The Broken Bubble by Philip K. Dick [FIRST EDITION / FIRST PRINTING]
The Broken Bubble by Philip K. Dick
FIRST EDITION / FIRST PRINTING [1988] ARBOR HOUSE
Hardcover with dust jacket in near mint condition. Ex-library.
Dust jacket is pristine; unclipped and housed in protective mylar.
Book itself is excellent; library stamps on title page. Stamp and tape remainder marks on front end paper [see photos] -- otherwise, mint.
Set in San Francisco in 1956, The Broken Bubble traces the ups and downs and ins and outs of four characters who are not quite sure of the lives they're living. Jim Briskin, local radio DJ, his ex-wife Pat, the young married couple Art and Rachel Emmanual - all are acutely observed and sympathetically portrayed.
Briskin is suspended from his job for refusing to read a particularly repellant ad, while Art foolishly gets mixed up in a group of absurd would-be revolutionaries. As they all get entangled and not quite disentangled with each other, it becomes apparent they are seeking only - in typical Dick fashion - to live more or less happily - if not ever after, then at least for a while. Modest as it may seem, it is an ambition very difficult to achieve.