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Adjustment Team
This short story, The Adjustment Team, asks the question; Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Ed Fletcher is a real estate agent with a normal life, until one day he leaves the house for work a few minutes later than he should have. He arrives at a terrifying, grey, ash world. Ed rushes home and tells his wife, Ruth, who goes back to the office with him. When they return, everything is normal. But he soon realizes people and objects have subtly changed. Panic-stricken, he runs to a public phone to warn the police, only to have the phone booth ascend heavenward with Fletcher inside...
(The Adjustment Bureau is a major motion picture based on Philip K. Dick's classic paranoid story, The Adjustment Team. )
(The Adjustment Bureau is a major motion picture based on Philip K. Dick's classic paranoid story, The Adjustment Team. )
43 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1954
About the author
Philip K. Dick
1,534 books19.3k followersPhilip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year in 1974 for Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Philip K. Dick died on March 2, 1982, in Santa Ana, California, of heart failure following a stroke.
In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 217 reviews
March 26, 2020
“Adjustment Team”, first published in Orbit Science Fiction (Sept.-Oct. 1954), is perhaps my favorite Dick short story of all. (I vacillate between “Adjustment Team” and “The Father Thing.”) At any rate, it certainly has the Dickian quality I love most: the ability to permanently alter the way you perceive and judge the world around you.
The story sounds crazy even in summary, and, yes, it is certainly crazy. It tells of Ed Fletcher, a man whose life is altered forever early one morning because a dog (or a being called a summoner which we laymen refer to as a “dog”) barks a “summoning order” just one minute too late, and instead of receiving “A Friend With a Car” at his front door, Ed receives instead "An Insurance Salesman." As a consequence, Ed reaches his office late, and witnesses what no man or woman is ever supposed to witness: an Adjustment Team altering the small details of reality—just little bits, here and there—in order for human progress to occur. It’s not Ed’s fault, but Ed has seen plenty he should not see. What must the Adjustment Team do now?
This story convinced me of its reality the first time I read it, and sometimes, turning a corner, I think I see the Adjustment Team out of the corner of my eye, walking away—self-possessed, anonymous—having altered the time stream, slightly and forever, one more time.
Maybe I’m too gullible, maybe The Adjustment Team can’t alter reality. But there’s one thing for sure: reading Philip K. Dick can definitely alter your mind.
December 3, 2015
Quick read, awesome premise but... the movie was better? Wow I never thought I'd say that one day.
November 28, 2021
Primer relato corto que leo de K. Dick.
Me gusto mucho la premisa, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que se escribió en los años 50, precediendo a películas tan icónicas hoy como Matrix o Desafío Total. Pero me hubiera gustado que se extendiera más en el relato, que me explicará mejor las cosas.
Me gusto mucho la premisa, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que se escribió en los años 50, precediendo a películas tan icónicas hoy como Matrix o Desafío Total. Pero me hubiera gustado que se extendiera más en el relato, que me explicará mejor las cosas.
April 20, 2018
”I saw the fabric of reality split open. I saw – behind. Underneath. I saw what was really there.”
The experience of Ed Fletcher, who is, ironically, an real estate agent and husband of an equally jealous and caring wife, described in PKD’s short story Adjustment Team must certainly be mind-shattering but somehow he manages to also take it as reassuring, as probably most of us would. As a consequence of a dog’s barking too late, Ed Fletcher, one fateful morning, does not arrive at his office at the right moment in time and thus barges into the work of a mysterious Adjustment Team, whose task is to adjust reality to a benevolent ulterior plan of things. He not only witnesses the Adjusters at work, which in itself is already undesirable from their point of view, but he also will retain memories of what things were like before the Adjustments have been made, which makes him a threat to the obscure fixer-uppers and obliges them to deal with him.
Years ago, I saw an episode from a series like Twilight Zone, in which a man woke up in the middle of the night and ran into strange people in his own home. These people were clad in black and had blue faces, and their task was, as he found out, to ensure the continuity of things, e.g. that there was a growing coat of dust on his bookshelves, and I think that this was a clever adaptation of this here short story. PKD’s idea, however, is even better in that it not only makes us think about the underlying forces of what we regard as reality but also ask ourselves if history follows a plan and what role single individuals might play in this. The Adjustment Team in the story changes Ed’s boss by rejuvenating him, arguing that he will soon have an important business deal to make – a deal which will eventually lead to an enduring period of détente in the Cold War; the cause-and-effect-relationship concerning this expounded by the Adjustment Team Leader being very much like a fisherman’s story – and that the original boss was too old to dare to strike the deal so that they had to make him and most of his team members younger to ensure that the decisive step be taken. In other words, the Adjustment Team operating behind the scenes of reality tries to improve the course of history, and
Apart from the questions this story raises about the nature of what we regard as reality, I think that Adjustment Team can also be read as criticism of the socio-orthopaedic nanny-state. The Adjustment Team is organized in a very bureaucratic way, with Clerks being responsible for carrying out the orders of their superiors, and these orders and measures seem to be based on a wider agenda that is regarded as “beneficial” but does not seem to be open to discussion, simply being legitimized as working for the good of the species because, after all, what can be said against ending the Cold War. Interestingly, in the Adjusters’ jargon, the people whose welfare they claim to ensure are referred to with the dehumanizing word “elements” instead of “person” or “individual”, i.e. they do not bother to think about what makes an individual an individual, what wishes and legitimate interests an individual may have, but they simply regard him as a cog in a greater machine. Consequently, they do not hesitate to change Ed’s boss by making him younger, i.e. divesting him of certain experience he has gained and dear memories he has collected, which will also result in a re-interpretation of the relationships he may have entertained with other people. The individual person and what he stands for is not regarded as valuable in itself but simply as a bargaining chip for a greater good, and the individual also has no say in whether he shares the conception of this greater good. Now there might be a great number of people who would not object to being rejuvenated, but the underlying tyranny of this claim to be working for a greater good might become more obvious if you ask yourself what might have happened if, for some reason or other, Ed’s boss would have to have been older or not-existent in order for the greater good to be achieved. Apart from this, the cock-and-bull-story as to how détente is going to be achieved depends on so many further coincidences that it is quite clear that the Adjustment Team will not be out of work too soon, just the same way as the agents of the nanny-state, by constantly re-defining the needs and legal claims of their clients, successfully guarantee their own raison d’être.
It is here and in Ed’s condoning the backstage machinations that for me lies the blood-curdling quality of the story.
The experience of Ed Fletcher, who is, ironically, an real estate agent and husband of an equally jealous and caring wife, described in PKD’s short story Adjustment Team must certainly be mind-shattering but somehow he manages to also take it as reassuring, as probably most of us would. As a consequence of a dog’s barking too late, Ed Fletcher, one fateful morning, does not arrive at his office at the right moment in time and thus barges into the work of a mysterious Adjustment Team, whose task is to adjust reality to a benevolent ulterior plan of things. He not only witnesses the Adjusters at work, which in itself is already undesirable from their point of view, but he also will retain memories of what things were like before the Adjustments have been made, which makes him a threat to the obscure fixer-uppers and obliges them to deal with him.
Years ago, I saw an episode from a series like Twilight Zone, in which a man woke up in the middle of the night and ran into strange people in his own home. These people were clad in black and had blue faces, and their task was, as he found out, to ensure the continuity of things, e.g. that there was a growing coat of dust on his bookshelves, and I think that this was a clever adaptation of this here short story. PKD’s idea, however, is even better in that it not only makes us think about the underlying forces of what we regard as reality but also ask ourselves if history follows a plan and what role single individuals might play in this. The Adjustment Team in the story changes Ed’s boss by rejuvenating him, arguing that he will soon have an important business deal to make – a deal which will eventually lead to an enduring period of détente in the Cold War; the cause-and-effect-relationship concerning this expounded by the Adjustment Team Leader being very much like a fisherman’s story – and that the original boss was too old to dare to strike the deal so that they had to make him and most of his team members younger to ensure that the decisive step be taken. In other words, the Adjustment Team operating behind the scenes of reality tries to improve the course of history, and
Apart from the questions this story raises about the nature of what we regard as reality, I think that Adjustment Team can also be read as criticism of the socio-orthopaedic nanny-state. The Adjustment Team is organized in a very bureaucratic way, with Clerks being responsible for carrying out the orders of their superiors, and these orders and measures seem to be based on a wider agenda that is regarded as “beneficial” but does not seem to be open to discussion, simply being legitimized as working for the good of the species because, after all, what can be said against ending the Cold War. Interestingly, in the Adjusters’ jargon, the people whose welfare they claim to ensure are referred to with the dehumanizing word “elements” instead of “person” or “individual”, i.e. they do not bother to think about what makes an individual an individual, what wishes and legitimate interests an individual may have, but they simply regard him as a cog in a greater machine. Consequently, they do not hesitate to change Ed’s boss by making him younger, i.e. divesting him of certain experience he has gained and dear memories he has collected, which will also result in a re-interpretation of the relationships he may have entertained with other people. The individual person and what he stands for is not regarded as valuable in itself but simply as a bargaining chip for a greater good, and the individual also has no say in whether he shares the conception of this greater good. Now there might be a great number of people who would not object to being rejuvenated, but the underlying tyranny of this claim to be working for a greater good might become more obvious if you ask yourself what might have happened if, for some reason or other, Ed’s boss would have to have been older or not-existent in order for the greater good to be achieved. Apart from this, the cock-and-bull-story as to how détente is going to be achieved depends on so many further coincidences that it is quite clear that the Adjustment Team will not be out of work too soon, just the same way as the agents of the nanny-state, by constantly re-defining the needs and legal claims of their clients, successfully guarantee their own raison d’être.
It is here and in Ed’s condoning the backstage machinations that for me lies the blood-curdling quality of the story.
January 21, 2019
This feels like quintessential PKD. The story, about a man who accidentally catches a glimpse behind the scenes of reality, can be interpreted in several ways - religion, i.e. god and angels? a psychotic break? drugs? (well maybe not in this case) - and an enigmatic ending that doesn't quite give us answers.
May 5, 2016
PKD is a gold mine for fascinating plots and incredible movie premises. He doesn't flesh anything out in his writing. It's all very bare bones. That's probably what makes his work so wonderfully adaptable into films. He provides the brilliant premise and then it's up to the screen writer to do the rest.
I feel that if he had lived longer he could have elaborated on some of his most promising stories.
I feel that if he had lived longer he could have elaborated on some of his most promising stories.
January 31, 2023
Por casualidad revisioné este fin de semana la pelicula "The Adjustment Bureau" y nunca habia leido el relato corto original que toma como base. Logicamente es totalmente diferente, pero nunca es mal momento para leer a Dick, ya sea en formatos cortos o largos.
October 17, 2017
"You saw, and you should not have seen. (...) Like the others, you should have undergone changes".
Este conto foi motivo de inspiração para o filme "Adjustment bureau" (2011), de George Nolfi, com Matt Damon e Emily Blunt.
Foi daqui que partiu a minha curiosidade para ler esta narrativa. Há muitas diferenças. Mas apesar de tudo, são ambos muito bons!
Este conto foi motivo de inspiração para o filme "Adjustment bureau" (2011), de George Nolfi, com Matt Damon e Emily Blunt.
Foi daqui que partiu a minha curiosidade para ler esta narrativa. Há muitas diferenças. Mas apesar de tudo, são ambos muito bons!
March 6, 2011
A synopsis or a trailer for the new film titled The Adjustment Bureau reveals that Matt Damon plays David Norris, a US Senate candidate who serendipitously meets Elise Sallas, a ballerina played by Emily Blunt, and that together, following a plot complication or two, they go on the run from men in black suits and cool fedoras. The Adjustment Bureau, neither a synopsis or a trailer is likely to say, is actually based on Adjustment Team, a short story by renowned science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. A quite loose inspiration for The Adjustment Bureau, Dick's tale has the Matt Damon protagonist in Ed Fletcher, a real estate agent, and the Emily Blunt character in his wife Ruth, a government employee. And instead of fedora-topped men in black, the pursuers in Adjustment Team are heavy equipment-toting men in white.
Adjustment Team begins with an uninteresting remark on the day's weather ("It was bright morning. The sun shone down on the damp lawns and sidewalks, reflecting off the sparkling parked cars.") but soon manifests its tendency for the surreal, with a shady character referred to as the Clerk and a sleepy, speaking dog whose job is that of a Summoner. Apparent members of the mysterious titular group, the two wait outside the house of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Fletcher, carrying strict instructions from a higher authority to ensure that on this particular day Ed comes to his office building early. No sooner or later than 8:15 should the Summoner bark and call on a Friend With A Car to offer Ed a ride, but as one would expect from a plot introduction involving a character who is barely awake, something goes wrong: the dog falls asleep at the most precarious of times and barks a minute too late. Rather than a Friend With A Car, a Life Insurance Salesman rings the doorbell and talks with Ed for at least an hour. The Clerk and the Summoner are anxious over their mishap, while Ed is late to work.
Ed's workplace is on the third floor of a commercial building that is part of what the Adjustment Team codifiedly calls Sector T137. The sector is scheduled to be "adjusted," and it is imperative that every person and thing (or, officially, an "element") involved in the sector be present therein. Ed's tardiness caused him to arrive at the area while the adjustment, of which he was supposed to be a participant, is in progress. Every person, every thing, every element has been turned to a terrifying, strange gray. Ed, at the risk of sounding deranged, later tells Ruth, "Yeah. Strange is hardly the word for it. I poked my hands right through them. Like they were clay. Old dry clay. Dust. Dust figures."
The repetitive mention of dust (evoking a verse in Genesis), a team of "adjusters" with capitalized common nouns for names, and frequent, winking interjections of "In the name of God," "Good God," and "For God's sake," point to a thinly veiled religious allegory that runs underneath the story's sheen of science fiction. In this respect, the group of men in white who carry out the adjustment process with hoses and equipment and chase Ed when he inadvertently exposes himself a witness of the secret operation are barely disguised angels tasked to perform occasional terrestrial housekeeping at the behest of an omnipotent God-figure. Here he is called the Old Man, and he summons Ed to his "top-level Administrative chambers" for a lecture on free will, or the apparent absence thereof in the world as Ed knows it, that serves as the story's expository climax.
Dick's austere prose is a perfect counterbalance to his story's grand, just-hidden ambitions. George Nolfi, the director and screenwriter of The Adjustment Bureau, appears to have built a bigger world, a wider sector to adjust, upon Dick's short story, and in doing so dares to manage an even grander set of aspirations. If everything goes according to plan, with or without the help of stylish, otherworldly men of mystery, his adaptation should be at least as modestly thrilling as its source material.
--
Originally posted on The Polysyllabic Spree.
Adjustment Team begins with an uninteresting remark on the day's weather ("It was bright morning. The sun shone down on the damp lawns and sidewalks, reflecting off the sparkling parked cars.") but soon manifests its tendency for the surreal, with a shady character referred to as the Clerk and a sleepy, speaking dog whose job is that of a Summoner. Apparent members of the mysterious titular group, the two wait outside the house of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Fletcher, carrying strict instructions from a higher authority to ensure that on this particular day Ed comes to his office building early. No sooner or later than 8:15 should the Summoner bark and call on a Friend With A Car to offer Ed a ride, but as one would expect from a plot introduction involving a character who is barely awake, something goes wrong: the dog falls asleep at the most precarious of times and barks a minute too late. Rather than a Friend With A Car, a Life Insurance Salesman rings the doorbell and talks with Ed for at least an hour. The Clerk and the Summoner are anxious over their mishap, while Ed is late to work.
Ed's workplace is on the third floor of a commercial building that is part of what the Adjustment Team codifiedly calls Sector T137. The sector is scheduled to be "adjusted," and it is imperative that every person and thing (or, officially, an "element") involved in the sector be present therein. Ed's tardiness caused him to arrive at the area while the adjustment, of which he was supposed to be a participant, is in progress. Every person, every thing, every element has been turned to a terrifying, strange gray. Ed, at the risk of sounding deranged, later tells Ruth, "Yeah. Strange is hardly the word for it. I poked my hands right through them. Like they were clay. Old dry clay. Dust. Dust figures."
The repetitive mention of dust (evoking a verse in Genesis), a team of "adjusters" with capitalized common nouns for names, and frequent, winking interjections of "In the name of God," "Good God," and "For God's sake," point to a thinly veiled religious allegory that runs underneath the story's sheen of science fiction. In this respect, the group of men in white who carry out the adjustment process with hoses and equipment and chase Ed when he inadvertently exposes himself a witness of the secret operation are barely disguised angels tasked to perform occasional terrestrial housekeeping at the behest of an omnipotent God-figure. Here he is called the Old Man, and he summons Ed to his "top-level Administrative chambers" for a lecture on free will, or the apparent absence thereof in the world as Ed knows it, that serves as the story's expository climax.
Dick's austere prose is a perfect counterbalance to his story's grand, just-hidden ambitions. George Nolfi, the director and screenwriter of The Adjustment Bureau, appears to have built a bigger world, a wider sector to adjust, upon Dick's short story, and in doing so dares to manage an even grander set of aspirations. If everything goes according to plan, with or without the help of stylish, otherworldly men of mystery, his adaptation should be at least as modestly thrilling as its source material.
--
Originally posted on The Polysyllabic Spree.
April 28, 2011
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Brilliance Audio has recently put Philip K. Dick’s short story The Adjustment Team on audio and they sent me a copy. This is the story that the movie The Adjustment Bureau was based on (and the name of the audiobook is The Adjustment Bureau). The story is 57 minutes of tension and psychological terror as Ed Fletcher gets to work late and accidentally sees The Adjustment Team “adjusting” his office building and its occupants. Now, unadjusted Ed notices all the differences in his environment but his adjusted colleagues think everything is normal. Is Ed crazy?
Phil Gigante does an excellent job reading this story — the drama and terror really comes across well. I enjoyed “The Adjustment Team,” I’m glad I’ve finally read the story that the popular movie was based on, and I’m particularly happy to be able to listen to short stories on audio. However… The audiobook is less than an hour long and it costs (at this writing) $11. As much as I enjoyed it, I just can’t recommend spending that much money for so little story, especially when the Kindle version costs only 99¢.
Brilliance Audio has recently put Philip K. Dick’s short story The Adjustment Team on audio and they sent me a copy. This is the story that the movie The Adjustment Bureau was based on (and the name of the audiobook is The Adjustment Bureau). The story is 57 minutes of tension and psychological terror as Ed Fletcher gets to work late and accidentally sees The Adjustment Team “adjusting” his office building and its occupants. Now, unadjusted Ed notices all the differences in his environment but his adjusted colleagues think everything is normal. Is Ed crazy?
Phil Gigante does an excellent job reading this story — the drama and terror really comes across well. I enjoyed “The Adjustment Team,” I’m glad I’ve finally read the story that the popular movie was based on, and I’m particularly happy to be able to listen to short stories on audio. However… The audiobook is less than an hour long and it costs (at this writing) $11. As much as I enjoyed it, I just can’t recommend spending that much money for so little story, especially when the Kindle version costs only 99¢.
October 8, 2015
Very interesting idea, but the execution could have been better.
It was the inspiration for The Adjustment Bureau, which I also enjoyed and would see again.
It was the inspiration for The Adjustment Bureau, which I also enjoyed and would see again.
May 31, 2022
No full-length book has been able to hold my attention lately (I've been way too exhausted to read) so I figured I'd try a short story instead. This still took me 2 days to read, but hey, at least I read something! This is a really interesting story with a really unique premise. I highly recommend it!
June 14, 2011
I was determined to read this after having watched the movie, 'The adjustment bureau' and feeling dissatisfied by what I perceived to be the un- and under- explored themes which, if addressed, would have made the movie riveting and challenging.
The short story was very different to what I had expected, set as it is in a long-gone era of cold war tensions and sexist/chauvinistic attitudes towards women (wait, maybe the latter hasn't changed so much after all...but that's another debate). However, I still enjoyed it for what it is, as the underlying premise is compelling - otherworldly orchestration of human lives and world events to which we are oblivious. Although the short story didn't answer the questions the movie had inspired, I now have a better appreciation of the difficulties faced by film makers and writers of screenplays - how to transform novels and short stories into contemporary, watchable movies which appeal to a broad audience whilst still retaining elements of the original story?
The short story was very different to what I had expected, set as it is in a long-gone era of cold war tensions and sexist/chauvinistic attitudes towards women (wait, maybe the latter hasn't changed so much after all...but that's another debate). However, I still enjoyed it for what it is, as the underlying premise is compelling - otherworldly orchestration of human lives and world events to which we are oblivious. Although the short story didn't answer the questions the movie had inspired, I now have a better appreciation of the difficulties faced by film makers and writers of screenplays - how to transform novels and short stories into contemporary, watchable movies which appeal to a broad audience whilst still retaining elements of the original story?
December 18, 2015
Interesting premise but a short story wasn't enough to fully realize its potential.
January 31, 2019
Full text online (copyright expired):
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Adjust...
Another classic early PKD "what is reality?" story. First published in "Orbit", a short-lived SF magazine in the early 1950s. Not a high-paying market!
I haven't read the story lately, but have generally positive memories of it. I haven't seen the (much later) movie based on the story.
Wikipedia article [mild SPOILERS]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustm...
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Adjust...
Another classic early PKD "what is reality?" story. First published in "Orbit", a short-lived SF magazine in the early 1950s. Not a high-paying market!
I haven't read the story lately, but have generally positive memories of it. I haven't seen the (much later) movie based on the story.
Wikipedia article [mild SPOILERS]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustm...
January 26, 2022
Update JAN 2022 I re-read it because I didn't remember much.
New rating: 3/5 l liked it but the ending isn't the best.
2020's ATY in 52 books: 15. A book without a person on the cover
Original Rating: : 3.5/5 I liked it
Very good short story. This's the story that inspired Matt Damon's movie The adjustment bureau . I really liked the movie and wanted to read this. The movie takes some things but is completely another story.
Phillip K Dick's writing is engaging and creative. If you don't know, many (a ton) of sci-fi movies are based or inspired on his works: Blade runner, total recall, minority report, next, paycheck, a scanner darkly, impostor, the man in the high castle, among others. He is an important figure in sci-fi, and often explored the question about what's real and identity.
I liked this very much, is interesting, creative, intriguing, it puts your imagination to fly. I recommend it.
New rating: 3/5 l liked it but the ending isn't the best.
2020's ATY in 52 books: 15. A book without a person on the cover
Original Rating: : 3.5/5 I liked it
Very good short story. This's the story that inspired Matt Damon's movie The adjustment bureau . I really liked the movie and wanted to read this. The movie takes some things but is completely another story.
Phillip K Dick's writing is engaging and creative. If you don't know, many (a ton) of sci-fi movies are based or inspired on his works: Blade runner, total recall, minority report, next, paycheck, a scanner darkly, impostor, the man in the high castle, among others. He is an important figure in sci-fi, and often explored the question about what's real and identity.
I liked this very much, is interesting, creative, intriguing, it puts your imagination to fly. I recommend it.
April 6, 2011
Wow very different from the movie (The Adjustment Bureau). I have to say, from his writing style I see why his stories work better as movies. The poor guy needed an editor. Although I did find the line at the beginning “'Don’t type any wrong words, any double-entendres.'” funny; I'm just not sure it was amusing in the way the author intended. Don't get me wrong I think he has some great ideas, and he provided a valuable contribution to the science-fiction world. I think he was on the verge of executing some literary devices well but for the most part his character interaction is unrealistic, his sense of proportion is misplaced, and his syntax leaves much to be desired, not to mention his attitude towards women is frankly offensive (but that's actually beside the point).
His characters: During one of the most action filled sequences Dick slows down the pacing by describing Ed's (the protagonist) selection of a table in a diner, what he and his wife order, and only then does the author move back to the issue at hand, why Ed is upset and not at work. "'Please tell me,' Ruth begged him. 'You really want to know?' 'Of course I want to know!' Ruth put her small hand anxiously on his. 'I’m your wife.'" Maybe it's just me but the whole scene rings false. Any concern for his safety or his wife's is set aside for some peach pie and story time.
Throughout the story Ruth is overly anxious. Dick's male characters also seem to sweat frequently as they often have a handkerchief to their brow or neck. It's understandable that both Ed and Ruth would think that he had suffered some type of psychotic break, but from something as simple as being late to work one day? That is a very fragile man.
The ending of the story is what sealed my opinion that Dick has no concept of human nature, at least as far as women are concerned. In the middle of a fight about where Ed had disappeared to for the rest of the day a vacuum sales man shows up, summoned by the dog. Despite tensions in the home Ruth lets him in, like a doormat, and allows him to complete a demonstration. Then as though the fight is over and since Ruth can't hold a thought in her pretty little head Ed "gazed up, a look of gratitude on his face. 'Thanks,' he said softly. 'I think we’ll make it — after all. Thanks a lot.'" It is almost as if once the vacuum salesman leaves Ruth won't question where Ed was all afternoon.
His sense of pacing and proportion is off. That's the best I can do since one moment things are rushing about and the next there is pie. The diction really doesn't help with the constant repetition.
Women: Let's just forget that women seem to be sexual props in this story and that they happen to do most of the work. The only character you actually see working in a real world capacity is the secretary, all the men are a part of the adjustment team. This one line in the story pretty much changes the entire tone of the story as far as women are concerned: “Your wife knows.” The Old Man’s face twisted angrily. “A woman. Of all the things to tell –”. Women are apparently not even human, possibly not even sentient, but they are things, possessions. The level of contempt the Old Man shows for women is almost frightening considering that he is the god character in the story that orchestrates everything.
The Bureau seems to have a more complex hierarchy than the one portrayed in the movie. It was an interesting story. I can see how it provides fodder for screen writers. I can also see why the author did not make a lot of money during his lifetime. Unfortunately great ideas do not make a book or story worthy of reading.
His characters: During one of the most action filled sequences Dick slows down the pacing by describing Ed's (the protagonist) selection of a table in a diner, what he and his wife order, and only then does the author move back to the issue at hand, why Ed is upset and not at work. "'Please tell me,' Ruth begged him. 'You really want to know?' 'Of course I want to know!' Ruth put her small hand anxiously on his. 'I’m your wife.'" Maybe it's just me but the whole scene rings false. Any concern for his safety or his wife's is set aside for some peach pie and story time.
Throughout the story Ruth is overly anxious. Dick's male characters also seem to sweat frequently as they often have a handkerchief to their brow or neck. It's understandable that both Ed and Ruth would think that he had suffered some type of psychotic break, but from something as simple as being late to work one day? That is a very fragile man.
The ending of the story is what sealed my opinion that Dick has no concept of human nature, at least as far as women are concerned. In the middle of a fight about where Ed had disappeared to for the rest of the day a vacuum sales man shows up, summoned by the dog. Despite tensions in the home Ruth lets him in, like a doormat, and allows him to complete a demonstration. Then as though the fight is over and since Ruth can't hold a thought in her pretty little head Ed "gazed up, a look of gratitude on his face. 'Thanks,' he said softly. 'I think we’ll make it — after all. Thanks a lot.'" It is almost as if once the vacuum salesman leaves Ruth won't question where Ed was all afternoon.
His sense of pacing and proportion is off. That's the best I can do since one moment things are rushing about and the next there is pie. The diction really doesn't help with the constant repetition.
Women: Let's just forget that women seem to be sexual props in this story and that they happen to do most of the work. The only character you actually see working in a real world capacity is the secretary, all the men are a part of the adjustment team. This one line in the story pretty much changes the entire tone of the story as far as women are concerned: “Your wife knows.” The Old Man’s face twisted angrily. “A woman. Of all the things to tell –”. Women are apparently not even human, possibly not even sentient, but they are things, possessions. The level of contempt the Old Man shows for women is almost frightening considering that he is the god character in the story that orchestrates everything.
The Bureau seems to have a more complex hierarchy than the one portrayed in the movie. It was an interesting story. I can see how it provides fodder for screen writers. I can also see why the author did not make a lot of money during his lifetime. Unfortunately great ideas do not make a book or story worthy of reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2016
I really don't get why sci-fi writers would want to keep these stories short. With an idea this brilliant, a whole novel is desirable which would explore in details, the various angels from which the concept could be seen. 'Adjustment Team' questions the very concepts of Free will and Determinism, with out ever using those words - however a casual reader is likely to miss the whole point. Perhaps that is why so many of Dick's stories have been turned into movies.
The theme works better where the protagonist wants to be in control of his own life (the way he did in the movie)and he should struggle with the very question of presence of an adjustment team. In this case movie was definitely far better; taking the story to a higher level; exploring subject more properly (however I was disappointed on not being able to see the 'chairman').
The theme works better where the protagonist wants to be in control of his own life (the way he did in the movie)and he should struggle with the very question of presence of an adjustment team. In this case movie was definitely far better; taking the story to a higher level; exploring subject more properly (however I was disappointed on not being able to see the 'chairman').
April 6, 2018
So.. men are the superior gender? I wasn’t a fan of the film a few years ago, but think I enjoyed that more than this.
I mean, it was interesting, but the film actually asked a little bit more of the audience than this.
I mean, it was interesting, but the film actually asked a little bit more of the audience than this.
June 14, 2020
It is a short story with a lot of imagination for the time it was written.
June 28, 2022
Fast paced and entertaining! I wonder if the movie is any good?
September 16, 2021
Hace unos días vi la película de Destino oculto y me gustó, me pareció una idea muy interesante de ciencia ficción con una buena historia detrás, con romance incluido. Tenía los ingredientes de película espectacular, porque la historia podría haber sido tan potente como Matrix (aunque no por ello mejor), pero era muy entretenida, con una trama muy ágil y con intriga, entonces me di cuenta en los créditos que estaba basada en un relato de Philip K. Dick, así que no he podido evitar leerlo.
La película no es una adaptación como creía, está basada en la idea original, por lo que he podido disfrutar dos historias de una misma idea, la de que existe una "organización" de seres con apariencia humana (equipo de ajuste) que se camuflan entre la gente que se dedica a realizar ajustes en las personas, sin que se den cuenta, para guiarlas a un plan establecido con anterioridad. Intervienen para que nadie se salga del guion o directamente para cambiar algo en alguien para que haga lo planeado (me recordó en algo a los agentes Smith de Matrix, pero en los años 50).
En la película es imposible no verse reflejado si alguna vez has querido conseguir algo y no te ha salido por más que lo has intentado cuando creías tenerlo al alcance de la mano. Esas pequeñas cosas que te hacen perder un bus, una llamada, que se estropee algo en el momento menos oportuno aunque funcionara a la perfección unos minutos antes...
Me ha sorprendido del relato que es corto y contiene una historia gigante, da para mucho más, da para tanto que ha inspirado a esta película con la que se profundiza en el tema principal, no sé si el autor ha escrito más sobre este equipo de ajuste. No me extraña que sea un autor que haya inspirado a tantas películas.
La película no es una adaptación como creía, está basada en la idea original, por lo que he podido disfrutar dos historias de una misma idea, la de que existe una "organización" de seres con apariencia humana (equipo de ajuste) que se camuflan entre la gente que se dedica a realizar ajustes en las personas, sin que se den cuenta, para guiarlas a un plan establecido con anterioridad. Intervienen para que nadie se salga del guion o directamente para cambiar algo en alguien para que haga lo planeado (me recordó en algo a los agentes Smith de Matrix, pero en los años 50).
En la película es imposible no verse reflejado si alguna vez has querido conseguir algo y no te ha salido por más que lo has intentado cuando creías tenerlo al alcance de la mano. Esas pequeñas cosas que te hacen perder un bus, una llamada, que se estropee algo en el momento menos oportuno aunque funcionara a la perfección unos minutos antes...
Me ha sorprendido del relato que es corto y contiene una historia gigante, da para mucho más, da para tanto que ha inspirado a esta película con la que se profundiza en el tema principal, no sé si el autor ha escrito más sobre este equipo de ajuste. No me extraña que sea un autor que haya inspirado a tantas películas.
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January 7, 2019"Adjustment Team" hasn't received as much critical attention as other works by PKD, but it's an interesting read--particularly when considering gender roles and paranoia in the 1950s and the story's place as a precursor to works like The Matrix, Dark City, and Fringe.
For those familiar with the 2011 film adaption, be aware that very little of the content, characterization, and tone of the short story (which is much more sinister) was translated to film.
âpihtawikosisân (@apihtawikosisan) also has a very good thread on Twitter about the film adaptation and colonization (https://twitter.com/apihtawikosisan/s...). While that particular line and scene do not appear in the world building is such that her point would apply to both.
For those familiar with the 2011 film adaption, be aware that very little of the content, characterization, and tone of the short story (which is much more sinister) was translated to film.
âpihtawikosisân (@apihtawikosisan) also has a very good thread on Twitter about the film adaptation and colonization (https://twitter.com/apihtawikosisan/s...). While that particular line and scene do not appear in the world building is such that her point would apply to both.
January 29, 2022
In terms of a short story, it has a great climax. Dick really knew how to depict one losing his mind. I talked to a friend about this and she mentioned he had a really troubled mental life, so it all makes sense now. Good story.
October 23, 2022
short, realistic, and sweet. thinking about reality makes me have an existential crisis. so thank you Philip.
July 16, 2019
Gizemli bir hikaye. Kafamızı soru işaretleri ile dolduran, “acaba kader böyle mi yazılıyor?” dedirten sarsıcı bir kısa öykü. Filminden uzak durun derim. Filmle ilgili kısa cümlemi instagram sayfamda bulabilirsin 😒
April 27, 2011
I'd been meaning to start reading Philip K. Dick for a long time now, at least for the twenty-plus years since I realized that Blade Runner and Total Recall were based on books by the same guy. Two decades and probably three or four more Dick film adaptations later, including the excellent A Scanner Darkly, the decent Minority Report, and the mediocre The Adjustment Bureau, and I'm finally getting started.
This story, the basis for that last film, was rather disappointing. It just felt skeletal and underdeveloped, almost like a draft version where the author was spitballing ideas ("Hey, wouldn't it be cool/crazy if..."). And, don't get me wrong, it is a cool/crazy idea, but once he came up with the premise, the story itself couldn't have taken him much longer to write than it took me to read it. Combine the overly sparse narrative with the stilted dialogue and some very dated, 50s-feeling touches, and it came off more like a script for an episode of The Twilight Zone than a fully-realized work of speculative fiction.
Having said that, it was a fun half-hour read, and I am certainly not deterred from trying out more of Philip K. Dick's work.
This story, the basis for that last film, was rather disappointing. It just felt skeletal and underdeveloped, almost like a draft version where the author was spitballing ideas ("Hey, wouldn't it be cool/crazy if..."). And, don't get me wrong, it is a cool/crazy idea, but once he came up with the premise, the story itself couldn't have taken him much longer to write than it took me to read it. Combine the overly sparse narrative with the stilted dialogue and some very dated, 50s-feeling touches, and it came off more like a script for an episode of The Twilight Zone than a fully-realized work of speculative fiction.
Having said that, it was a fun half-hour read, and I am certainly not deterred from trying out more of Philip K. Dick's work.
November 4, 2018
Too short..
Even though the story is very brief, it is quite mind-bending.
The idea that hidden manipulators controlling our lives is the main focus of the story.
The lack of free will and the existence of a Plan for every person or a global master Plan is unbearably poignant and there are multiple ways of interpreting and develop upon that idea: fate, destiny, religion, true love?
Who was adjusting the adjustment team and the Old Man?
Also, the talking dog - really?!
Our methods may seem strange and indirect. Even incomprehensible. But I assure you we know what we're doing.
Even though the story is very brief, it is quite mind-bending.
The idea that hidden manipulators controlling our lives is the main focus of the story.
The lack of free will and the existence of a Plan for every person or a global master Plan is unbearably poignant and there are multiple ways of interpreting and develop upon that idea: fate, destiny, religion, true love?
Who was adjusting the adjustment team and the Old Man?
Also, the talking dog - really?!
Our methods may seem strange and indirect. Even incomprehensible. But I assure you we know what we're doing.
August 9, 2020
Yes, yes, YES! Everything I want and expect from a PKD story: seeing behind the curtain of reality, the bridge between insanity and sanity, the mind-altering realization that control is just another illusion, and that absolutely nothing is what it seems.
Yes, 'The Adjustment Team' is maybe more real than we care or dare to admit. Seeing behind the fabric of reality has that bitter aftertaste of feeling powerless and completely alone.
"When you're crazy you learn to keep quiet"
-PKD
Yes, 'The Adjustment Team' is maybe more real than we care or dare to admit. Seeing behind the fabric of reality has that bitter aftertaste of feeling powerless and completely alone.
"When you're crazy you learn to keep quiet"
-PKD
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