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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Some violence; the horror is more psychological and cosmic than physical
Language
Barely any
Mild language; Dick's style is clean despite the disturbing content
Sexual Content
Barely any
Minimal sexual content
Substance Use
A lot
Drug use is the novel's central subject; the plot revolves around two drugs that alter consciousness and potentially grant or destroy the soul
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Profound reality dissolution, paranoia about whether one is in a drug-induced hallucination or reality, and the terrifying possibility that a cosmic entity is annexing human consciousness
What this book is about
Philip K. Dick's 1965 novel imagines a near-future where colonists on Mars and other planets use an illegal drug called Can-D to inhabit fantasy world scenarios. When businessman Palmer Eldritch returns from outside the solar system with a new drug called Chew-Z, it promises something both greater and more terrifying. The novel is Dick's most sustained meditation on religious experience, drug consciousness, and whether God and the Devil are meaningfully distinguishable. Reality dissolves more thoroughly here than in almost any other Dick novel.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Reality dissolution as sustained experience
Drug use central to plot
Theological horror about demonic possession
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