Man in the High Castle
It's hard for me to write about Philip K. Dick. For one thing, my attraction to his writing more or less defies my explanation. It's to the point where it's his voice I love more than anything else; yes, he's got an amazing imagination, and plots, and all that, but what really gets me is his characters' thought patterns. They're simultaneously the last thing you'd expect people to do/say and amazingly right and natural. I don't know how to reconcile this contradiction, but it's where my love for Phil lies. Even his "not as good" books are fondly remembered for their characters, or scenes, or ideas.
That said, Man in the High Castle is not a weaker work. With the premise, oft trod in the annals of alternative history, that the Axis won WWII and Japan and Germany have divided up the world between them, Dick ventures into perfectly unexpected territory. That is, the western half of the US, where former Americans labor under the rigid socio-economic structure of the Japanese government and speculate about the Nazi half of the world; the half most authors would have detailed excruciatingly. His characters, a cast of Japanese functionaries, American merchants peddling the detritus of Americana to the invaders, German secret agents, a jewelry designer, and his estranged wife, struggle through the concepts of beauty, status, reality, and life in a way I can't describe but that coalesces in the form of a piece of jewelry. Originality and authenticity and their relationship with each other are explored. And at the center of this book is another book, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which is an alternative history of the world had the Axis not won. At the center of this book (both Grasshopper and Castle) is the I Ching, which additionally calls into question our notions of destiny and the creative process.
Confused yet? Wait until you realize that this Grasshopper book doesn't even follow our timeline. Where's reality? Where's authenticity? What am I reading, and what reality is mine?
That's what this book is about. You may not figure it all out, but you'll have plenty to think about. Perhaps like me, like one character in the book, you'll find yourself yearning to meet its author and ask him what it all means. Unfortunately he is not even as approachable as the man of the title.
That said, Man in the High Castle is not a weaker work. With the premise, oft trod in the annals of alternative history, that the Axis won WWII and Japan and Germany have divided up the world between them, Dick ventures into perfectly unexpected territory. That is, the western half of the US, where former Americans labor under the rigid socio-economic structure of the Japanese government and speculate about the Nazi half of the world; the half most authors would have detailed excruciatingly. His characters, a cast of Japanese functionaries, American merchants peddling the detritus of Americana to the invaders, German secret agents, a jewelry designer, and his estranged wife, struggle through the concepts of beauty, status, reality, and life in a way I can't describe but that coalesces in the form of a piece of jewelry. Originality and authenticity and their relationship with each other are explored. And at the center of this book is another book, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which is an alternative history of the world had the Axis not won. At the center of this book (both Grasshopper and Castle) is the I Ching, which additionally calls into question our notions of destiny and the creative process.
Confused yet? Wait until you realize that this Grasshopper book doesn't even follow our timeline. Where's reality? Where's authenticity? What am I reading, and what reality is mine?
That's what this book is about. You may not figure it all out, but you'll have plenty to think about. Perhaps like me, like one character in the book, you'll find yourself yearning to meet its author and ask him what it all means. Unfortunately he is not even as approachable as the man of the title.