, but I did really like PKD's brief writing in the Author's Notes at the end. I thought his candid insight on drug usage would be considered by many to be... "mean", but I think there was a sincerity to it. I agree that the natural and intertwined punishment is too severe, but what can be done?

I enjoyed "A Scanner Darkly" enough, but I'm not sure I liked it enough to recommend it. PKD likely has better material to check out.

Jim Hagan

Jesse Morley

"When a person went to the doctor--there was only one, and he specialized in everything--there was only one medicine. After he had diagnosed you he prescribed the medicine. You took the slip to the pharmacy to have it filled, but the pharmacist never could read what the doctor had written, so he gave you the only pill he had, which was aspirin. And it cured whatever you had."

Not my fav PKD - the idea of it was more enjoyable to me than the actual plot. Really love the core concepts though and the idea of the scramble suits. Love that I was just as confused as the main character. 

Bowie 

Alfredo santos

I cant say its Dick's most mind blowing plot book, but more of a "reality" in some parallel universe. Liked the development of the character and see how they start changing into something the initially disliked.

Michael M.

Lindsay Cronk

I found A Scanner Darkly difficult to finish, but luckily, it's short. So when I woke up this morning, I grimaced and set out to read through. An ingenious premise is not enough to save any novel, and it doesn't save this one. Sorry, P.K.D. We can't be friends.