Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

From the strange title to the premise of a futuristic television star who suddenly no one remembers, this book, is the essence of why PKD remains one of my favorite authors: futurism, psychology, and existential angst distilled into a mind-bending cocktail whose characters somehow still feel perfectly grounded and believable. 

Following an attack by a jilted lover, renowned TV variety show host Jason Taverner awakens in a cheap motel and discovers that he’s unknown to the world. Neither his current girlfriend nor his lawyer recognizes him when he calls. Further, all records of his identity have been erased.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is an exciting, fast-paced story with a protagonist both capable and mysterious. I’m a sucker for the theme of the “lone hero against impossible odds” and as usual with Philip K. Dick, the antagonist is not merely a single character, such as the unethical police general… show more.

Dick's style is more subtle. He wrote stories that made you accept the doubts you have about existence, and about being human. He made you question what you perceive as reality. He was also very funny. Flow My Tears is, in my opinion, his best book. The trope he uses here is a character waking up one day to find that the world has changed, and that his place in it has gone. Dick’s results are unsettling and engaging, always surprising.