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withanhauser 's review for:
The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K. Dick
3.5 / 5.0
"The Man in the High Castle" is one of the less-weird PKD books that I've read; and, for that reason, it's a little easier to follow and somewhat more grounded (i.e., it feels more thought out). Still, I just never really felt invested in it--the book never really feels like it builds to much, and it lacks the desperate uncertainty and confusion of his weirder books ("Ubik," "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said"). The backstory and world in which the novel exists is definitely a draw; PKD does a great job at world-building, giving strange detail to the Nazi- and Japanese-ruled, 1960s world. And, its central plot features--e.g., the I Ching as determinative of events; the uncertainty of reality (did the Axis and Japanese really win WWII?); and the book-within-a-book presenting a second alternate history that's somewhere between that of the novel and that of the real world--are pretty neat. Overall, "The Man in the High Castle" read as both not-PKD enough (i.e., not weird enough) and too-PKD (i.e., too weird)--I wish it read more as either a weirder, more-confusing take on the conventional alternate-history novel, or, simply, as a more conventional alternate-history novel. As something somewhere in between, it's mostly enjoyable and somewhat memorable, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.
"The Man in the High Castle" is one of the less-weird PKD books that I've read; and, for that reason, it's a little easier to follow and somewhat more grounded (i.e., it feels more thought out). Still, I just never really felt invested in it--the book never really feels like it builds to much, and it lacks the desperate uncertainty and confusion of his weirder books ("Ubik," "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said"). The backstory and world in which the novel exists is definitely a draw; PKD does a great job at world-building, giving strange detail to the Nazi- and Japanese-ruled, 1960s world. And, its central plot features--e.g., the I Ching as determinative of events; the uncertainty of reality (did the Axis and Japanese really win WWII?); and the book-within-a-book presenting a second alternate history that's somewhere between that of the novel and that of the real world--are pretty neat. Overall, "The Man in the High Castle" read as both not-PKD enough (i.e., not weird enough) and too-PKD (i.e., too weird)--I wish it read more as either a weirder, more-confusing take on the conventional alternate-history novel, or, simply, as a more conventional alternate-history novel. As something somewhere in between, it's mostly enjoyable and somewhat memorable, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.