Reviews with content warning for Genocide - The Man in the High Castle

Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

15 reviews

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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annatoggi's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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riverofhorton's review against another edition

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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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alexalily's review against another edition

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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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one_womanarmy's review against another edition

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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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