The Man in the High Castle in On Paths Unknown

Feb 15, 2021 Nandakishore Mridula rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I believe that there is a certain serendipity in the way we find books. There certainly was in this case. Even though I love Philip K. Dick's dark and fantasy-tinged science fiction, I had not come around to reading this so far. I did it only after I started watching the web series loosely based on this novel. And I started watching the web series mostly because I am slowly learning what it is to live under a fascist government.

Ever since Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014, India has been I believe that there is a certain serendipity in the way we find books. There certainly was in this case. Even though I love Philip K. Dick's dark and fantasy-tinged science fiction, I had not come around to reading this so far. I did it only after I started watching the web series loosely based on this novel. And I started watching the web series mostly because I am slowly learning what it is to live under a fascist government.

Ever since Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014, India has been shifting slowly to the right; and when he came back to power in 2019, that move has been put on steroids. People are being jailed for doing standup comedy and tweeting; intellectuals are regularly attacked by Hindu right-wing goons; and draconian laws have been formulated which allows people to be jailed without recourse even to bail, under the label of "anti-national" activities. These are in addition to the atrocities perpetrated against minorities and Dalits such as beatings and lynchings by far right groups with the blessings of the powers that be.

So reading this book (and watching the series) provided me a sort of catharsis. In this novel, Dick presents a world totally dominated by fascists. The Axis forces have won the war, and Japan and Germany have divided up the world among themselves - Germany getting the bigger slice of the cake, of course. People are so adapted to totalitarianism (this is what is frightening) that they cannot think that another world is possible. Except for the elite few, the remaining live a sub-human existence.

The USA is divided into three - the East under the Nazis, the West under Japan, and a "neutral" lawless zone in-between. The story has no central protagonist: it follows a handful of connected characters in Japan-occupied America as they try to make sense of their lives. There is Frank Frink, a Jew, and his partner Ed McCarthy trying to make a living selling costume jewelry; there is Juliana, Frank's estranged wife, on a road trip with a guy who might be not what he claims to be; There is Tagomi, the high-ranking Japanese trade official, who trying to avert a disastrous war between the Reich and Nippon... and then, there is Harald Abendsen, the "Man in the High Castle", who has written a novel of speculative fiction - about the Allies winning the war.

By writing a novel of parallel history, in which an author is writing a novel of parallel history about the actual time stream we are living in, the author brilliantly resurrects a tired trope. After all, what is reality? Are we living only in one possibility among an infinite number of worlds out there? There is a brief scene in which Tagomi experiences a transportation into a world where the USA is unoccupied, by meditating on a piece of costume jewellery - and it provides us an insight into what the author is trying to say. Especially in a universe where the wisdom of the I Ching is the guiding force.

Dick has done a marvellous amount of research to create this nightmare world. My only gripe with the novel is that it feels like the first part of a series, with more stories to follow - an idea the author seems to have abandoned. ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Dillwynia Peter rated it it was amazing

A dystopian novel looking at an alternate world viewpoint. If Lindeburgh had been successful in his campaign of not enlisting in the 2nd World War, and the Axis won over the Allies, what would the United States look like. Dick uses the divided Germany concept & divides the US, and then makes it roughly 20 years later. Being written in the early 60s, this is important; sadly, the book has resurfaced recently as a timely reminder and I understand there is now a TV series using these ideas.

Dick is A dystopian novel looking at an alternate world viewpoint. If Lindeburgh had been successful in his campaign of not enlisting in the 2nd World War, and the Axis won over the Allies, what would the United States look like. Dick uses the divided Germany concept & divides the US, and then makes it roughly 20 years later. Being written in the early 60s, this is important; sadly, the book has resurfaced recently as a timely reminder and I understand there is now a TV series using these ideas.

Dick is cruel to the Germans and make them lose their way, becoming stulified in the old ways, alternatively Japan has few ideas & copies every new invention (a parody of the 60s Japan the world was observing). What is lacking is good old American ingenuity which is currently suppressed by cruel overlords.

This is parody & the title is important in telling you this - once it is explained. Dick is so convinced his readers will miss it, that he has two of his characters explain it to you. This felt odd, but being an audiobook somewhere in the desert as I traversed the country, it got me thinking - thanks Philip! :-D

Dystopian fiction often have two roles: 1st, the extreme or exaggeration of what could happen if we continue on the current path of destructive behaviour; and 2ndly: look closer, greenhorn! it's already here, but you just haven't looked at it properly.

Freedom is bandied about so much of late that not only is it banal, but really, the vox populi don't even notice it being spoken any more, and definitely not what it is supposed to supply. Under a free society we can be body searched every time we enter an airport. It is done to keep you safe & isn't that a good thing. Thank goodness, the communists didn't take over the world, otherwise, you would have been body searched every time you entered an airport. How dare they! Invasion of your rights and so on. This is what Dick is telling us in this well executed novel. Now, look at Atwood and it becomes very uncomfortable when you consider some of the themes she has been exploring over the past 10 years. ...more

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Dec 12, 2016 Michele rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, award-winner, favorites, great-audio-version, alt-history

What a great read and a great listen. I listened to the George Guidal version which is available on youtube right now. This book has some great themes like Japanese culture, the I-Ching, art and the art of fraud, a book within a book. Dick does not waste a line in this book. What a pleasure.

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Dec 15, 2016 Greg Hickey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Philip K. Dick presents a captivating and fully realized alternative history, one in which Japan and Germany have won World War II and share dominion over the United States. In doing so, he deftly examines the hypocrisy of racism and the struggle for power. His smooth grasp of history and subtle use of language bring his alternate world to life without being heavy-handed. His frequent elimination of articles, mimicking the English spoken by native Japanese, is a particularly powerful demonstrati ...more

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