Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

13 reviews

hdfrizelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A very interesting window in a possible future that could have occurred. Some major leaps in logic and a lack of proper exploration of the effect of this future upon other countries aside from the USA, instead of some passing remarks. I appreciate that this is less of a well rounded epic and more of a slice of like story with one higher-stakes story being told within that slice of life, all centring around a book-within-a-book that adds a nice throughline to each story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Cursing and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content

makalakm's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

I’m angry that I actually read this entire book. I wanted to read a book about what the world would look like if the Axis powers won the war. Instead, I read a book where everyone wonders what it would’ve been like if the Allied powers had won the war. 

There is no climax, no explanation, no character arcs, and no one to root for or against. But there are 8 consecutive pages wherein a man ponders the significance of a piece of jewelry. 

This is not dystopian fiction. It’s literary fiction. 

The author has a general disregard for pronouns, to be verbs, and articles. I found the grammatical style to be difficult and pretentious.

My least favorite line in the book (apart from all the racial slurs): “He glanced at the girl beside him. God, they read a book, he thought, and they spout on forever.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Colonisation, War, and Classism

josiee's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

riverofhorton's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

So much of this book was enjoyable to read, which allowed for such a degree of immersion that I managed to get through it much faster than I normally would a book of this length. That said, the ending was very disappointing. Not only did it seem rushed, like the author realised they had a deadline in a few days and so had to wrap everything up as quickly as possible, but the actual ending itself seemed half-baked and incomplete. For most of the book, I understood why it was so popular, then I got to the end and didn't get it anymore. There were so many good ideas within this book, and I will be looking further into the alternative history genre, but this overall isn't a book I would recommend. There were a few things I expected, like all the racism and especially anti-Semitism, some things I could overlook like the writing being disjointed and confusion at times, but when combined with the non-ending, it adds up to being too much for me to overlook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

alexalily's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Antisemitism

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

jstilts's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

For a "what if Hitler won" sci-fi novel this completely confounded all my expectations of what the book would be about, where it would be set, who it would feature and what their attitudes would be. More a reflection on the nature of the ancient Chinese divination text the "I Ching" the World War 2, more an exploration of Japanese Inner Culture and Class than Fascism, more a road trip to the nature of reality than an struggle against oppression - this book spends serious time on jewellery and antiques and the search for honour and integrity.

Once you have read this book, I highly recommend you seek out an interview with the author "Vertex Interview with Philip K. Dick" which will give you further insights into the nature of this books relationship to the I Ching. Also, look up "Atlantropa" on Wikipedia, it's in relation to a minor and what seemed to be a somewhat fantastical note in the book, but was actually something genuinely planned by the Nazis.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and War

blackberryjambaby's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, Police brutality, and War

Minor: Homophobia

jaygabler's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First of all, it's nothing short of miraculous that a book written by a white guy about an alternate reality in which whites become a subservient and fetishized race holds up so well 60 years later.

With his customarily incisive vision, Dick saw the essential paranoia and futility underlying a society built on militarized bureaucracy and racial divisions — and dropped into broad strokes at the end of this book to make very plain that he was critiquing the existing postwar society, not a hypothetical alternate one.

One of the great virtuoso works of alternate history in all of science fiction, but still a challenging read (and listen, with the problematic Japanese-accented English rendered even queasier in audiobook form). "Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence and Racism

backyardjake's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Worth reading for the shock value of the alt-history alone.
Each character's perspective is a rather interesting take on the world they live in. They way's they've adapated, their thought processes marred or unchanged based off the the society they live in. One character in particular goes on for a page and a half trying to understand the apathy and destructive nature of evil men which was quite interesting to ready. Well written ambigous characters. Still a little confused as to the what is being said by the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and War

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don’t know if it’s just the writing style or what. This book had a few good parts but mostly was boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence