| Philip K Dick's 1974 masterpiece Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, is set in the near furure (1988!), where Universities have become prisons, people are condemned to forced labor camps for scant reason, and the Pols and Nats (police and national guard) monitor everyone constantly. It is in this bleak world that global celebrity and singing sensation Jason Taverner suddenly finds that no one knows who he is; that his identity is gone, that he seems never to have existed at all. As Jason scrambles through a nightmare reality desperately trying to regain his identity, he is constantly harrassed and betrayed. Though Jason is a genetically modified "6", his superior intellegence and endurance fail to help him reestablish his own existance. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - depressing/sad FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Repressive society story Yes Repressive because: Descript. of chases or violence - 10 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30 % Main Character Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Main Adversary Identity: - society How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book. How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting Earth setting: - 20th century Takes place on Earth? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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