VALIS is a consummate neo-Gnostic novel, written after the author’s own spontaneous mystical experience. It shows Dick at the height of his writing abilities, introspective powers, and spiritual insight. And it made me laugh out loud!

This book is weird. I mean really weird--even by Philip K. Dick’s standards. VALIS (or Vast Active Living Intelligence System) chronicles the search of Horselover Fat for truth after being contacted by God through a pink beam of light. In undertaking this spiritual, philosophic, and cosmic journey, Horselover faithfully pens his exegesis. A (VERY) tiny taste of the weirdness you are in for:

Entry 18. Real time ceased in 70 C.E. with the fall of the temple at Jerusalem. It began again in 1974 C.E. The intervening period was a perfect spurious interpolation aping the creation of the Mind. “The Empire never ended,” but in 1974 a cypher was sent out as signal that the Age of Iron was over; the cypher consisted of two words: KING FELIX, which refers to the Happy (or Rightful) King.

Exactly. VALIS is a very strange book, but it actually is straightforward (to an extent) up until the introduction of the rock star Mother Goose and his film. Then the lines of reality become a bit more nebulous. One cannot say that Horselover finds the answers he is looking for in the end, and it is dependent upon the reader’s personal interpretation as to whether this book offers Horselover a happy (or even just satisfying) ending. This is one of my favorite PKD novels--it delves into Gnosticism and various other religious esoterica, it features Philip K. Dick’s trademark paranoia, it explores the nature of reality, and it blows mental fuses with every paragraph. Come to understand the significance behind the Black Iron Prison, KING FELIX, the Dogon tribe, the plasmate that patiently slumbered at Chenoboskion for centuries…read this book.

The Empire never ended. ( )

VALIS is an enjoyable book, but very front-loaded with theology and philosophical background. It's fascinating and easy to read, but doesn't keep you turning pages. This is probably due to the way the narrative is explicitly 'broken' or irrational through the protagonist. Pretty gutsy choice. The story is intriguing, the dialogue often wry and funny, and some of the twists rather unexpected. Horselover Fat's personal theology is strangely appealing. ( )

Like most of Philip K. Dick’s novels, the main characters around which the story of Valis revolves are engaging, sympathetic, and mirrors of the social and psychological complexities faced by mankind. Unlike his other novels, however, the main characters in Valis are actually PKD himself. This results in the occasional switch from first and third person narrative, and several instances in which the author and the author surrogate interact with one another.

Valis (the name assigned by the main characters to their vision of God) is less of a novel than it is a fictionalized account of PKD’s own spiritual journey. Because of this, a good portion of the middle becomes bogged down with in depth descriptions of PKD’s theological views and theories. Anyone not well versed in Gnosticism and Metaphysical Theory will be tempted to skim several pages of text at a time, and might even debate whether finishing the book is worth the trouble. This will be especially true of readers who are only familiar with his early science fiction work and not prepared for a crash course in PKD’s exegesis. In some ways, Valis could be considered PKD’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, except the focus of this road trip isn’t the American Dream, but the True Nature of God.

Above all else, PKD is a master storyteller, and this is what saves Valis from being a stuffy and unintelligible pseudo-memoir about a spiritual journey. The uncertainty of the narrator’s true identity (both to the reader and the narrator), as well as the sympathetic nature of his plight and the conspiracy-drenched plot twists reminiscent of Robert Anton Wilson (whom PKD mentions in the book) will keep you interested enough to struggle through the denser passages. But you also find yourself riveted as you gain closer insight into the mind of one of the greatest science fiction authors of the last century.

Valis is a perfect snapshot of a time not so long ago, when there existed a movement of authors that eagerly blended the lines between science-fiction and spiritualism. It was a time when optimism regarding mankind’s future potential was almost intoxicating, and the experimental expansion of the mind and spirit were deemed as important as technological advancements. Looking back, it may seem a bit naive and fanciful, but it was also full of hope and wonder, two traits that seem to be lacking more and more with today’s sci-fi authors. ( )

http://vox-nova.com/2008/01/20/vox-no... ( )