Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Jefferson Mays

Winner of the John W. Campbell Award and a Hugo and Nebula award nominee, Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a rollicking chase story that combines altered reality, genetic enhancement, and drug use into a dystopian setting to create one of the most popular and enduring science fiction novels.

Jason Taverner—world-famous talk show host and man-about-town—wakes up one day to find that no one knows who he is—including the vast databases of the totalitarian government. And in a society where lack of identification is a crime, Taverner has no choice but to go on the run with a host of shady characters, including crooked cops and dealers of alien drugs. But do they know more than they are letting on? And just how can a person’s identity be erased overnight?

"Dick skillfully explores the psychological ramifications of this nightmare."—New York Times Review of Books

©1974 Philip K. Dick (P)2024 Recorded Books

Character development

Overall, the book offers a deep exploration and character development around a person that I don’t think anyone really wants to know. It also shifts point of view to the policeman with a heart of gold.

The end of the book they briefly explain Philip K Dick’s idea of how reality works and why we notice time & space. It’s fairly simplistic: brains make the reality we experience, drugs can make us see other realities.

There are a number of plot errors:

The status and meaning of being an “un-person” changes. First it’s common for escaped students, then it’s a solar-system wide impossibility, then it’s just a minor bureaucratic error. Nothing about the face hugger and tubes stuck in him from the beginning is either explained or made relevant.

It seems true

Alternative reality alert! I feel like this is so likely it is unsettling to me!

meh

having read many of Philip K Dick's books, it was very frustrating listening to this man's voice through the entire narration. this wasn't one of Dick's best books but the narration made it worse.

Gripping Story

I couldn't stop listening along the main characters quest. This story wasn't as tech heavy as PKDs other novels which he explores masterfully.

Very good performance & story

Excellent reader. The book was succinct and exciting. Though the ending not as satisfying as I expected it to be.