Awkward early novel. Similar to Mary and the Giant. Sutin lists this novel as being written after Mary and the Giant but it feels much more primitive than that. It starts out with some nice lean prose, but when it get’s to the meat of the thing, it becomes kind of irritating. Characters are initially, cartoonishly drawn. The story is a about a divorced couple in their late twenties who become involved in a destructive adulterous relationship with a young, barely out of high school couple that are expecting a child. It's a pleasant surprise when the novel focuses and manages to move along to an intriguing and reasonably satisfactory conclusion.
i’m not going to say it’s good, but I’m going to say it’s worth the trouble, especially for PKD completists. Nice when something doesn’t really work and you can still finish it and actually enjoy it instead of actively disliking it. ( )

Mais um retrato da década de 50, cheio de relações complicadas envolvendo adultos cheios de angst e jovens que não sabem muito bem o que querem. Esta fase do autor com este livro e Mary and the Giant apresentou uma liberdade de escrita sexual, que eu diria que parece muito à frente do seu tempo, A angústia da personagem feminina que se envolve numa relação perdida e desorientada com um jovem de 17 anos é descrita de uma forma intensa e iinebriante. É um retrato apesar de tudo interessante da década de 50, mas talvez menos apelativo que Mary and The Giant. Mostra porém a multifaceta do autor como escritor inovador para o seu tempo a retratar as angústias da psique humana. ( )

This early effort, written and set in San Francisco of the late '50's displays PKD's sincere concern for young,lost people in thrall to ignorance, advertising,negative family and peer influence, alcohol etc., etc. The hero, Jim Briskin, is a radio music host suspended from his job for offending an advertiser, a used car concern. Some trenchant satire of pornography provides the book its title. This was only published in 1988, 6 years after Dick's death, but still seems completely relevant, though radio has certainly lost some of its market share to TV and video games in the meantime. Dick's knowledge and understanding of classical music is a plus to readers like me. ( )

The lives of two couples intertwine in mid-50s California, learning important lessons about life ( )