Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (original 1974; edition 2012)

Good science fiction sends your mind racing off in many directions all at once and at differing speeds. You'll be focused on an immediate situation involving you questioning your own morality, or accepting a hitherto alien concept, whilst your mind quietly unravels a theme that was presented to you in a previous chapter. Flow My Tears, the Policeman said is just such a story.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect before reading it except that I was following a good recommendation; and as it turned out it worked out for the best. I found myself totally immersed in the plot. At times it felt to me like reading parts of William F. Nolan's 'Logan's Run' and Dick's 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale' in others.

Some of the chapters gave me a lot to think about such as chapter eleven when Ruth Rae discusses her feelings of grief and loss with Jason Taverner. Little things like that sit in the back of your mind as other things overlap to form a rich cocktail of flavours that make this for me a deeply satisfying novel.

As you can see, I've chosen not to give anything away concerning the actual story; so, please do enjoy. ( )

This is quite a good novel, but not one of PKD's best.

The main problem for me was that the ending just seemed too far fetched. Drugs often feature in PKD novels, and parallel dimentions or alternative realities are common SF concepts, but the was these two things were combined just didn't seem at all convincing to me. In fact, it felt like a deus ex machina.

Perhaps I missed something, but the epilogue seemed totally unnecessary: it didn't really add anything to the story.

Currently, I rate Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, A Scanner Darkly, and Ubik higher than Flow My Tears. ( )

In Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Philip K. Dick has a written a strange book. Although a science-fiction novel, Flow My Tears can scarcely be called a “hard” sci-fi book, to use the genre jargon. It is set in the future, but not particularly far in the future, and although it does contain certain technological innovations (e.g. “quibbles”, or flying cars) Dick does not lavish too much attention on these. They are just there, givens without justification or explanation. Dick is, however, pre-eminently a science-fiction writer of ideas, and those are certainly present in Flow My Tears. It is a very thoughtful, even sad, book, in which the plot is somewhat subordinate to the meaning.

The book starts off by introducing us to the main character, Jason Taverner. He is a famous celebrity, and has a syndicated TV-show, watched by 30 million viewers a week. Jason is also a “six”, the product of a genetic-modification program that has made him smarter and more beautiful than the average human being. Jason’s life seems idyllic, but one senses that he is lonely for all that. Then, something strange happens. Jason is attacked by one of his former flames, and rushed to hospital. But when he wakes up, he isn’t in the hospital. Rather, he finds himself in a trashy hotel room, unable to explain how he got there. All of his identity cards are gone, which is a big problem in the security state in which he lives. Not only are they gone, but his identity itself seems to be gone; no-one recognises him, a world-famous entertainer. Jason needs to find out what has happened to him, and the rest of the novel is concerned with how he accomplishes this.

But not really, or at least, not mostly. Although there is a plot, in which Jason gets caught up in the police-web tightening around him, this doesn’t really matter as much as one would think. The more important aspects of the novel are Dick’s ruminations on identity and loneliness. Dick asks us to place ourselves in Jason’s position: who are we really, and what really matters in our lives? Existence for its own sake? Making a mark in history? Or the connections we make with others? Jason meets various characters, all of whom are struggling with these problems. My favourites were Kathy, the police informant who makes contraband identity documents, and the policeman of the title, Felix Buckman, who is actually a Police General in charge of the Los Angeles department. Both of them are sad, melancholic characters, with Kathy working for the police to free her (probably deceased) husband from a labour camp, and Felix worrying about his drug-addicted sister.

Dick paints a bleak picture of humanity. In his future, black people have become a protected minority, and homosexuals, although tolerated, are viewed with contempt. That gives a flavour of what Dick describes, but not a very accurate one, as Dick handles these issues quite sensitively. One has to admit that Dick isn’t the greatest prose-stylist, with his writing being workmanlike at best. But his ideas are luminous and serious, and he uses science-fiction tropes to address them in interesting and imaginative ways. The book could have done without its epilogue, in which Dick reductively enumerates what happens to each of the characters after the story, weakening the impact of the novel. But it’s a minor fault, and some might enjoy reading about the further exploits of the characters. I also realise that Dick was trying to accomplish something other than merely telling what happens afterwards, but it isn’t quite successful.

So, on the whole, a fascinating book of ideas. I read this years ago (well, more than a decade ago, at least), yet I still enjoyed it now. A great read for those interested in seeing how science-fiction can be emotionally mature and affecting. ( )

Since my computer is down and I'm typing this on my phone, it'll be a very short review:

I enjoyed this book, though reading it right after Ubik, probably wasn't the best. Both seem similar in structure, where you aren't given all the info from the start, but the holes get filled in close to the end. Which gives you one of those "Ohhh!" moments. I did like the characters and the story, I just preferred Ubik a little more and wish I didn't read them so close together. ( )

Flow My Tears is one of the favorite PDK books. It is set in an alternate future police state in America. he introduces some interesting concepts like a Second Civil War, harsh handling of the black population, and his usual blend of mentally ill characters w drug problems. He also adds a feature of the book that all colleges are underground, surrounded by police containment eams, and students are treated like criminals.
I think it is similar but better put together than Scanner Darkly. I caught a hint of Demolished Man also, without the high drama ending. Definitely well written. ( )