The Penultimate Truth

Philip K. Dick

1964

December, 2022

4/10

Something felt off, whether it was the pacing or writing itself. The story is good, but I had a hard time following. Maybe it was the constant use of "vernacular" or jargon — even things, events, and topics of the world — without having a complete understanding of their significance.

I think another part was the use of nested clauses which caused further confusion:

He would write, as was often — or at least near often enough, for that matter — the case, like this. (for an entire paragraph)

The worst part, however, is that all "reveals" came from a single conversation where the “villain” is suddenly a god and has a conversation like so:

"What about this major plot point?"

"It was me."

"And what about this?"

"It was me."

"And that other thing?"

"It was me."

There was one plot point revealed outside of this conversation, however, that went like so:

"It was him."

But, the story was good. Simply put, the book could have been 200 pages shorter.