Puttering About in a Small Land by Philip K. Dick
317 pages, Paperback
Published January, 2014 by Orion Publishing Group (First published January, 1985)
4 stars if you are a serious Dickhead, if not probably a 3-star slice of life of 1950s California. That said this is my favorite of the realist novels I have read so far. We already recorded the Dickheads podcast episode link when it is posted.
While in no way science fiction the fact that it was published decades after it was written during Phil's second and longest marriage to Kleo feels like a period piece. In the novel, a young boy named Gregg is being dropped off at a boarding school in remote Ojai California, similar to the experience of a young PKD. The opening of the novel appears to be addressing the author's Mommy issues, but it is much more than that. PKD uses his SF world-building skills to set the stage of an early TV shop and suburban life of the era. Funny at times, disturbing here and there. Worth reading for completionists for sure.
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