In the late ’50s these plot devices would’ve been of no small impact, seeing as how instant nuclear annihilation was a very real and commonly perceived danger and the moon was still the subject of much mystery. I don’t want to give it away totally, but basically it involves nuclear missiles and lunar colonists. I think what ultimately dulls the impact of this book for me is the big revelation of just why Gumm’s work on the newspaper puzzles is so important that he is forced to live in a fantasy world. Gumm’s efforts to figure out just what is going on around him, and then to escape it, are the most interesting aspects of the novel. After some tentative steps and a few red herrings the central theme of “the world is not what it appears” takes center stage. Dick keeps the action moving along at a good clip, and drops enough hints along the way to keep things interesting. It’s a fun read, but nothing special really. As I made my way though the story of Ragle Gumm and his struggle to break through what he at first only vaguely feels to be the false suburban reality he is trapped in, I thought to myself, “self, this would make a neat movie.” Then I remembered, “self, you’ve seen The Truman Show haven’t you?” It’s the same basic premise really, except that instead of putting the protagonist into a fake world for the amusement of a TV audience, Gumm is placed into an idealized 1950s neighborhood to keep him focused on a very important task – entering and winning a newspaper contest called “Where will the little green man be next?” It’s sort of a precursor to Where’s Waldo?, but it involves statistics and probability so it’s five times as hard and half as fun.
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