A sci-fi classic from the 70's. Not what we'd call hard sf, more philosophical. ( )

This novel is really a disgarded first attempt; rejected by the publisher, Dick reworked this entire novel into what became Valis. This disgarded version wasn't even released until after his death. In fact, the original title of this novel is 'VALISystem A'; it had to be retitled 'Radio Free Albemuth' to prevent copyright infringement charges. So, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that there's a lot of things in the novel that haven't been satisfactorily resolved. Sloppiness is common in Dick's work, but this is just boring sloppy, and in a way it spoils the magic of Valis by showing you how the trick is done.

Some people seem to like it, but to me it functions purely as completist reading. Valis, on the other hand, is a truly unique reading experience and an astonishing reworking of the material. I think it's a mistake to read Radio Free Albemuth before reading Valis, or any Dick novel for that matter. Sometimes when a dead writer's papers are scavenged for something to make money off of, a diamond is discovered. Not in this instance, though. ( )

I'm ashamed to say that this was my first Phil Dick novel. This book, published after Philip's death, was allegedly semi-autobiographical. It dealt with his personal "experiences" in 1974. From this book, I can only conclude that Phil came to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and Savior of planet Earth.

His President F.F.F. (666) is a carbon copy of today's Presidents. FAPers are now, in our time--our reality--called Homeland Security. Aramchek indeed. VALIS help us all. I was deeply impressed by his notion of a perpetuated Imperial Rome--the Empire lives, as you can tell from our "adoptions" of Lady Liberty, the Eagle, Capitol Hill, our Bohemian Grove Caesars... Each day we see the Republic die, before our very eyes--Dick was disturbingly accurate in his paranoid writings. I can see much of Orwell in this novel as well--especially in the FAPer Vivian Kaplan. In Heinlein's words, "What a slitch!". I don't want to present the wrong picture here--there is much schizo-paranoia-mind-f'n-theorization in this book. It is beautifully genius. Go my brothers and sisters, grow the egg within your head so that you may live eternally. Pinky made me very sad, and appreciatively mindful of all life.

Where the hell is Dick's android? Misplaced, my ass. ( )

This is not one of Philip K. Dick’s best. First problem - Dick has made himself one of the main characters in the story. Many authors have inserted themselves in their own stories. The absolute best instance of this is Orson Scott Card’s “Lost Boys”, a short story so riveting and realistic (Card makes the story about himself so real you aren’t completely sure it is fiction) and so wrenching that I have never forgotten it, never read it again, and never read the novel based on the short story. Dick does not accomplish this. Rather, it feels like he just wanted something to hang the story on – and he came up with himself. Second problem – the book spends too much time delving too deeply into introspection and dialogue about the meaning of things.

The first part of the book starts out okay and a good story eventually emerges. In an alternate US, the president effectively becomes a dictator – getting there by building on the paranoia of McCarthyism and the systematic destruction of every other person who could be president. He strengthens his hold with a phantom Communist menace and a Nazi-like citizen brigade turning in everyone who questions the state. In the meantime, Dick’s friend Nicholas is being visited by voices that eventually lead both of them from Berkley to Southern California and to the discovery that aliens are speaking to him. And those aliens are going to save the world.

Then, the focus of the book changes – it is no longer being told by Dick, but by Nicholas. This is where the quasi-religious self-discovery comes in and, while the plot is not completely mired, it does have to struggle through the tar lake of its own importance.

The ending works nicely and puts the story (and even the introspection) into a decent context, but the side-track (the part that probably reflects Dick coming to grips with many of the issues and concerns he had addressed in previous books) derails the story and is just too long and involved to be engrossing or insightful. ( )

Some folks found RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH a rehashing of the VALIS novels but I disagree. This is one of the more humane and intelligible of PKD's later novels and I would place it among his finest efforts. A good intro to his odd oeuvre... ( )