About this title: It is 1962 and the Second World War has been over for seventeen years: people have now had a chance to adjust to the new order. But it's not been easy. The Mediterranean has been drained to make farmland, the population of Africa has virtually been wiped out and America has been divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. In the neutral buffer zone that divides the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the author of an underground bestseller, a work of fiction that offers an alternative theory of world history in which the Axis powers didn't win the war. The novel is a rallying ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 2001-09-06
ISBN-13:9780965018845ISBN:0965018849
Description: Very Good. Mild shelf and corner wear; Mild tanning and soiling to page edges; Mild rubbing and wear to covers and spine; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Description: Popular Library (60-2289), NY; Paperback; 191pp; Spine creased, slight forward slant, wear to base of spine, minor creasing to cover, minor chipping to a few pages, pen marks on rear flyleaf advertisement, text pages clean & tight, Good-condition. Dick's award-winning answer to the question: what if the Axis powers had won World War II? read more
Edition: 3rd Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780679740674ISBN:0679740678
Description: Very Good. Slight wave to book, else fine, clean tight and bright. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780679740674ISBN:0679740678
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Near Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Black Colored Boards with Red Lettering on the Covers, 239 Pages, D45 is Printed on the Last Page of Text. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1992-07-01
ISBN-13:9780679740674ISBN:0679740678
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780679740674. read more
"The Man in the High Castle is arguably Philip K. Dick's best novel. The plot contrasts his normal page turner style with a more deliberate style describing a futuristic society in which the Axis won WWII. Although a bit cliche, the setting does not overshadow a plot in which characters intertwine in a highly stylized manner. One story arc centers around an antique dealer that sells western goods to Japanese collectors. Another centers around the German bureaucracy's inner politics, with a power struggle between the major Axis powers. The book rotates between several characters, whose paths are flow naturally between one another to demonstrate the setting at a deliberately slow pace.
Within the book there is a propaganda novel published by a mysterious and secluded novelist that writes about if the Allies won the war. This ends up being another side part of the book, with the author later revealed later in the book when a character searches for him. The book concludes with no real ending, but fits the pacing of the book. This gives the book a more realistic feel instead of that of a fast paced thriller. Although this may not fit all audiences, it has a subtle effect that demonstrates a point. Basic at the surface, layers lie underneath the basic nationalist ideals of WWII. This results in a story that can be read several times over, while revealing new things and invoking new emotions."
"This book is fascinating 1) as an American Post Colonial novel. Dick imagines the West Coast of the US colonized by the Japanese after the Axis powers have won WWII. His depiction of the psychology of a defeated people is subtle and sophisticated. Of particular interest is R. Childan a dealer in high end Americana. Childan's simultaneous awe and hatred of the victorious Japanese really rings true as does his complicated servility. The dialogue depicting Childan's first attempt to sell contemporary American art (as opposed American "artifacts" and memorabilia) to his Japanese client is brilliantly uncomfortable (pp. 169-175). The client carefully manipulates Childan through his fear of humiliation into actually voicing the Japanese's humiliating rejection of the art himself. The conversation is a tour de force and has definitely changed the way I will perceive any future trips into souvenir shops abroad. It leads me to the speculation that there is a broad swathe of quasi colonial triumphalism woven into the fabric of international tourism. Really any one can be a member of the conquering caste for the price of a flight and lodging. You arrive in a land of servants to take possession of cultural trophies. (I don't mean to overstate here; if tourism can be considered a colonial experience (for both the tourist and the local people who cater to him or her) it's about as mild and benign as such an experience could be.) And 2) for its slightly ambiguous ontology (more what Dick is known for). There's a book in the book in which our reality (that the Allies have won the war) is posited as an alternate reality, and by the end there is some ontological wobble about which is actually true. It's done very subtly. We don't get to read this book, but the characters talk about it and eventually one of them goes to meet the author. I don't want to spoil anything but the last few pages are quite strange and Dick works the effect by manipulating point of view. Really worth reading."
"The eponymous man is an author who has written an enormously popular book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which attempts to answer the question, what would have happened if the Allies had won World War II? - a question that can only be answered by the imagination, because in this alternate reality, the Axis won. America is divided into occupational zones controlled by Japanese and German forces, anti-semitic sentiment is rampant, and the I Ching is consulted by people everywhere as a matter of course.
The story takes its time getting off the ground. Initially, it feels like the interconnected plots are just an excuse for Dick to depict his alternate reality, but it gradually becomes apparent that there really is a point to them. There's no hook at the beginning, nothing to grab the reader's interest, but persevering is worth it. This is a good book, and well-written. The style bears little resemblance to that of Dick's characteristic sci-fi novels; in fact, it's obvious that he consciously altered his style for the purpose of writing this book, transformed it into the sort of broken English riddled with sentence fragments that might have become the norm under Japanese and German influence. The change is evident, but, with few exceptions, not overdone to the point where it might impede the reader's understanding. From that, as well as the terminology, history, and cultural references, it's apparent that Dick put a great deal of thought and effort into this novel."
"I loved the premise of this book, the Axis wins World War Two. Unfortunatly instead of an alternative history and excitement of a world under Axis control we are treated to the life and times of an antiques dealer in an alternative universe.
There is too much concentration on the trivial thoughts of people that has no relation to the world they are living in. There is a constant feeling in this book that there is a much more vibrant, scary and exciting world outside of the contstraints of this mundane story. The Nazis have the H Bomb and can reach Mars, in P.K. Dick's novel and we are stuck with pages detailing the correct etiquette on having lunch with someone, P.K Dick spends too much time on the trivial dealings of the antique trade and only tantalises the reader with all too brief details on the alternative world in which the story is set.
Philip K. Dick was apparently going through a religious awakening when he was writing this, which explains the heavy use of the I Ching as a plot device, to the books detriment.
I usually love Philip K. Dick but I found this very hard to get into and incredibly slow, with the constant reminder that this is an excellent premise and a strong world, let down by a dreary main story line."
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