Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

Published March 10, 2001 by Gollancz.

ISBN:
978-1-4072-3375-8
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4 stars (79 reviews)

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a 1974 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story follows a genetically enhanced pop singer and television star who wakes up in a world where he has never existed. The novel is set in a futuristic dystopia, where the United States has become a police state in the aftermath of a Second Civil War. It was nominated for a Nebula Award in 1974 and a Hugo Award in 1975, and was awarded the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1975.

TV star Jason Taverner is no more. Overnight, he looses his ID cards, the records about him in the official databases have strangely vanished and no one seems to know him any more. Even the songs he recorded don’t exist any more. In an oppressing police state, Jason struggels not to get arrested.

37 editions

Wonderfully dated!

3 stars

Flow My Tears, for me, is wonderfully dated classic science fiction that incorporates what has now become a bizarre mix of still-futuristic and old-fashioned ideas. Set in the then future of 1988, people drive flying cars and live in hovering apartments, but listen to LP records and have to run to find public payphones. Dick's totalitarian state is cleverly evoked to be a menacing presence surrounding our talk show host hero and I loved that its powerful face is actually backed by inept bureaucracy. Dick has a great descriptive turn of phrase and I could easily picture the decrepit forger's lab, the clinical police academy, luxury apartments and the Buckman's museum-cluttered home.

Once we come to the characters, I am less rapturous though. For someone supposedly genetically engineered to ooze charm, I found Jason Taverner surprisingly unlikeable. The female characters are pretty well defined, especially Alys and Mary Anne, and …

Review of 'Flow my tears, the policeman said' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This story could almost be summarized as an exploration of the Hegelian dialectic of recognition. How is my reality, my self, impacted by the way people perceive me, or choose to not perceive, or are unable to perceive me because I seemingly do not exist. The work is neat, no doubt, but left me somewhat unsatisfied.

Review of 'Flow my tears, the policeman said' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

As in his other novels, Flow My Tears excels at striking the perfect balance between plot, characters, messaging, and world-building, and pulling off a compelling story with a satisfying reveal in only 250 pages. I believe it's because PKD trusts his readers to use their own imagination, even while he writes specifically to stress the imagination, and this mind-meld between author and reader is remarkable.

Review of 'Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said' on 'GoodReads'

2 stars

I'm not quite sure where I end up with this book. It started out of the gate strong, gives you a good sense of the world that the main character (Jason) inhabits and then rips him out of his place in that world. And that's hunky dory, I'm on board with that.

It at first seems like the book is going with pointing out the failures of the police when they get too much power, but at times it seems to just want to use that as a reason to keep Jason bouncing from place to place. But then it keeps stopping so that the characters can have a long discussion about the meaning or application of love. The character knows he needs to leave because the police know his location, but he decides to have a long conversation instead... it's kind of weird.

And when the reveal of what's …

Review of 'Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It's a decent piece of work, but far from the mindfucked glory of certain other novels of his. In some ways, I found it to be more of a social commentary than his usual psychonautic adventures. One should perhaps read it with this in mind, and knowing this, I believe I will be able to appreciate it better for what it actually is, if I ever reread it. One thing I would like to note is how the characters deviate from his usual cast of characters in a good way. There is a lot of emotion and depth to certain parts of the story.

Despite this minor detail, PKD has completely outdone himself in one particular regard, that is, naming the book. Without a doubt is this my favourite title among all of his work:

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

FLOW MY TEARS, FALL FROM YOUR SPRINGS!
EXILED FOREVER …

Review of 'Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Typical of Dick's motifs, with a man whose reality suddenly slides away from beneath him, this is still an engaging novel. Its delirious prose meshes reality, drugs and fame together in one heady combo. There is more love and melancholia in this novel than in most of Dick's relentlessly hopeless works which leaves a bitter sweet taste to finishing it.

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