Flow my tears, the policeman said

Whew. What a mind trip this one is. If we were to judge this book on the criteria that we are accustomed to judging novels by, it wouldn’t be favorable. The dialog isn’t good. The characters aren’t deep. The world isn’t convincing. It isn’t a book by Asimov or Bradbury… and that isn’t a bad thing in this case. It is sometimes said that there is a little bit of the artist in every piece of art that they make, and that is more true with Philip K. Dick’s art than most novelists. His artwork isn’t a painting on opaque canvas, a scene that he envisions and shows to his readers, it’s more like a window, he unbuttons his shirt and lets us peer straight into his heart and soul. PKD has some lore and weight behind his name now, but imagining him as a relatively unknown work-a-day author grinding out sci-fi stories for paltry pay to make ends meet, all the while struggling with his own demons, is the exact framework in which to read this book. It’s obvious from reading his work that PKD was experimenting with drugs, was troubled with psychological problems and grappled constantly with profound questions about reality. The fears that the story’s protagonist (Jason Tavener) experience aren’t the same fears that haunt other authors. ‘Flow my tears…’ is the book that happens if Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was written by a science fiction author instead of by a journalist. The book isn’t a masterpiece of writing, but it does give us a bit of a tour around a creative and troubled mind. This wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, it wasn’t in the top ten… but the struggles of the author are exactly what make it endearing. This book is a case study in creative expression of a flawed and troubled mind. His imagination builds worlds that have their flaws, his dialog has flaws, and the character development is flawed, but PKD had the bravery to put it all out on the line. Allen Ginsberg says “The poet always stands naked before the world”, if that is the test, then PKD certainly lives up to that criteria. He bares his fears and insecurities behind the thinnest veil of storytelling, and that’s the story that is compelling. In a way, this novel’s protagonist is it’s author.