Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - by Philip K. Dick

Plot Synopsis: Set in the future, Earth has become a rather dismal place due to nuclear war and the subsequent nuclear fallout. Most animals are extinct, but those that exist are bought at an exorbitant price and are a sign of status in this new society. While most Earthlings have left the planet to live on Mars and other colonies, those that have stayed cling to Mercerism (a type of religion?) to help them cope with loneliness.The novel follows the lives of two people - Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, who hunts human-like robots known as androids. Androids are banned on Earth, because they are used as slave labor off-planet and have had tendencies to kill their human masters. Then there's John Isidore, a man whose intelligence has been slowly fading due to the fallout. Rick and John's lives converge when Rick begins hunting a list of androids, some of whom take refuge in John's company.

Literary Analysis: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was originally a short story that Philip K. Dick expanded into a novel. It feels that way. Whole chapters are reserved for character development, as if Dick's idea of making a short story into a novel only entails adding more detail without regard to the plot. Some details, such as Mercerism, are left ambiguous to the reader even though they take up considerable space in the span of the story. The plot is one-note. There are no sub-plots. The setting is wildly interesting, yet Dick devotes most of his attention to characters, rather than the more interesting world around them.

Personal Reaction: The old 1982 movie Blade Runner is based off of this book. While the plot concept is interesting, the execution  has something to be desired. The fact that there is only one plot line really makes the reading slow going, particularly chapters that have nothing to do with the plot at all. Buying scarce animals is interesting, but it has no impact on the story. Mercerism infiltrates all parts of the story, but is never fully explained in black and white...or even gray for that matter...and so the end of the novel is disappointing if not confusing. I love dystopian novels. I love nuclear war aftermath type stories, but this one is so caught up in the mundane plot that it sadly doesn't go into more detail about the interesting world that it is supposed to be set in.

Final Rating: 6/10 - A slow read (until the end...), a shallow plot, lack of detail when it comes to the setting, and missing definitions of crucial components in the story all contribute to the 6/10 rating. Again, the story has a great concept, but a poor execution.