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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I loved Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, so I was excited to read another Philip K. Dick novel. It was good, but in my opinion, not as strong as the other one I've read. I enjoyed his characters and watching how they dealt with their free will and obsession with the future, fitting themes for an alternative history story. It also dragged in some areas, which I did not expect in a book with Nazis.
This book was pretty hard to get through, I found it very slow and a little boring, it kind of picked up in the end, but it just wasn't for me.
The concept was amazing so I had pretty high hopes, the ending was a interesting, but a little more philosophical than I was anticipating
The concept was amazing so I had pretty high hopes, the ending was a interesting, but a little more philosophical than I was anticipating
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed the premise of the book and the storylines it had but I came away feeling very underwhelmed? And I think that was largely because it felt like too much was being tackled in one book. I think this should’ve been a trilogy that had everything happening simultaneously. I think every storyline in this book deserved more time and exploration.
I went in with little expectations. I only knew that the book is about some alternate history, so I expected some sci-fi/alt history thriller. What I got felt like a weird mix of absurdism, surrealism and Kafka laughing from his grave. Weird, but great.
I tried. The racism and sexism took me out of the slow-boil plot.
mysterious
slow-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:
No
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's 2.5 at best. One of the best concepts I've ever read with such utterly disappointing results. Dick was one of the kings of the short form, but his novels... The world building is fantastic, but there's nothing beyond that to grasp onto. The characters aren't compelling and there's no real drive or focus to the story. It's all backdrop for really nothing. Such a great concept that just withers into nothing.
Although The Man in the High Castle was written 50 years ago, it still feels alarmingly modern. I'm sure I missed some nuances that Dick was trying to communicate, since US culture has changed, but the ideas about empire, authenticity and created reality are still worth ruminating on.
In this alternate history, Germany and Japan won WWII and the USA has been divided up into the eastern, German-controlled region, the midwestern Rockies neutral zone, and the Japan-controlled west coast. We pretty much spend our time on the West Coast and some in the neutral zone. I think Dick's extrapolations about what the Nazis would do once they became a global power were too dark for him to write about. As it is, Africa is a deserted wasteland after its people were exterminated in service of making room for the master race to thoroughly plunder its resources.
Dick seems to have an odd love-hate relationship with the Japanese culture. On the one hand, he seems to think the Japanese are more humane than the Germans( this idea is not borne out by what the Japanese did to people in captured territory in WWII) and also more subtle and cultured. This edges very close to the stereotype of the wise and mysterious Asian, especially since Dick has his characters speak and think in a pseudo-Japanese patois language structure.
Dick is trying to say something in this book about extrinsic vs. intrinsic value. Do we think that a watch is precious for its craftmanship, or value it more because it was carried by a famous historic figure like Churchill? Deception is a big theme in the book, as many of the main characters do not always use their real names. The manufacture of fake Americana like Civil War pistols is a big industry, since the Japanese stationed in America have made collecting pieces of the American past fashionable.
The Man in the High Castle is the author of a book titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. This book is itself an alternate history, an imagining of what would have happened if the Allies had won the war. It was created by the author throwing the I Ching, an oracle used by many characters. It's worth noting that the book is inaccurate to our own world. Is Dick trying to say something about pre-destination vs. free will with this inaccuracy? I'm not smart enough to know. Anyway, the Man is in danger from the Nazis, who have declared possession of his book a treasonous and capital offense. He hides in his High Castle, avoiding any contact with the outside world.
Juliana, the lone female character in the book of any importance, ends up on a pilgramage to meet the Man. She is given his book by a truck driver that she runs across and the book ends up being incredibly meaningful to her because of its message of hope- if not in this world, than in another. Julia is a strange character- almost a living plot device. She doesn't seem to have a lot of conscious volition of her own, but ends up being the author of some extremely important actions. She's sort of a force of nature, a blind fury. It was awkward to root for her because Dick himself didn't seem to think much of her as a person, but yet she possessed a keenness of vision that every other character lacked.
This book is disturbing, kind of like a nightmare in which you have this feeling of dread while dreaming about prosaic things. There's an air of ominousness to it. It's extremely well-written and does an amazing job of piecing together an alternate world through the eyes of the various characters. Lavie Tidhar's "Osama" evokes much of the same sort of nightmarish feeling and revisits some of the same themes. If you can stand another book with this feel, I recommend it. To be clear, these are both extremely good books, but although I am glad I read it, the reading process was uncomfortable.
In this alternate history, Germany and Japan won WWII and the USA has been divided up into the eastern, German-controlled region, the midwestern Rockies neutral zone, and the Japan-controlled west coast. We pretty much spend our time on the West Coast and some in the neutral zone. I think Dick's extrapolations about what the Nazis would do once they became a global power were too dark for him to write about. As it is, Africa is a deserted wasteland after its people were exterminated in service of making room for the master race to thoroughly plunder its resources.
Dick seems to have an odd love-hate relationship with the Japanese culture. On the one hand, he seems to think the Japanese are more humane than the Germans( this idea is not borne out by what the Japanese did to people in captured territory in WWII) and also more subtle and cultured. This edges very close to the stereotype of the wise and mysterious Asian, especially since Dick has his characters speak and think in a pseudo-Japanese patois language structure.
Dick is trying to say something in this book about extrinsic vs. intrinsic value. Do we think that a watch is precious for its craftmanship, or value it more because it was carried by a famous historic figure like Churchill? Deception is a big theme in the book, as many of the main characters do not always use their real names. The manufacture of fake Americana like Civil War pistols is a big industry, since the Japanese stationed in America have made collecting pieces of the American past fashionable.
The Man in the High Castle is the author of a book titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. This book is itself an alternate history, an imagining of what would have happened if the Allies had won the war. It was created by the author throwing the I Ching, an oracle used by many characters. It's worth noting that the book is inaccurate to our own world. Is Dick trying to say something about pre-destination vs. free will with this inaccuracy? I'm not smart enough to know. Anyway, the Man is in danger from the Nazis, who have declared possession of his book a treasonous and capital offense. He hides in his High Castle, avoiding any contact with the outside world.
Juliana, the lone female character in the book of any importance, ends up on a pilgramage to meet the Man. She is given his book by a truck driver that she runs across and the book ends up being incredibly meaningful to her because of its message of hope- if not in this world, than in another. Julia is a strange character- almost a living plot device. She doesn't seem to have a lot of conscious volition of her own, but ends up being the author of some extremely important actions. She's sort of a force of nature, a blind fury. It was awkward to root for her because Dick himself didn't seem to think much of her as a person, but yet she possessed a keenness of vision that every other character lacked.
This book is disturbing, kind of like a nightmare in which you have this feeling of dread while dreaming about prosaic things. There's an air of ominousness to it. It's extremely well-written and does an amazing job of piecing together an alternate world through the eyes of the various characters. Lavie Tidhar's "Osama" evokes much of the same sort of nightmarish feeling and revisits some of the same themes. If you can stand another book with this feel, I recommend it. To be clear, these are both extremely good books, but although I am glad I read it, the reading process was uncomfortable.