The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
by Philip K. Dick
read: 2016

Like most of Dick's writings, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a mental labyrinth, leaving the reader (and some of the characters) questioning who or what Eldritch really is and what he wants. Characters take hallucinogenic drugs and periodically plunge into realms where the lines between fantasy and reality blur. This is all par for the course with Dick, but Palmer Eldritch also possesses a beating heart under the mental gymnastics: protagonist Barney Mayerson is caught in a spiritual malaise and must find a reason to keep living in a universe where Earth and the other human outposts are largely uninhabitable. Mayerson must not only not preserve humanity, but determine that it is even worth saving.

Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road
by Erskine Caldwell
read: 2016
Modern Library #91, Guardian 1000 Novels

Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road has perhaps the most visceral descriptions of poverty I have ever read. The characters wear tattered clothing, live in dilapidated houses on infertile land, and battle the constant threat of starvation. They have no concept of money and little regard for human life, as evidenced by Dude's casual attitude towards committing two vehicular homicides. They are in part victims of the economic conditions of the times, but Caldwell's portrayal doesn't absolve them of their sins, either: theft, laziness, ignorance, and apathy.

Murder On the Links

Murder On the Links
by Agatha Christie
read: 2016

The multiple twists in Murder On the Links got gratuitous - it no longer felt like an earned surprise but instead just Christie trying to fool the reader. The romance was a bit silly, too - particularly Hastings' willingness to physical restrain Poirot so Cinderella could escape.

Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers
by Robert Stone
read: 2016
Time 100 Novels

Dog Soldiers is set in the Vietnam War, and like modern war novels Gravity's Rainbow, Catch-22, and Slaughterhouse Five, it has a wicked sense of dark humor. However, despite the title and temporal setting, Dog Soldiers isn't a war novel. There are no battle scenes, but the world of the novel and the actions of the characters are affected by the war. The characters do a lot, but they seem to be almost sleepwalking through their actions, going through the motions in a world where war has devalued human life.