NEW hardcover

Humpty Dumpty in Oakland Dick, Philip K

Product DescriptionSet in San Francisco in the late 1950s, Humpty Dumpty in Oakland is a tragicomedy of misunderstandings among used car dealers and realestate salesmen: the smalltime, struggling individuals for whom Philip KDick always reserved his greatest sympathy Jim Fergesson is an elderly garage owner with a heart condition, who is about to retire; Al Miller is a somewhat feckless mechanic who sublets part of Jims lot and finds his livelihood threatened by the decision to sell; Chris Harman is a recordcompany owner who for years has relied on Fergesson to maintain his cars When Harman hears of Fergessons impending retirement he tips him off to what he says is a castiron business proposition: a development in nearby Marin County with an opening for a garage Al Miller is convinced that Harman is a crook, out to fleece Fergesson of his lifes savings As much as he resents Fergesson he cant bear to see it happen anddenying to himself all the time what he is doinghe sets out to thwart HarmanFrom Publishers WeeklyFans of late SF icon Dick 19281982 who have yet to discover his obscure nongenre works will be pleasantly surprised by this profoundand perplexing1986 posthumous tragicomedy Unpublished in the US, this tale revolves around two truly miserable characters: Jim Fergesson, a worldweary, ailing garage owner preparing to retire, and Al Miller, a shiftless used car salesman who rents lot space from Fergesson Learning that Fergesson is investing his life savings in a questionable real estate venture, Miller hatches a series of illconceived and delusional schemes he hopes will grant him some sort of redemption and save Fergesson from getting scammed Evoking the economically booming, socially repressive and prejudiced America of the 1950s, this paranoid and ambiguityfilled exploration into the psyche of the small businessman showcases not only Dicks wild imagination and sardonic wit but also, and most notably, his mastery at intertwining perception with reality OctCopyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc All rights reservedFrom BooklistLong before establishing himself as one of sfs foremost innovators, Dick served his writing apprenticeship by penning sober mainstream tales about harried American workers First published in 1986 in England and now receiving American publication, this early novel recounts the intertwined fates of Californiabased usedcarsalesman Al Miller and his aging landlord, Jim Fergusson Perpetually down on his luck, Miller sees the world through cynical lenses, whereas Fergusson, despite a recent heart attack, remains optimistic When Miller discovers that Fergusson is selling their shared business and taking the advice of a shady record producer to purchase a new one, he becomes suspicious With the aim of undermining the deal, Miller recklessly talks his way into a job for the producer and bumbles headlong into lifeunraveling charges of fraud Dick aficionados will recognize the familiar themes of psychosis and confrontation with inimical powers that permeated his later work As a formative novel, this book contains surprisingly strong writing and character development and reveals an interesting dimension of the Dick canon Hays, CarlReviewA kind of pulpfiction Kafka, a prophet The New York Times Remarkable echoes of Dicks contemporaries such as Ralph Ellison, Richard Yates, Rod Serling, Raymond Chandler and early Kurt Vonnegut Jr resonate, and a bonus exists in Dicks impeccable eye for detail Dick fans will be in rapture Publishers Weekly [boxed review] on Voices from the StreetHe reworks the territory of soured domesticity la Richard Yates and John Updike in a workingclass milieu anticipating Raymond Carver Decades later, his oeuvre like Philip Roths is lovingly enshrined in our national pantheon LA TimesIt may be hard for some to accept that the same writer who recently snuck