The Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick Book Review

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Review Summary

The Japanese and Germans won the Second World War in 1947. Now it is 1962, and they are still jockeying subtly for power over their halves of the world, and especially in the former U.S. Frank Frink, an LA metalworker in one of the industries that fabricates historic weapons and other fake antiques for an avid collector's market, is recently divorced and has lost his job. His ex-wife Juliana is a judo instructor in Colorado. They, along with Robert Childan (a dealer in collectibles), a spy known as Baynes, and several Japanese and German bureaucrats, wonder about Hawthorne Abendsen, the "Man in the High Castle," who wrote a bestselling novel in which FDR wasn't assassinated early in his first term, the Italians betrayed the Axis, and the British won the war.
David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Set in 1962, in a world where the Germans and Japanese won WWII (or did they?). Ordinary Americans, living in a Japanese dominated society, go about their business and lives in a familiar, but strangely different world.
Doon, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of The Man In The High Castle

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40%

Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - alternate history
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - strict rationing of freedoms/goods
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - blue collar worker
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - bureaucrat
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Desert - Mountains - Forests
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

Most similar books to The Man In The High Castle
American Empire: The Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove
Freedom Lost by Edward J. Kleinschmidt
K is for Killing by Daniel Easterman
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Back in the USSA by Eugene Byrne & Kim Newman

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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