Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

20 reviews

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

marsbars24's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I feel unequipped to properly comment on the political theory payed out by PKD in this book, and feel his books more centered  philosophy and the human condition in regards to technology are more effective than the more overt political science fiction in this book, but still solid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism

It discusses a possible future where the Nazis won. Clearly not a pro nazi book, I believe it is quite anti-facist, but discusses some pretty difficult topics

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

neonskylite's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

One of the only Nazi alt-histories I can stomach because a) its got that PKD freakiness in it and b) it has so thoroughly thought out what point it wants to make and carved out the niche its trying to depict in this world (that is, the americana art dealing world to talk about cultural capital and "authenticity"). 

Also I could give a 30 minute presentation about the many covers of this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Antisemitism and War

Minor: Slavery

one_womanarmy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.25

Man in the High Castle showcases Dick's Russian-nesting-doll literary twists and leave-much-unanswered approach with keen political and cultural transformation. The macro changes to nations and culturesnreaukting in the Axis powers winning WWII are brought home through deeply unfamiliar patterns of behavior, politics, and familiar prepurposed tropes of racial and class prejudices across San Francisco, Colorado, and New York.

In the alternate timeline that serves as a spine, Franklin D. Roosevelt was assassinated in Miami in 1933 and the New Deal never got off the drawing board. After victory in Europe and the Pacific, Nazi Germany and Japan attacked the United States, ultimately dividing the U.S. in half, with the Rocky Mountains region a buffer zone between the superpowers. German technological superiority has drained the Mediterranean and converted it to farmland, while their moral depravity used atomic energy to unleash a holocaust on Africa. But reading this novel was like reading the dayplanner of a middle manager: thought provoking at times but terribly dull with little motivation or context for characters behind their immediate surroundings (and prejudices).

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and War

damesies's review against another edition

challenging mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Classism

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

reb_knits's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Toxic relationship, 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