Ubik

Very entertaining little book that keeps you turning pages until it finishes... and then it punches you
The overall philosophical world building is impressive, creating a new world that starts being confusing, then suddenly feels just right. Twists and turns are well paced, while not forced (until the end) and by the time ‘big reveals’ are presented, they feel organic and, I assume, expected by most readers.

It plays with ideas high level concepts that movies like Inception have brought to the mainstream, and it did so decades before the movie.

Sometimes it gets a bit lost in missable internal monologues, but it is just in 2/3 instances

Highly recommended

Ubik is the nation’s number-one choice of beer.
Instant Ubik has all the fresh flavor of just-brewed drip coffee.
Wild new Ubik salad dressing (…) an entirely new and different taste that’s waking up the world. Wake up to Ubik and be wild!
Taken as directed, Ubik speeds relief to head and stomach.
Simply rub in creamy Ubik hair conditioner. And Ubik hair spray, used as directed, is absolutely safe.
Taken as directed, Ubik provides uninterrupted sleep without morning-after-grogginess.
Ubik plastic wrap. – actually four layers in one. Keeps freshness in, air and moisture out. Watch this simulated test.
Wake up to a hearty, lip-smacking bowlful of nutritious, nourishing Ubik toasted flakes (…) Do not exceed recommended portion at any one meal.
Safe when taken as directed.
Avoid prolonged use.
Do not exceed recommended dosage.

“Ubik has undergone many alterations as the manufacturer has improved it. You may be familiar with the old Ubik, rather than the new. (…) We have had a great deal of difficulty obtaining Ubik of late.”
(…)
“What’s in it? ” Joe asked. The price chilled him.
“That is the manufacturer’s secret.”

Philip K. Dick himself admitted he didn't undestand at all 'Ubik'. He didn't expect it was going to be so much considered by his readers and definitely one of his most considered and influential opera during the years. We're in the North American Confederation in 1992, psi phenomena are common, the people who dies they are kept in a state of half-life (a form of cryonic suspension), after an explosion Joe Chip started misteriously shifting backward in time. Who and/or what's 'Ubik'? A spray can-metaphor for God which gave to people the power to understand who and where they are and how to survive and keep on living their own life. Influenced by acid psychedelia and probably written under the usage of LSD, 'Ubik' it is an opera which has possibly no time and that refuges from all the kind of possible definition. The same of the world in which the plot is set.

http://machchapuchchare.blogspot.it/

I usually stay away from sci-fi. This book goes beyond sci-fi and takes you on a philosophical journey into what we perceive as real and in doing so it is never boring, never is a word too much and it keeps you dangling till the end. Actually, even after finishing it, I’m still thinking about the big question.