Man in the High Castle

After watching the TV show, I decided to read the original book: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. And I must admit: I liked the TV show better. Though, the book does catch my attention.

Just like in the show, these characters live in an alternate world where Germany and Japan won World War II. The Nazis take everything in the states east of the Rocky Mountains, and the Japanese take the west. And the middle is a neutral zone where anything can happen.

I suppose I wanted the book to play out like the TV show. There are a few scenes that are basically identical (though in different places), but other than that the similarities cease. Even some of the characters are different and sometimes not as likable.

The book is more of a philosophical approach. It features a book within the book, called -- as you may guess -- "The Man in the High Castle." And many pages are devoted to different people reading from that book. What is strange is that this alternate-alternate world sounds a lot like ours, where Germany and Japan lost, but events in the 50s are different. In this way the book suffers a little from monologue syndrome (similar to the writings of Ayn Rand), featuring super-boring political what-if scenarios.

But there were some enjoyable parts. One moment in particular centers around a piece of poorly-created jewelry, where many agree that it has little artistic value, but is full of wu, which is some kind of raw emotion or aura from the person who made it -- someone suffering from the antagonistic world. So, we end up with something that has both no value and great value.

While all these thoughts were cool and all, I found the book difficult to want to pick up and read. I had to force myself. I was irritated with the book's cover (pictured above), which features three characters from the TV show, but one never appears in the book itself. Talk about deceptive marketing! And even a month after having finished reading it -- I still don't know what I was supposed to get out of it.

Some of the writing is inconsistent. Some sections are written with articles ("the", "an", etc.) dropped, as if Japanese are trying to speak English. And other times the articles are there. So, I wasn't sure what to think. Perhaps it needed another round of editing?

Though, on the other hand, I can't seem to quite stop thinking about the book. It kind of leaves everything wide open. You want to know what happens next, and you can almost guess. And there is no sequel. So, perhaps there's some magic in this book after all?

I'm glad I read it, though it took me forever. Perhaps I'll figure it out one day. If you're looking for something dense, philosophical, and thought provoking -- perhaps you should give this book a try. But I'll be honest. After reading it, I had to relax and pick up a page-turner.