At first I was confused by the beginning of this book. We start out with Jerry Fabin and watching him apparently go crazy as aphids are invading his home and have also gotten into his lungs. At first I was wondering if we were watching someone go crazy and in a sense we were. But his descent into insanity was due to withdrawals from a drug known as Substance D or Slow Death as we later find out. Then we switch to mostly following Bob Arctor, who is an undercover narcotics officer as he fits in with the drug community. He must wear a suit that masks who he really is so that he can maintain his cover and other officers do not recognize him. The dangers of the job are that he has to take Substance D to fit in, and Substance D is highly addicting.
I found it interesting that the diction of the novel seemed as though PKD had been through it so I did a little bit of research. PKD actually did become addicted to amphetamines. This novel is known as "a fictionalized account of real events" and in an interview PKD mentioned that everything in this novel he actually saw. I found the whole account interesting, and you can get it here on Wikipedia.
When I found out this novel is based on PKD's actual experiences in the 1970s drug culture, it started to make a lot of sense. So far in Chapters 1-8, it seemed as though it was based off of first-hand experience. I know that personally I would not get mixed up with street gangs, but PKD's experience really helped to make the novel seem more realistic.
It's interesting the PKD was addicted to amphetamines when he wrote the novel. It makes more sense to know that the book was based on his real experiences. This novel is much more real feeling than the others we've read, so real in fact that I don't really enjoy reading about all of those horrible things! Love that you did some background research! =]
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