Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

20 reviews

augie_'s review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, War

s1dst1tch's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Despite reading the foreword and being warned in advance of the sloghtly stilted manner in which Dick writes the POV of the Asian characters, and characters living in the Japanese controlled part of the US, I initially found it kinda jarring, but then questioned why I found it jarring, given that my own thought pattern often reads the same way.

I also initially thought Childan and Frink were the same person for some reason, no idea why, I think it was to do with Frank mentioning having changed his name...I soon realised my mistake.

This book is still very relevant and poignant 60+ years on. Everyone assumes that life under Nazi fascism would look like the inside of Auschwitz, but everywhere that fell under their rule, but really, day to day life seems quite mundane for these characters, and arguably safer than it is for certain marginalised groups than in Trump's America right now.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Antisemitism

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, War, Deportation

amsswim's review against another edition

3.75

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really like this but I think I will need to sit with it for a while. As usual, the author creates a world and story that feels incredibly real and is deeply thought provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Gun violence

kcmalik's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Colonisation, War, Classism

makalakm's review against another edition

0.25

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I’m angry that I actually read this entire book. I wanted to read a book about what the world would look like if the Axis powers won the war. Instead, I read a book where everyone wonders what it would’ve been like if the Allied powers had won the war. 

There is no climax, no explanation, no character arcs, and no one to root for or against. But there are 8 consecutive pages wherein a man ponders the significance of a piece of jewelry. 

This is not dystopian fiction. It’s literary fiction. 

The author has a general disregard for pronouns, to be verbs, and articles. I found the grammatical style to be difficult and pretentious.

My least favorite line in the book (apart from all the racial slurs): “He glanced at the girl beside him. God, they read a book, he thought, and they spout on forever.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Colonisation, War, Classism

josiee's review against another edition

4.0

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

annatoggi's review against another edition

4.25

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Antisemitism, War

Moderate: Death, Violence

riverofhorton's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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So much of this book was enjoyable to read, which allowed for such a degree of immersion that I managed to get through it much faster than I normally would a book of this length. That said, the ending was very disappointing. Not only did it seem rushed, like the author realised they had a deadline in a few days and so had to wrap everything up as quickly as possible, but the actual ending itself seemed half-baked and incomplete. For most of the book, I understood why it was so popular, then I got to the end and didn't get it anymore. There were so many good ideas within this book, and I will be looking further into the alternative history genre, but this overall isn't a book I would recommend. There were a few things I expected, like all the racism and especially anti-Semitism, some things I could overlook like the writing being disjointed and confusion at times, but when combined with the non-ending, it adds up to being too much for me to overlook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

jonwood's review against another edition

2.5

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I ultimately found this book to be dull and am not sure what the big fuss is about the book, other than maybe it was the first major publication to discuss this premise? First rarely means best, and I found the book to kind of meander around. Maybe that's because it's focus is on normal people and not powerful figureheads, but I was bored the whole time and was waiting for the book to end. I also found it hard to imagine the Japanese and Nazi's just sharing the planet, I felt like there would be more of an effort to wipe each other out, but maybe the point was just to be a similar cold war as in reality.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder

alexalily's review against another edition

3.0

challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Classism

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Antisemitism

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail