Time Out of Joint - Philip Kindred Dick - reviewed
reviewed by CR:
"The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!/That ever I was born to set it right!"...Hamlet
Speaking Vic: "The time" Ragle said, "is out of joint - I think we should compare notes" from Time Out Of Joint
"Time Out of Joint", first published in 1959, is not one of his PKD's better known or critically acclaimed novels. Nonetheless it is a story I greatly admire. It concerns a man, Ragle Gumm, who makes his living by consistently correctly solving a newspaper puzzle contest: "Where Will the Little Green Man be Next?"
At first this odd story appears quite mundane. Set against the background of small town suburbia life in the 1950's - nothing appears to out of the ordinary. Ragle Gumm's brother-in-law is a grocer, his young nephew gets into minor schoolboy mischief, he plays cards in the evening and there is an undercurrent of infidelity with the neighbor's wife. Slowly like a cat creeping across the lawn on a moonless night the weirdness starts to set in. Someone looks for a pull cord for a bathroom light they swore was always there and finds a wall switch. Small slips of paper with item names are found under or near where the item previously was thought to be located. Televisions are found in homes but no radios.
A modestly paced story that engaged this reader as the plot unfolds but, unfortunately, marred by an ending that seem forced and out of place. It is my oppinion that the more you know about PKD the better you can appreciate this story.
Additional comments August 2012
I re-read this novel recently and it occurred to me that part of its charm is the "period" the story is set in. Dick wrote it in 1957-8 and peppers his story with references to then popular culture and politics. The seemingly abrupt "science-fiction" endings becomes more credible upon another reading.
A strange and intriguing book worth another read if you're so inclined.
TITLE: Time Out of Joint
AUTHOR: Philip Kindred Dick 1928-82
TYPE: paperback novel
PUBLISHER: Carroll & Graf
COVER PRICE: $ 3.95
ISBN: 0-88184-352-0
PAGES: 263
COPYRIGHT: 1959 by author
PUB DATE: 1992
EDITION: 3rd printing
COVER ARTIST: Roy Colmer
ISFDB: Yes verified
RATING: Not read
NOTATION:
INDEX: 0083 - Time Out of Joint - 003 - Carroll & Graf 3rd 1992 - PKD - IFB
QUOTE “Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful.” Philip K. Dick
CULPABILITY: All images posted are from publications owned by RC/\Weazel. RC/\Weazel performed image scanning, editing and the compiling of bibliographic data.
ISFDB: Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base.
RATING: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being great and 1 don’t read.
NO entry indicates specific information not available from book.
Time Out of Joint - Philip Kindred Dick - reviewed
reviewed by CR:
"The time is out of joint; O cursed spite!/That ever I was born to set it right!"...Hamlet
Speaking Vic: "The time" Ragle said, "is out of joint - I think we should compare notes" from Time Out Of Joint
"Time Out of Joint", first published in 1959, is not one of his PKD's better known or critically acclaimed novels. Nonetheless it is a story I greatly admire. It concerns a man, Ragle Gumm, who makes his living by consistently correctly solving a newspaper puzzle contest: "Where Will the Little Green Man be Next?"
At first this odd story appears quite mundane. Set against the background of small town suburbia life in the 1950's - nothing appears to out of the ordinary. Ragle Gumm's brother-in-law is a grocer, his young nephew gets into minor schoolboy mischief, he plays cards in the evening and there is an undercurrent of infidelity with the neighbor's wife. Slowly like a cat creeping across the lawn on a moonless night the weirdness starts to set in. Someone looks for a pull cord for a bathroom light they swore was always there and finds a wall switch. Small slips of paper with item names are found under or near where the item previously was thought to be located. Televisions are found in homes but no radios.
A modestly paced story that engaged this reader as the plot unfolds but, unfortunately, marred by an ending that seem forced and out of place. It is my oppinion that the more you know about PKD the better you can appreciate this story.
Additional comments August 2012
I re-read this novel recently and it occurred to me that part of its charm is the "period" the story is set in. Dick wrote it in 1957-8 and peppers his story with references to then popular culture and politics. The seemingly abrupt "science-fiction" endings becomes more credible upon another reading.
A strange and intriguing book worth another read if you're so inclined.
TITLE: Time Out of Joint
AUTHOR: Philip Kindred Dick 1928-82
TYPE: paperback novel
PUBLISHER: Carroll & Graf
COVER PRICE: $ 3.95
ISBN: 0-88184-352-0
PAGES: 263
COPYRIGHT: 1959 by author
PUB DATE: 1992
EDITION: 3rd printing
COVER ARTIST: Roy Colmer
ISFDB: Yes verified
RATING: Not read
NOTATION:
INDEX: 0083 - Time Out of Joint - 003 - Carroll & Graf 3rd 1992 - PKD - IFB
QUOTE “Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful.” Philip K. Dick
CULPABILITY: All images posted are from publications owned by RC/\Weazel. RC/\Weazel performed image scanning, editing and the compiling of bibliographic data.
ISFDB: Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base.
RATING: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being great and 1 don’t read.
NO entry indicates specific information not available from book.