The Man In The High Castle - Philip K Dick

 

I had such high hopes for this book. The idea of a dystopian / science fiction novel that is looking at What Could Have Happened was something I was super invested in but instead.. it just seemed like a guessing game. 

I am completely honest with myself here and fully accept that I may just not be intellectual enough for this book. I don't doubt that it is a great piece of work and has some really good messages and themes but it's one of the few books that I personally think would be better on screen. 

And I have no shame in admitting it - I read the plot summary on Wikipedia once I'd finished and suddenly the book made sense. 

Set in a world where Germany and Japan won the war, the US has been split into 4 territories, Africa has been destroyed and the Mediterranean Sea has been drained to become farming land. There are multiple stories running throughout the book with a little overlap, but the common theme is always something to do with a book - The Grasshopper Lies Heavy - a book that is written by a reclusive author about what could have happened is the British and Americans won the war.

The only characters I really enjoyed reading about were Juliana and Joe. Their story seemed to be the most explicitly written, and by that I mean - there was no underlying sub-context. But the rest involved a bit a of guessing work. 

I've rated this as a 3 star across my book sites because whilst I didn't get it - I don't think I'm the target market. I can definitely see why people love it but I and now pinning my hope on Fatherland instead.