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I really loved reading Ubik. I seriously had trouble putting it down. But when I got to the ending. Well... I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or

I really loved reading Ubik. I seriously had trouble putting it down. But when I got to the ending. Well... I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or does it not make any sense if you really think about it? I did some research into the ending and the most satisfying conclusion I found was that was just the PKD surrealist style? Ubik is the only book I've read by him.

isoprophlex 5y ago
It's a recurring theme, and IMO one of his strengths. Once the characters find out about the malleability and subjectivity of reality, or once they enter some drug trip, they are never again sure if they've properly returned. Dick was a fantastic writer. Noone can alienate me like he can.
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
>I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or does it not make any sense if you really think about it? Most fiction doesn't make any sense if you really think about it, much less Science Fiction, much less Science Fiction in which Reality mutates unrecognizably several times in the course of the book.
Trasmatta 5y ago
> Well... I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or does it not make any sense if you really think about it? That's essentially the point of the ending, yeah. Well, less so that "it doesn't make sense" and more "actually, it's entirely unclear what is even going on". Reality is slippery -- at the very moment you think you've got a grip on what's going on, it jumps out of your hands. You'll see this same theme reflected in many of his other books, if you end up reading and more.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  > actually, it's entirely unclear what is even going on That's a good way of putting it and it does fit the theme of the book. I just spent a bit thinking about the ending again and while it's not any clearer I do like it more now.
zabzonk 5y ago
I first read Ubik while on a coach (next to the loo) driving down from Edinburgh to London whilst suffering from from sleep deprivation and travel sickness - it made a lot of sense to me at the time! Almost as much as reading the Illuminatus trilogy when I was bed-ridden with a terrible dose of flu! But seriously, Ubik is a great book - one of Dick's best.
Finnucane 5y ago
You might take some comfort that the ending works a little differently in the screenplay version PKD wrote later so that it makes more conventional 'sense'. Even the author had second thoughts about it. Whether it's really better that way is a debatable point.

isoprophlex 5y ago

It's a recurring theme, and IMO one of his strengths. Once the characters find out about the malleability and subjectivity of reality, or once they enter some drug trip, they are never again sure if they've properly returned. Dick was a fantastic writer. Noone can alienate me like he can.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

>I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or does it not make any sense if you really think about it? Most fiction doesn't make any sense if you really think about it, much less Science Fiction, much less Science Fiction in which Reality mutates unrecognizably several times in the course of the book.

Trasmatta 5y ago

> Well... I don't want to spoil anything but, is it just me or does it not make any sense if you really think about it? That's essentially the point of the ending, yeah. Well, less so that "it doesn't make sense" and more "actually, it's entirely unclear what is even going on". Reality is slippery -- at the very moment you think you've got a grip on what's going on, it jumps out of your hands. You'll see this same theme reflected in many of his other books, if you end up reading and more.

squeaky-clean 5y ago
> actually, it's entirely unclear what is even going on That's a good way of putting it and it does fit the theme of the book. I just spent a bit thinking about the ending again and while it's not any clearer I do like it more now.

zabzonk 5y ago

I first read Ubik while on a coach (next to the loo) driving down from Edinburgh to London whilst suffering from from sleep deprivation and travel sickness - it made a lot of sense to me at the time! Almost as much as reading the Illuminatus trilogy when I was bed-ridden with a terrible dose of flu! But seriously, Ubik is a great book - one of Dick's best.

Finnucane 5y ago

You might take some comfort that the ending works a little differently in the screenplay version PKD wrote later so that it makes more conventional 'sense'. Even the author had second thoughts about it. Whether it's really better that way is a debatable point.