Scan barcode
A review by alexiacambaling
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
4.0
Content warning/s: Mentions of slavery (non-explicit), graphic violence against races and ethnicities, slurs
I started getting interested in SF more and well, I decided to take a look at the really weird sci-fi published in the middle of the 20th century. Since you can’t talk about weird sci-fi without Philip K. Dick, I decided to try out his books. However, he was an extremely prolific author who wrote like more than forty books and more than a hundred short stories so figuring where to start can be daunting.
After a few false starts with other books where I decided to look at something more “beginner-friendly” first, I settled on The Man in the High Castle. I haven’t watched the show but I do have a basic idea on what it’s about so I wouldn’t get lost. Now, from those few false starts, I already kind of knew his books were going to be weird. However, I’m inclined to believe this might be one of the least weird ones.
I have often heard that PKD was an author who relied more on ‘ideas’ and yeah, it shows- not that it was a bad thing. I think that from what I’ve heard of classic SF, it’s much more common for plots to be focused on the ideas rather than the story or the characters. That was certainly the case for The Man in the High Castle and it was more interesting when you focus your attention on the ideas that the author was trying to explore.
In trying to explain the plot of The Man in the High Castle, the best way to describe it is probably that the book doesn’t really have a plot. By that, I mean that there wasn’t like a central conflict which brings the characters together. Things happen to the characters and all of them try to live their lives in an occupied USA, but there isn’t really a central plot. The basic premise is that the Axis won the war and the United States is split into three- the West Coast went to the Japanese, the East Coast to the Nazis, and a neutral buffer state in the center.
Alternate histories exploring timelines where the Nazis won aren’t really uncommon, but I’m thinking that books which are very meta and have a book within a book are. That’s right- in this book, there is a book within a book called “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy” which explores a parallel timeline in which the United States won the war. This book doesn’t actually explore our timeline. Rather, it’s another alternative timeline. It’s also an underground sensation banned by the Nazis and one of the POV Characters’ storyline basically involves meeting the book’s author, the titular Man in the High Castle.
The writing is pretty utilitarian and is far more concerned with exploring the ideas presented and how the United States might look like in this other timeline, than in flowery prose or going deep into the mind of the characters and their motivations. That isn’t to say that characters are ignored altogether. In fact, there’s a cast of POV characters here, most of whom actually inter-connect with one another in various ways even as their paths either don’t intersect or don’t often do so. All of them are also quite unique and distinctive so none of them feel same-y. Their voices were pretty strong and distinct which I liked.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t put this out there: there are mentions of slavery being re-instated and graphic descriptions of what the Nazis did to Africans and Jewish people that occur off the page. This might be triggering to some people so if you think you might not be able to handle that, it’s okay. A lot of bad things that happen were done off page and are simply being discussed by the characters, sometimes with disgust, sometimes with a sort of matter-of-factness to it. It really does portray how brutal and evil the Nazis could be and how genocidal they were.
This is not a book about a revolution in a tyrannical society, it’s quieter than that. This is a book about people living their lives under occupation. From the clips I’ve seen of the show’s trailers and other things I’ve heard about the show itself, that was probably a departure. This really wasn’t about people rising up against an oppressive regime. Apparently, there were plans for a sequel, but the author died.
That being said, I did overall enjoy The Man in the High Castle. It’s an interesting look at an alternative timeline with a meta twist. Honestly, the meta thing was really done well in my opinion and it incorporates an element that you see throughout the book: the character’s use of the I Ching, or the Book of Changes. For a book that doesn’t really have a central overarching conflict, I really enjoyed it.
I started getting interested in SF more and well, I decided to take a look at the really weird sci-fi published in the middle of the 20th century. Since you can’t talk about weird sci-fi without Philip K. Dick, I decided to try out his books. However, he was an extremely prolific author who wrote like more than forty books and more than a hundred short stories so figuring where to start can be daunting.
After a few false starts with other books where I decided to look at something more “beginner-friendly” first, I settled on The Man in the High Castle. I haven’t watched the show but I do have a basic idea on what it’s about so I wouldn’t get lost. Now, from those few false starts, I already kind of knew his books were going to be weird. However, I’m inclined to believe this might be one of the least weird ones.
I have often heard that PKD was an author who relied more on ‘ideas’ and yeah, it shows- not that it was a bad thing. I think that from what I’ve heard of classic SF, it’s much more common for plots to be focused on the ideas rather than the story or the characters. That was certainly the case for The Man in the High Castle and it was more interesting when you focus your attention on the ideas that the author was trying to explore.
In trying to explain the plot of The Man in the High Castle, the best way to describe it is probably that the book doesn’t really have a plot. By that, I mean that there wasn’t like a central conflict which brings the characters together. Things happen to the characters and all of them try to live their lives in an occupied USA, but there isn’t really a central plot. The basic premise is that the Axis won the war and the United States is split into three- the West Coast went to the Japanese, the East Coast to the Nazis, and a neutral buffer state in the center.
Alternate histories exploring timelines where the Nazis won aren’t really uncommon, but I’m thinking that books which are very meta and have a book within a book are. That’s right- in this book, there is a book within a book called “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy” which explores a parallel timeline in which the United States won the war. This book doesn’t actually explore our timeline. Rather, it’s another alternative timeline. It’s also an underground sensation banned by the Nazis and one of the POV Characters’ storyline basically involves meeting the book’s author, the titular Man in the High Castle.
The writing is pretty utilitarian and is far more concerned with exploring the ideas presented and how the United States might look like in this other timeline, than in flowery prose or going deep into the mind of the characters and their motivations. That isn’t to say that characters are ignored altogether. In fact, there’s a cast of POV characters here, most of whom actually inter-connect with one another in various ways even as their paths either don’t intersect or don’t often do so. All of them are also quite unique and distinctive so none of them feel same-y. Their voices were pretty strong and distinct which I liked.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t put this out there: there are mentions of slavery being re-instated and graphic descriptions of what the Nazis did to Africans and Jewish people that occur off the page. This might be triggering to some people so if you think you might not be able to handle that, it’s okay. A lot of bad things that happen were done off page and are simply being discussed by the characters, sometimes with disgust, sometimes with a sort of matter-of-factness to it. It really does portray how brutal and evil the Nazis could be and how genocidal they were.
This is not a book about a revolution in a tyrannical society, it’s quieter than that. This is a book about people living their lives under occupation. From the clips I’ve seen of the show’s trailers and other things I’ve heard about the show itself, that was probably a departure. This really wasn’t about people rising up against an oppressive regime. Apparently, there were plans for a sequel, but the author died.
That being said, I did overall enjoy The Man in the High Castle. It’s an interesting look at an alternative timeline with a meta twist. Honestly, the meta thing was really done well in my opinion and it incorporates an element that you see throughout the book: the character’s use of the I Ching, or the Book of Changes. For a book that doesn’t really have a central overarching conflict, I really enjoyed it.