Customer Reviews
Interesting concept, badly executed... - By: Mr. Phillip J. Darley, 23 Dec 2008 
The overall concept is great but this book is ultimately very disappointing. I managed to read about 220 pages then gave up. A lot of the writing is just plain dull with absolutely nothing to say. The numerous /pointless sex scenes are ridiculous & would not be out of place from a mills & boon novel. If you enjoy reading M+B then you probably will enjoy this, if you're expecting something a bit more sophisticated (as promised) then give it a miss...
You Gotta Roll With It! - By: Drew Man, 24 Nov 2008 
To be honest, Budge Burgess has written the perfect review below, so I am simply adding my 5 stars here because I think The Diceman is one of the most original & brilliantly zany books that I've ever read. It's sequel, the search for the diceman, is very enjoyable too, though not quite as dark & off the wall as this one.
RUBBISH!!!!! - By: Charlotte Lou, 26 Sep 2008 Well this book provided me with a first - it is the first book (as an adult) I have started reading & not finished. Usually, no matter how dull a book gets, I plough on to the endin hope of a revival 3/4 of the way through, but of The Dice Man, 140 pages were all I could bear before it was thrownin a charity shop bag.
On reading the back of the book I had high hopes - the concept sounded fantastic, really interesting & fun - I thought I'd found a real page-turner.
But no - how wrong I was. I am astounded at what a let-down this turned out to be.
I have got a degreein psychology & therefore I can't blame my dislike of The Dice Man on 'not getting it' (not that you need a degreein psychology to understand the concept of the book). Equally, I think I have a pretty good sense of humour & I would be reluctant to say 'I missed the humour of it'. In short, I just thought it was absolutely rubbish!
Without going into too much detail (I've wasted enough time on this book already!!) I found the thoughts, actions & justifications of Luke Rhinehart utterly ridiculous - so much so I rolled my eyes & cringed on reading some of it. We weren't really introduced to the concept of the dice-led decisionsin great detail & it seems like it was just a convenient way of justifying & writing sexual fantasies. Actually, the book constantly goes on & on about sex (don't be fooled - this did not make it interesting - it was not good, passionate sex!).
I think the thing that put me off the most was the way it actually trivialised some extremely dispicable behaviours & almost made light of some extremely sensitive subjects.
I found it just ...... rubbish. An utter waste of time.
The dice told me to give this book five stars, so i did! - By: lady of leisure, 25 Sep 2008 This book is a hilariously inspiring story (although many were convinced that this book was fact!)detailing the antics of the doctor Luke Rhinehart. Fed up with his humdrum comfortable career as a relativley well known psychiatrist, Luke invents the ultimate game to break down all barriers & rules that confine humans into that realm of 'normality', & seeks tp explore the limits of the human personality & how it can be distorted, destroyed or manipulated to create any character or feeling. This obviously leads to some interesting escapdes, the decision to let several mental patients escape, & his extreme sexual exploits amongst other things transform him into the notorious leader of the religion of die. A must read, & very inspiring, it questions who controls us, & shows that we are ultimatley the masters of our own destiny & choices.
A reflection of the 1970's but not a classic - By: Talc Demon, 03 Sep 2008 
The Dice Man is one of those books you might read to understand the countercultural movements of the 1970's. That's not to say that this book is flawless, however it does appear to have a particular mentality rooted at that time, chimingin with the anti-psychiatry movement as well as the whole Eastern Zen-Buddhist thing.
Anyway, back to the book itself: It certainly provokes thought about the imprisonment of individuals within their particular roles & responsibilities, & by society's expectation. The general premise to me appears to be that of achieving liberty by an enslavement to the whim of chance, orin this case, the die.
What happens? well, Luke Rheinhart discovers dice as a way of making his decisions, & indeed making his life more interesting, is what happens.
Whilst this is all good fun initially, & certainly grabbed the imagination, I think the idea somehow outstayed its welcome. What I mean to say (as my main criticism), is that there was only so far this could go, & Rheinhart quickly becomes distastefully self-consciousin his attempt to achieve a guru-like aura. Excerpts from "the book of the die", of course are tongue-in-cheek parodies of the Old Testament, but this wearies very soon & becomes simply boring.
Whilst the good points (and there are many) certainly outweigh the bad, & I would recommend this to others, there would be absolutely no pointin reading this book twice & I would question the attention & praise this book has received.
