Ubik

"Ubik speeds relief to head and stomach. Remember:...Avoid prolonged use."
"Ubik plastic wrap- actually four layers in one. Keeps freshness in, air and moisture out."
"Instant Ubik has all the fresh flavor of just-brewed drip coffee...Safe when taken as directed."
"Ubik is the nation's number-one choice in beer. Made only in Cleveland."
"Ubik provides uninterrupted sleep...Do not exceed recommended dosage."
-Philip K. Dick, Ubik

Just what is this ubiquitous Ubik? If Joe Chip weren't fighting a losing battle against time, he might have a moment to figure it out. But he really, really doesn't.

Joe is the kind of guy who doesn't have so much as a nickel to pay his refrigerator so he can drink a glass of milk. His trouble with small change only gets worse when he finds the vending machines won't take the quarter in his pocket, and only antique coin collectors accept his currency. Cups of hard-won coffee grow rancid in his hands. Bummed cigarettes decompose and crumble on his lips. Just when Joe doesn't think life can get any cruddier, a friend dies, found dried up like a mummy. She's one of twelve people exposed to a bizarre bomb blast. Joe is among the twelve. Yep, things just got worse: the world around Joe and the ten survivors is slipping back in time. Yesterday it was 1992, today the papers are asking if the U.S. will join the war in Europe. Joe Chip would like to know what the hell is going on, preferably before he dies.

Much like its namesake, Ubik offers something for everyone. It's that satisfying mystery novel that allows you to figure out whodunnit just one step ahead of the protagonist. It has smart-mouthed appliances, telepaths, and a sexy stranger who takes off all her clothes. Dick refers to the Bardo Thodo (often called the Tibetan Book of the Dead) and makes fun of funeral directors. The reader enjoys a trip to the moon and later to my home state of Iowa in 1939. Readers may enjoy laughing at what pre-war Iowans thought of houses of prostitution, or the way Dick envisions futuristic tape recorders. Slight chaffing may occur as certain plot devices repeat in the last third of the novel, but the reader, like Joe Chip, will probably be too distracted by Chip's eminent death to be annoyed. If not, you can always apply a little Ubik to the pages. It will make everything shiny and new.

Ubik, a highly recommended read. Safe when imagination is used as directed.