The Man in the High Castle Book

3 1/2 stars
Scientifically and politically, this is absolute genius. The way Philip K. Dick masterfully rewrites history and portrays this alternate United States is quite incredible and I can easily see why the guy has such a huge following. That being said, while this novel is undeniably clever, I think what it lacks is a human touch. I found it hard to care about any of the mishmash of characters, which for me means that I ultimately found it hard to care about the direction of the story and its outcome.

What this novel does best of all is remind people how close the Nazis came to winning the Second World War. The author changes events during the war only slightly, but it makes a huge difference in the long run. Generally, people who aren't historians probably don't tend to think about the reality of this situation which - for most people alive today - seems of a completely different world and time. The Second World War seems somewhat unreal, a story told in textbooks and retold in movies about how the bad guys started killing people and naturally the good guys swooped in and put an end to it all. As if it was all that simple. In reality, Hitler came scarily close to victory and it's only through reading this book that I came to realise just how extensive German occupation was during the war.

The Man in the High Castle presents a very convincing alternate history where Hitler and the Nazis, fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan had been the victors instead. The world-building is rich and Philip K. Dick doesn't neglect the little details in his fictional society. I especially like the way we get a glimpse of how this takeover has affected the rest of the world, not just the United States. We learn about the situation across multiple continents and how the Nazi beliefs have spread. He even goes so far as to tell a story within a story, as he imagines an author in this world speculating on what life would have been like if the Nazis hadn't won. The writer guesses some things correctly and others less so; this latter is especially interesting.

My rather middling rating reflects the fact that this is a slow and technical novel. It is not a particularly emotionally-engaging novel. Dick focuses on the politics and technicalities of the world, never developing much of a connection between the reader and any of the large cast of characters. My brain was impressed, and I'm glad I read it, but my heart wasn't really feeling it.

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