Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
And that’s why I will never buy a cuckoo clock….. or piss off a bird….
This was very brief, but I enjoyed it all the same. Basically, the story is of a man who purchases a gift for his wife and gloats about buying it wholesale. The gift? A cuckoo clock, but no ordinary clock.
What little was given about Doris, Bob, and Larry put them in three distinct categories for me:
Larry: The self-absorbed jerk husband to Doris
Doris: The wife wishing for a better life (and a better marriage)
Bob: The lover who seems to hate the way Larry treats Doris and wants to be with her
The ending was very shocking and satisfying and, even though I can’t call this my favorite Philip K. Dick story, he did do a good job here.
I thought cuckoo clocks were creepy before…. The bird popping out scares me. Now that I’ve seen this sentient little clock, I’m dead set against any of those old-fashioned clocks.
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Review: Beyond the Door
