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A review by thewintersouljaboi
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
2.0
I'll start this review by saying that I went into this book having it been highly recommended to me by more than one person. I leave this book gravely disappointed. I consider DNF-ing nearly every time I picked it up, but I kept reading under the impression that at some point it would pick up. It rarely ever did for me and I spent most of this novel bored as a babysitting teen on a Disney channel sitcom filing her nails while she ignores the fighting kids.
Where do my problems arise with this novel? Where to even begin?
I'm kidding, of course, it's the world building, 100%. I understand that this novel was written and published in 1962, so it was originally published for an audience much more familiar with WWII and the horrifying intricacies of the Hitler and Hirohito regimes. However, even with that assumption, it still feels like a large assumption of previous knowledge by the author projected onto the reader. Unless I missed something major, a lot of the acronyms describing positions along with an explanation of how the powers were split in a post war government both on the Japanese and German side were completely glossed over by Dick. It often felt to me that when we dealt with the people in power here, Dick just made up a new generic Japanese or German name with a title or acronym in front of it or picked a relevant historical name and threw it in with no context. Then, even with the fictionalized names, the scene would play out with the character whose point of view we're experiencing feeling threatened with very little justification from the prose of why other than "he's a powerful nazi/japanese imperial officer." Rarely in this novel does a situation that seems dire actually have any immediate consequences on the characters in the narrative. Even the looming anxiety of Frank's persecution for existing as a Jew goes completely unresolved as he gets released from custody almost immediately. I really left this book feeling like nothing happened over the course of the 270 something pages with the exception of Hitler and a few Nazi spies dying.
The only part of this book I found mildly compelling was Juliana's narrative. Which, was still ultimately disappointing. Juliana, the only female POV we receive in the entire novel, has very few character traits and those we do see both blatantly presented to us and expressed through her actions have a tendency to infantilize her and make her seem incredibly naïve for a woman of her age and experience. She is the only named female character in more than a couple of scenes and the only woman given any sense of agency, and yet, she still seems so trapped in her circumstances and bound to always require a man to justify her existence. I feel this reflects less on Juliana's character and more on Dick's inability to comprehend women can have value and understanding beyond finding a man. Juliana was living on her own as a judo instructor for Christ's sake, you really don't think that she could have found inner peace without male validation? Maybe I'm missing something grander as to the point of her character here, but I just found her entire character arc and narrative disappointing. Especially because she simply decides after all she experiences that the answer to all her problems is to return to her ex husband. As if she ever actually needed Frank.
The other women (I can name maybe 2 and then I'm aware that a few more unnamed women speak at some points) seemed to exist solely for set dressing.
Why do people like this book? I was told it would be terrifying, dystopian, and thought provoking, but none of that was delivered on in the slightest.
I'm giving this book two stars because, well, at least Juliana's narrative kind of kept me mildly entertained some of the time. The oracle predictions were also kind of cool.
Philip K. Dick, you have disappointed me beyond my wildest sheep-less dreams, electric or otherwise.
Where do my problems arise with this novel? Where to even begin?
I'm kidding, of course, it's the world building, 100%. I understand that this novel was written and published in 1962, so it was originally published for an audience much more familiar with WWII and the horrifying intricacies of the Hitler and Hirohito regimes. However, even with that assumption, it still feels like a large assumption of previous knowledge by the author projected onto the reader. Unless I missed something major, a lot of the acronyms describing positions along with an explanation of how the powers were split in a post war government both on the Japanese and German side were completely glossed over by Dick. It often felt to me that when we dealt with the people in power here, Dick just made up a new generic Japanese or German name with a title or acronym in front of it or picked a relevant historical name and threw it in with no context. Then, even with the fictionalized names, the scene would play out with the character whose point of view we're experiencing feeling threatened with very little justification from the prose of why other than "he's a powerful nazi/japanese imperial officer." Rarely in this novel does a situation that seems dire actually have any immediate consequences on the characters in the narrative. Even the looming anxiety of Frank's persecution for existing as a Jew goes completely unresolved as he gets released from custody almost immediately. I really left this book feeling like nothing happened over the course of the 270 something pages with the exception of Hitler and a few Nazi spies dying.
The only part of this book I found mildly compelling was Juliana's narrative. Which, was still ultimately disappointing. Juliana, the only female POV we receive in the entire novel, has very few character traits and those we do see both blatantly presented to us and expressed through her actions have a tendency to infantilize her and make her seem incredibly naïve for a woman of her age and experience. She is the only named female character in more than a couple of scenes and the only woman given any sense of agency, and yet, she still seems so trapped in her circumstances and bound to always require a man to justify her existence. I feel this reflects less on Juliana's character and more on Dick's inability to comprehend women can have value and understanding beyond finding a man. Juliana was living on her own as a judo instructor for Christ's sake, you really don't think that she could have found inner peace without male validation? Maybe I'm missing something grander as to the point of her character here, but I just found her entire character arc and narrative disappointing. Especially because she simply decides after all she experiences that the answer to all her problems is to return to her ex husband. As if she ever actually needed Frank.
The other women (I can name maybe 2 and then I'm aware that a few more unnamed women speak at some points) seemed to exist solely for set dressing.
Why do people like this book? I was told it would be terrifying, dystopian, and thought provoking, but none of that was delivered on in the slightest.
I'm giving this book two stars because, well, at least Juliana's narrative kind of kept me mildly entertained some of the time. The oracle predictions were also kind of cool.
Philip K. Dick, you have disappointed me beyond my wildest sheep-less dreams, electric or otherwise.