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A review by jaygabler
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First of all, it's nothing short of miraculous that a book written by a white guy about an alternate reality in which whites become a subservient and fetishized race holds up so well 60 years later.
With his customarily incisive vision, Dick saw the essential paranoia and futility underlying a society built on militarized bureaucracy and racial divisions — and dropped into broad strokes at the end of this book to make very plain that he was critiquing the existing postwar society, not a hypothetical alternate one.
One of the great virtuoso works of alternate history in all of science fiction, but still a challenging read (and listen, with the problematic Japanese-accented English rendered even queasier in audiobook form). "Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find."
With his customarily incisive vision, Dick saw the essential paranoia and futility underlying a society built on militarized bureaucracy and racial divisions — and dropped into broad strokes at the end of this book to make very plain that he was critiquing the existing postwar society, not a hypothetical alternate one.
One of the great virtuoso works of alternate history in all of science fiction, but still a challenging read (and listen, with the problematic Japanese-accented English rendered even queasier in audiobook form). "Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Racism