The Man in the High Castle
It's one of those books that frequently shows up on a "science fiction you should have read"-type lists, and with some publicity over a TV version (being put out by Amazon, I think it was?), it came to mind again, so I figured I'd give it a try.
I knew it involved an alternate-history Earth in which the Axis Powers won World War 2 and the US was split between Japan and Germany. I knew it involved a book written by the title character that detailed an alternate(-alternate) world in which that wasn't the case.
I... think I expected something with more happenings. Time travel! Action! Revolution!
That isn't what I got. There are a few notable events in the book, including a couple seeds of change that could lead to big things. Mostly, though, the narrative follows several characters through their loosely-connected and intersecting lives in a way that seems more a meditation on how society and culture shape perspectives. There's a lot of reflection on the Japanese or German way of thinking (in that setting). There's a lot of focus on a cultural reliance on the oracular aspects of the I Ching (here, adopted for regular use among Japanese from China).
It is an interesting read, fairly quick and generally enjoyable. In some ways, the way the writing evoked the daily lives of the characters reminded me a great deal of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, though that book had a great deal more detail in back-woods Americana where this one focused more on cultural thought and biases.
I knew it involved an alternate-history Earth in which the Axis Powers won World War 2 and the US was split between Japan and Germany. I knew it involved a book written by the title character that detailed an alternate(-alternate) world in which that wasn't the case.
I... think I expected something with more happenings. Time travel! Action! Revolution!
That isn't what I got. There are a few notable events in the book, including a couple seeds of change that could lead to big things. Mostly, though, the narrative follows several characters through their loosely-connected and intersecting lives in a way that seems more a meditation on how society and culture shape perspectives. There's a lot of reflection on the Japanese or German way of thinking (in that setting). There's a lot of focus on a cultural reliance on the oracular aspects of the I Ching (here, adopted for regular use among Japanese from China).
It is an interesting read, fairly quick and generally enjoyable. In some ways, the way the writing evoked the daily lives of the characters reminded me a great deal of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, though that book had a great deal more detail in back-woods Americana where this one focused more on cultural thought and biases.
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