The Man in The High Castle - Philip K. Dick

Read for the first time in August 2012.

"The Man in the High Castle" gets too on the nose at the end. The final conversation between the novelist and the Juliana character is kind of bad in a didactic way and yet should have been fleshed out more. The pacing, as a storytelling matter seemed off as well. A lack of suspense. A lack of build. It was an enjoyable read nonetheless. But at the end, a lot of it seemed unresolved. A lot of the characters arcs just stopped with no resolution.

I really liked the way some of the white characters spoke in stilted Japanese English. It was inventive and imaginative, and fun. I also really liked his depiction of being what it’s like to not be the dominant culture. This is the first Philip K Dick work that I’ve read. Based on this read alone, I wouldn’t go out of my way to explore his catalogue further. I think he’s behind Vonnegut as a writer, but maybe slightly better overall than Ursula K Leguin, though I think she never does anything as bad as that final conversation in this book.