From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

The Man in the High Castle

Philip K. Dick

Start date: February 21, 2015

Finish date: March 1, 2015

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

* What is a good book for AW discussion? (Nominations pool)
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* AW Book Club: what we've read
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What Members Thought

Sep 24, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it

4.5 Stars. This is a book that I wanted to like even more than I did. It starts out as a wonderful speculative, science fiction novel: What if Japan and Germany won World War II? The spec sci-fi portion of the novel receives 5 stars. Philip K. Dick masterfully interweaves the not insignificant changes that might have lead to an Allies defeat in World War II. His descriptions of Nazi horrors left unchecked and the rise of extreme ethnic and racial inequality under imperial Japanese rule thought-p ...more

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Feb 10, 2015 Aimee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: brainy-reads, sf-fantasy, award-winners, historical-fiction, fiction

The Man in the High Castle is an excellent alt-history of post-WWII America where the former USA is divided between the Japanese on the west coast and the Nazis on the east coast (with a tiny free zone between in the Rockies and western Great Plains. One of the things I especially liked about it is the presence of an alternate history book (The Grasshopper Lies Heavy) within the main alt-history narrative. Super cool.

Tom Weiner's reading was fantastic. ...more

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Aug 15, 2009 Jak rated it liked it · review of another edition

It was alright. Started out well enough with a dystoian look at an alternate reality where the Axis won WWII. But it got very wierd at the end, and from the other review I see this is because Dick chose to let the ancient and mystic art of I Ching decide the course of the book.... rather than just wirite a good book him self..... *sigh*

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Jun 26, 2013 Jennifer rated it liked it

Re-read. Interesting 'what if' novel about the Nazis and Japan winning World War 2. Good world building, but too many characters which I know are there to show how the effects after the war affected different people but they come off as flat and just stereotypes. Jumps around a tad too much even for a Dick novel. Did we need the subplot of a book within a book? Probably not, as not much really happens with it in the end besides giving the characters something to do. Enjoyable story for what it i ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Chris Sachnik rated it liked it

It's going to take me some time to figure out what the central message of this book was. Mostly it confused me. The writing was well done, but I don't think I got the point. ...more

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