The Man Who Japed

Name: The Man Who Japed
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Author: Philip K. Dick
ISBN: 9798894864198

Author: Philip K. Dick

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Unabridged: 4 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/08/2025

Categories: Fiction, Science Fiction

Synopsis

Following a devastating nuclear war, the Moral Reclamation government took over the world and forced its citizens to live by strictly puritanical rules—no premarital sex, drunkenness, or displaying of neon signs—all of which are reinforced through a constant barrage of messaging to the public. The chief purveyor of these messages is Alan Purcell, next in line to become head of the propaganda bureau. But there is just one problem: a statue of the government’s founder has been vandalized and the head is hidden in Purcell’s closet. In this buttoned-up society, maybe all a revolution needs is one really great prank …

About Philip K. Dick

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Susan on November 04, 2021

The Man Who Japed teaches a lesson every New Yorker already knows: When you’ve got a halfway decent apartment, hold on to it at all costs. It’s almost funny how prescient Dick was about apartments. The unit Allen and Janet Purcell live in could easily be a contemporary microapartment. And the space-......more

Goodreads review by Tim on July 24, 2020

This is my seventh Philip K. Dick experience and this one stands with Clans of the Alphane Moon as one of the more comedic works of Dick's career. Allen Purcell one day wakes up to find that he's "japed" a statue. Not just any statue, but the statue of the world's hero General Streiter, who formed o......more

Goodreads review by David on September 29, 2024

My 15th PKD novel. ~ an unexpected treat. Perhaps you have pondered life as a series of pendulum swings; I did, while I read this book. ~ thinking a 'status quo' is always up for grabs, and can swiftly move to one extreme or the other. If it's ever something pleasant, it will never stay a comfy chai......more

Goodreads review by Bradley on June 21, 2019

This 50's PKD is a real keeper. I might really enjoy re-reading it in the next few years, but you know what I really want? A MOVIE. This novel is a comedic GEM. It's funny as hell. A very McCarthy-era satire mixing post-apocalypse with uber-concerns with public morality in a paranoid state with tiny......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on August 04, 2023

Certainly not bad, but considered within PKD's works overall this feels generally underwhelming. In his better works he's got more balls in the air, interacting in unexpected and absurd ways, and more effectively conveys deep set feelings of paranoia and disdain for authority. Notably absent are any......more