Saretta’s Comments (group member since Aug 19, 2012)

Saretta’s comments from the Philip K Dick group.

Thanks for sharing.
One can belive it or not, but I think that the Matrix creators (I mean the movie) have seen this (the deja-vu part is so similar).

Sérgio wrote: "I kind of explained already why I thought this was just ok in the other topic. The only thing I didn’t mention is that my translation of it wasn’t very good and that was detrimental for my enjoymen..."

Concerning Ian and Al: they belong to "Novelty act" the novelette that PKD wrote before "the Simulacra"; I read the novelette recently, the story was taken and inserted in the novel whitout great changes, maybe this is why Al and Ian are left out once emigrated.

I enjoied it, maybe there were too much ideas for a book only (time travel, emigration to Mars, political issues, history alteration etc.), on there other hand it's an original book, Philip K. Dick had a vulcanic imagination.

Paul wrote: "Amy wrote: "Interesting observation that 'der Alte' was the nickname of Konrad Adenauer. Lots of references to the Third Reich and what I guess is the allegiance of the U.S. and Germany in the "USE..."

Currently I'm at about half of the novel and the connection with the Third Reich are clearly visible.

Overall the novel seems like a patchwork of novelettes featuring different characters / stories loosely linked one to the other; maybe the links will became stronger towards the end.

Byron 'Giggsy' wrote: "I'm going to read The Novelty Act after I read The Simulacra. I've found I'd rather read the shorter work last from past experiences"

Actually they seems to be almost identical (I'm only at the beginning of the simulacra however), so maybe you will enjoy the shorness but not new content.

It's my first time reading "The simulacra", today I discovered that it's an expansion of "Novelty Act" that I read some months ago (I checked this fact today because I had a deja-vu meeting Ian and the Abraham Lincon building in the novel).

There are a lot of characters for sure! The thing that puzzled me is the sudden change on POV that often happens.