Title:: [[They]] Authors:: [[Kay Dick]] Tags:: #fiction Read:: [[2026-03-14]] Instagram :: https://www.instagram.com/jeronimo_ficus/p/DV6CJd-jtMd/ ## Editions - Edition:: [[McNally Editions]], 2022 - Original Copyright:: 1977 - Pages:: 128 ## Purchase * Bookshop.org:: https://bookshop.org/a/94437/9781946022288 ## Annotations I think dystopian fiction works best when there is enough space between reality and what is considered dystopian to wonder “what if it gets that bad?” Often there is an entire, fleshed out world that creates this buffer. The world in Orwell’s 1984 is fully other than ours, which tempers the impact of how much its themes seem real. Dick’s They, on the other hand, is a world that feels more like ours. That makes its themes, the suppression of inner life and artistic sensibilities, also feel more urgent and real, but (unfortunately) less dystopian in the traditional sense. The disjointed, in medias res narrative creates serious paranoid vibes and enacts the very suppression it describes. The irony is that They’s lack of traditional dystopian distance makes it feel more disturbing than many dystopian novels. And a further irony: the same fragmentation that reinforces the book’s themes also limited its impact for me. I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if it were longer and its chapters more tightly connected.