1960 & 1986; 252 pages. Genre : Contemporary Fiction. New Author? : No. Overall Rating : 5*/10.
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On the advice of his doctor, Jim Fergesson is retiring and selling his one-man garage business. It will allow him and his wife to live the rest of their years modestly, but at least that's better than what his friend, Al Miller, will accomplish in life.
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Al Miller leases a plot of ground from Fergesson (adjacent to the garage), and is your classic, shifty, fast-talking used-car salesman. He knows he'll never get rich selling clunkers to patsies, but is happy that at least he understands this cold, cruel world better than his friend, Jim Fergesson. He just needs a break, and he's always on the look-out for it
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What's To Like...
Humpty Dumpty In Oakland examines the character of a number of people, although the spotlight is mostly on Jim and Al. Despite their different circumstances and occupations, their thought processes are remarkably similar. They may argue and get vexed with each other, but for some reason they keep visiting and chit-chatting.
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Philip K. Dick's desciptive passages are great; you can smell the grease and oil in Fergesson's garage, and feel the grittiness of the streets in this poorer part of Oakland.
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All the characters are interesting to get to know. HDIO has the style of Steinbeck's Cannery Row, although in tone it reminds me of Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman.
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Kewl New Words...
Jitney : a small bus that carries passengers over a regular route on a flexible schedule. (Think of today's "van service").
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Excerpts...
"They humiliated me," Al said.
"No that's all in your mind. You project your own motives onto the whole world; just because you're in the used-car business you see everyone in terms of used-car tricks." (pg. 166)
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"Luck is being able to make use of chance," Ross said. "It means that when something goes wrong you can turn it to your own advantage. It doesn't mean, say, always drawing a good hand. It doesn't mean getting three aces and two kings every time." Turning to face Al, he said, "It means that when you draw a nothing hand you can still win, because in some way that eludes the rest of us, you can make a nothing hand a winning hand." (pg. 173)
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"You just a humpty dumpty," Tootie said. "You just stand there, stand around, while it all happen to you. You just perch and watch." (pg. 247)
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"You have to do or you be done." (pg. 49)
Philp K. Dick wrote HDIO in 1960, but it wasn't published until 1986, after his posthumous rise to fame in the Horror genre. His talent shows through here, but you can also see why it went unpublished. Simply put, there's no action to sustain your interest. Miller and Fergesson are engaging souls, but they never do anything, and this isn't Existential Lit.
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So this is mostly for those PKD fans who are compelled to read everything he ever penned - even his early, straight dramatic stuff. For the rest of us, this is still an okay read, but non-essential. And you'll probably be happy that it's only 250 pages long. 5 Stars.
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