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SPOILER AHEAD > Pat (a character) decides to strip naked and move in with the messy and penniless protagonist just minutes after meeting him for the first time

SPOILER AHEAD > Pat (a character) decides to strip naked and move in with the messy and penniless protagonist just minutes after meeting him for the first time for a job interview. This happens over a couple pages with little explanation. You find out a bit later in the book that Pat has the ability to change the past, and that she can remember the unaltered past but nobody else can. It's also strongly implied that there is some kind of deep, unstated connection between the protagonist and Wendy. The unspoken implication here is that the protagonist and Wendy were married in the "original reality" (or at least an earlier one); Pat wanted the protagonist so she changed history to take them out of each others' lives. Ubik is a real trip, and a lot of it makes sense only in retrospect. Also, the Andrew File System makes a whole lot more sense to me now, after reading the novel: https://openafs-workshop.org/assets/2019/slides/2019-06-20-05-mvitale-intro-to-ubik.pdf https://openafs-workshop.org/assets/2019/slides/2019-06-20-0...

nearbuy 5y ago
The book shows Joe having a crush on Wendy and Wendy likes Joe. We can theorize they were married and Pat undid their marriage. That just makes Pat's behaviour even weirder. Either way, Pat (described as "obviously no more than seventeen") strips naked and announces she's moving in with the very messy and penniless Joe just minutes after meeting him for a job interview. That much happens in the present. All this theory adds is that Joe was also married and Pat just decided to undo his marriage. It's one extra obstacle. It doesn't explain why she's interested in Joe. There's no character development. And Pat gets blown up a few chapters later. I'm not saying it's impossible for someone to do that. It's just one example of a character acting weird for seemingly no reason. But the characters remain weird throughout the book. I talked about in another comment how Pat's power seems way too powerful to use in a logical plot.

nearbuy 5y ago

The book shows Joe having a crush on Wendy and Wendy likes Joe. We can theorize they were married and Pat undid their marriage. That just makes Pat's behaviour even weirder. Either way, Pat (described as "obviously no more than seventeen") strips naked and announces she's moving in with the very messy and penniless Joe just minutes after meeting him for a job interview. That much happens in the present. All this theory adds is that Joe was also married and Pat just decided to undo his marriage. It's one extra obstacle. It doesn't explain why she's interested in Joe. There's no character development. And Pat gets blown up a few chapters later. I'm not saying it's impossible for someone to do that. It's just one example of a character acting weird for seemingly no reason. But the characters remain weird throughout the book. I talked about in another comment how Pat's power seems way too powerful to use in a logical plot.