Dice Days (The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart)

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
Date:	30/01/02 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Original and interesting storyline, Shockingly funny, Luke Rheinhart does things that the rest of us have only ever dreamed of

Disadvantages: Slow and a little dull in places, Stretches things out a little too much

The dice sits in front of me. Gleeming in the light, eager to get on with it….

Option 1 - I will write an opinion on Martina Cole’s “Two Woman”

Option 2 - I will write an opinion on “Purple America” by Rick Moody

Option 3 - I will write an opinion on “The Dice Man” by Luke Rheinhart

Option 4 - I will write an opinion on “Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone” by J K Rowling

Option 5 - I will write an opinion on “Forty Words for Sorrow” by Giles Blunt

Option 6 - I will write an opinion on “Turbulent Priests” by Colin Bateman

I am shaking the dice in my hand. Although I have to admit my hand is rather clammy with the anticipation of finding out which book I get to review today. After all, time is precious and I don’t get to write many reviews on dooyoo any more.

I’m eager to find out the topic of my writing and so release the decision makers from my hand.

The dice rolls and a 3 leaps out. Luke Rheinhart’s “The Dice Man” it is.

Above is a simple example, but the premise is the same, the direction of my life was dictated by the rolling of the dice. All of a sudden life becomes a game of chance. You have no say in what happens to you, everything rests in the hands of a small shiny cube with dots painted on.

“The Dice Man” by Luke Rheinhart is both an autobiography and a cult best seller. It details the life of the original Dice Man. It even claims to be written in the style that the dice chose at the time, chopping and changing as it goes depending on the outcome of each roll.

“Luke Rheinhart” has been described by some as the “novelist of the century” and I had heard so many good comments about this book I am surprised it took me so long to read it myself. Luke Rheinhart has now written a number of other books
, including two more on the same subject of living by the dice.

The book follows Luke and his discovery of the dice, his initial experimentations and the eventual extreme outcomes.

At first it all starts out so simple, it all seems like a “bit of a game”. He has been bored with life and all it has to offer. He is stuck in a routine job as a psychologist, with a wife and two children, it all seems to unexciting and ordinary. So, the dice offers the opportunity change the rules, to alter the rules that tell you not to cheat on your wife, that you should bring your children up good and proper and that you should follow the routine and order that society dictates. Following the decisions of the dice Luke finds himself entering a new world full of risks, discovery and freedom. It all sounds exciting. However, with this new dice world comes many problems, including:-

*Living a life dictated by chance means that behaviour can be irrational and that people looking on start to view you differently. Partners may think that you are up to something and people at work will start to think you are completely mad.

*You will start to do things that you would never have previously considered. You may start to have affairs with your friends partners, commit crimes, take part in sexually deviant acts, say things that are outrageous and totally out of place. These will all cause great embarrassment (usually to those around you and not yourself, because after all, you are totally caught up in the whole world of the dice) and consequences.

*You could find yourself losing all those closest to you.

*You may even end up in jail, or even worse, locked up in a psychiatric unit.

These are just a few of the potentially disastrous things that could happen as a result of living by the dice. However, it has to be said, there are a few good things that may happen too:

*You may find that you get to do things tha
t you have always wanted to, but never dared. This can be exciting and challenging.

*You may embark on new exciting relationships

*You could discover all these sides to you that you were never aware existed.

*It means you never have to worry about a hard decision again, it is all in the hands of the dice, so what is the point in worrying?

“The Dice Man” is a thinker’s book. It tells of a life that very few of us ever experience. It made me think very hard of all the possibilities that it offered. It offers an extreme approach to life and one which most of us will find interesting. I have to admit after reading the whole book I was not tempted to become a “Dice person”.

The book offers a shocking, yet amusing look at how someone’s life can change from following the decisions of the dice. The whole book is shocking from start to finish and not for the light hearted. Luke Rheinhart doesn’t pull any punches, he tells things how they are. If he wants to go out and have sex with someone he does so and tells you all about it. Although not quite as bad as “American Psycho” in terms of graphic descriptions, I would describe it as somewhat similar in style.

It starts off as an experiment, yet soon Luke becomes hooked on the dice, it becomes his religion, his god and it is then that he starts to get those around him into dice. As a psychologist he deals with a lot of confused and vulnerable people and these provide the ultimate participants in his experiment. Others, his children, lover, friends and wife gradually get involved. In time he was responsible for the creation of “Dice Centres” which caused even more controversy.

“The Dice Man” is scandalous and controversial and funny to the core because of all the situations the dice take people too. It is also a must read. I am not going to say it was the easiest book to read. There were
a couple of times when I admit I was a little bored, it seemed to go on a bit to prove the same point. However, I am sure Mr Rheinhart would claim this was the choosing of the book. What kept me reading was the fact it was different from anything I had read before and that I wanted to see how it ended. For all of you interested, it doesn’t end here. “The Search for the Dice Man” is a sequel which follows the story of Luke Rheinhart’s son, who doesn’t follow the dice and who goes in search of his father after he disappears.

Oh………The dice are once again beckoning to me, I am thinking of options, what does my future hold???

Option 1 - I will continue to write more on “The Dice Man”

Option 2 - I will go and make myself a cup of tea

Option 3 - I shall go and phone a friend

Option 4 - I will go to bed

Option 5 - I will write one more review before I go to bed

Option 6 - I will brave the cold and go to the pub for a G & T

They are off again, “Yipppppeeee”, I am off to make a cup of tea, and then, well it’s all up to the dice!

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