by Philip K. Dickread by Keir Dullea
(New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001)
Audiobook, 5 Compact Discs, 6 Hours, Fiction
ISBN: 9780060095260, US$29.95
From the Cover: Philip K. Dick holds a special place in the annals of science fiction. He is beloved by many for his strange reality-bending stories. The five stories included here are an excellent sample of his fiction. Most notable in the collection are “Minority Report,” which supposes that psychics could be employed by the police to predict and prevent murder, and “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” in which a person goes to a shop to have memories of a vacation implanted in his mind, only to find that he’s got some memories of his own. The no-frills presentation by Keir Dullea is perfect for the material.
This collection includes “The Minority Report,” “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” “Paycheck,” “Second Variety,” and “The Eyes Have It.”
This collection includes “The Minority Report,” “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” “Paycheck,” “Second Variety,” and “The Eyes Have It.”
My Review: Philip K. Dick. Possibly the greatest science fiction writer of the twentieth century (with the obvious exception of Ray Bradbury), and this audio collection of short stories shows exactly why he deserves that title. With such stories as “The Minority Report,” “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” and “Paycheck,” Dick exhibits the flair and towering brilliance for which he is known.
These stories (each of which has become a major motion picture, the first being the inspiration for the 2002 Spielberg-Cruise project, the second being the inspiration for the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall, and the third being the 2003 Ben Affleck film) are incredibly intricate and make the Reader (or in this case the Listener) pay attention to each and every little detail because only Dick knows for sure which ones are important to the plot in the end and which ones are not.
“Second Variety” is an interesting little story that deals with the theme of paranoia on a grand and … by the end … rather disturbing scale. Then there is “The Eyes Have It” which is the oddest and funniest story in this collection (and at just over seven minutes long, the shortest). It is a story that shows what can happen when you take figures of speech literally, and is – unfortunately – over much too soon.
Keir Dullea (Dr. Dave Bowman in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey) brings a simple and straightforward performance to Dick’s stories, bringing a simple honesty and pathos to the everyman heroes of Dick’s stories. So, when it’s all said and done, this audio collection of The Minority Report and Other Stories is a great collection of Philip K. Dick stories and is the collection that I would recommend to PKD virgins as a perfect introduction to his work.
These stories (each of which has become a major motion picture, the first being the inspiration for the 2002 Spielberg-Cruise project, the second being the inspiration for the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall, and the third being the 2003 Ben Affleck film) are incredibly intricate and make the Reader (or in this case the Listener) pay attention to each and every little detail because only Dick knows for sure which ones are important to the plot in the end and which ones are not.
“Second Variety” is an interesting little story that deals with the theme of paranoia on a grand and … by the end … rather disturbing scale. Then there is “The Eyes Have It” which is the oddest and funniest story in this collection (and at just over seven minutes long, the shortest). It is a story that shows what can happen when you take figures of speech literally, and is – unfortunately – over much too soon.
Keir Dullea (Dr. Dave Bowman in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey) brings a simple and straightforward performance to Dick’s stories, bringing a simple honesty and pathos to the everyman heroes of Dick’s stories. So, when it’s all said and done, this audio collection of The Minority Report and Other Stories is a great collection of Philip K. Dick stories and is the collection that I would recommend to PKD virgins as a perfect introduction to his work.
1 comments:
Oh, I hope I can find this at my library...I really love all of the amazing stories that Phillip K. Dick wrote. He had a brilliant imagination that he was wonderful at sharing.
Post a Comment