REVIEW: The Man in the High Castle (Philip K Dick)
Book: The Man in the High CastleAuthor: Philip K Dick
My rating: 3.5/5.
Premise: A horrifying glimpse of an alternative world - one where the Allie has lost the Second World War. The Nazis have taken New York, the Japanese control California and the African continent is virtually wiped out. In a neutral buffer zone in America lives the author of an underground bestseller. His book offers a new vision of reality, giving hope to the disenchanted. Can other, better worlds really exist?
[⚠️CW: oppression, Nazis]
I really enjoyed this book. I knew the basic idea from what I'd heard about the Amazon series, but from what my brother tells me of the show, the book is very different. The plot follows a handful of individuals from different backgrounds (e.g. a Jewish man; a successful Japanese businessman; a woman in the neutral zone) and how they live their lives. They all have access to a book which essentially describes what happened in reality (i.e. the Nazis losing). The ending left me feeling a tad flat, but I think that was due to the book not being plot driven, more just following various people and describing life in this dystopian world. But a good book - one you can probably read having seen the TV series!