Martian Time-Slip by Phillip K. Dick [1983]
Gollancz
226 pages
Reader Response by Matt H. [v 1.09] from
Reading Odyssey
Rating: Many good points, but overall not highly recommended
Story and Setting
In the not too distant future, human beings have colonized Mars. Earth is over-crowded and a group of countries, organized by the UN, have established permanent settlements near the canals. But Mars proves stubbornly inhospitable; after much time and effort the colonies fail to prosper and expand. It is difficult to recruit colonists because Mars remains a polluted, arid, dusty, mostly wasteland of a planet. Water is the premier commodity and is rationed. Also, instances of mental illness, especially schizophrenia are unusually common among the Martian colonists. The patients end up in an institution called Ben Gurion (BG) in the Israeli sector. There is also corruption, and even petty gangsterism on Mars. It is forbidden to import many items from Earth, especially luxury foods. But the black-market and smuggling enterprises are thriving. Many must partake in this underground economy in order to survive.
Mars has an indigenous humanoid population, the Bleekmen – desert nomads, very simple hunter-gatherers. They have become an
underclass to the Earthlings and they and their culture are disappearing. Some have been “tamed” and work as household servants. Nevertheless they have their sacred desert places, odd abilities and mysterious, prophetic ways.
An overworked, virtuoso repairman, Jack Bohlen, by chance meets a very powerful man on Mars, Arnie Kott. He is at the top of the water hierarchy. Soon Kott has engaged him in an ambitious project involving prognostication and perhaps the actual manipulation of time itself. An autistic boy, Manfred, son of a recent suicide, is part of Arnie’s scheme. As the project progresses, Jack’s dormant schizophrenia is triggered and a string of time-fractured improbable events, real, imagined and indeterminant begin to mix with financial hardships, parental duties, marriages and martial affairs, acts of recklessness and revenge. A fatal drama unfolds. The inscrutable and powerful child, Manfred -- proves key in the incredible events, and to foreseeing a grim, horrendous future for himself and for the colonies on Mars.
Critical Reader Appraisal
In its skillful, imaginative portrayal of mental illness as well as in narrative technique and characterization, Martian Time-slip is very impressive. It has a multi-thread narrative that requires many themes and plot-lines to come together into a climactic whole, and with all the ideas in this book that’s a tall order. Though the prose was exceptionally clear and easy to comprehend and the characterization sketched deftly though action, inner and outer dialog and narration, I personally felt something missing at the end. Upon further thought, several significant themes seemed somewhat orphaned. It attempted much and in the end delivered mostly. Still to me it did not quite seem to pull off all that it so very ambitiously promised.
It’s an engagingly depressing world. Mars is unglamorous at best, in fact it is pretty awful. You can feel and smell the dilapidation, the fear, loneliness, hopelessness and the fatigue. The characters are caught up in realistic events of daily life – the grind of work, living paycheck to paycheck, nasty bosses, bills, local political corruption, a rotten infrastructure as well as trying to maintain their mental health. From the first pages, you see moral tests failed by one character after another. You find unsympathetic aspects in virtually every one of them (almost as if the writer wanted to be sure of it) -- dishonesty, lust, weakness, unfaithfulness, victimization of others, selfishness in varying degrees. Jack’s father, before you actually meet him, sounds like he’s almost going to be a minor savior. But when he arrives he turns out to be as unlikeable as the rest. Though parentally caring - he is old-fashioned and moralizing, and is also a hard, amoral land speculator. Every part of life, the land itself and even the autistic child Manfred has a malevolence.
Arnie Kott, the “water baron” is a unique creation; he is racist, ruthless, corrupt and hedonistic. But somehow he is also “OK” in the eyes of his friends and fellow characters. I think the reader too, with find Arnie frustratingly hard to totally hate. His bigotry is reflexive and defensive, you see he’s no kind of ideologue, he’s just a very, very selfish man. You feel sorry for him because of his extreme recklessness and pride. You somehow have a delicious feeling, that grows throughout the book that he’s going to get it good. But Arnie is a fun guy, a great entertainer in a 1950’s-partying way. He is almost a child, but at the same time cynical and paranoid. He has the best illegal food items, obscenely expensive delicacies; he wastes water as a statement of his wealth. And of course he has the best booze and prettiest women. He has a razor-sharp sense of humor too, often racist, sometimes self-deprecating. You abhor Arnie, but have a sense he knows very well he is an a-hole. He is to be pitied so colossal is his hubris.
Occasionally one felt the characters or narrator were discoursing on subjects to the slight detriment of the story. Several passages function to convey the writer's views and insights on mental illness and other speculative thoughts. It’s still interesting reading. Probably some of the diagnostic and psychological categories he proclaims, may be in some ways out-of-date
The resolution of the story is functional, with the major loose ends tied up. But I had hoped that Manfred and Arnie would trade futures. The "water witch" was an intriguing, if creepy object, that one felt sure would play a larger part. I wanted greater significance for the learning machines, and the theme of institutional indoctrination and brain-washing of an entire generation through robot teachers. The Bleekman, Helio became a major character, but he felt a little stranded story-wise at the end. Likewise I hoped the themes of Eugenics, and euthanasia would be part of a grand tie-in too.
So while the closing drama satisfied in certain ways, it was not on first reading the grand satisfaction that I hoped. It’s probable that on second-reading this might be improved. Again, it’s a worth-while book, with much impressive technique, intriguing speculation, and scary, real-sounding insider views of mental illness. And, as one will see from the first pages, it’s a sophisticated story of morality, cruelty and humanity. Gubble-gubble!
Will honestly look at all your points.
