The Man in the High Castle

By: Philip K. Dick

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Now an Amazon Original series

Winner of the Hugo Award

"The single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick's career." --New York Times

It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war - and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.

This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it, Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.

©1962 Philip K. Dick, © renewed 1990 by Laura Coelho, Christopher Dick, and Isa Hackett. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Alternative history

The Man in the High Castle is PK Dick's 1962 Hugo award winning novel of an alternate history where the US has lost WWII. In this vision, due to the assassination of FDR in his fist term, the subsequent US president fails to prepare the nation for war with a quick defeat after Pearl Harbor and the fall of England due to lack of US support. The country is divided between the Japanese controlling the west coast to the Rockies, while Germany controls the East with the Rocky Mountain region somewhat murky. Germany dominates science and has made it to Mars and Venus, while they continue to move across the globe with ethnic cleansing. The story centers around several characters barely surviving, including introspective Japanese. Most intriguing is a story within a story concept from which the title is derived, referring to the mysterious author of another alternate history where the US has won the war.

The sci-fi elements are minimal especially given the span of time, although for 1962, colonization of Mars and Venus was probably novel with the US Mercury and Gemini space missions barely getting into orbit. The focus is mainly on how the various characters respond to their situations, while at the same time describing a more macabre, hopeless world. At the same time, Dick contrasts the Japan and Germany styles of conquest which differ greatly. Dick also was quite prescient in his notions of evolving social mores.

The narration is superb with an excellent range of voices and solid pacing. Don't expect some climatic revolution at the end to reset history. This is a tale of "what if" and Dick provide a compelling, credible, and engaging alternative version.

Grating Voices

I've listened to dozens of books on Audible, and this performance is the worst. I wish I could rate the performance zero stars. It seems the reader has never actually heard a Japanese, Jewish, or German person speak. They all sound like caricatures. Stereotypes. It's almost offensive. Each Japanese character sounds like a buck-toothed 1940s US propaganda cartoon. The main Jewish character sounds like the unholy offspring of Jackie Mason and Yogi the Bear. The main female character sounds like a Kids in the Hall sketch. I could barely pay attention to the story. Terrible.

A classic ruined by its narrator

Philip K. Dick's Man in the High Castle is a classic. An unflinching alternate history with science fiction sprinkled liberally throughout the background (space colonization, 45 minute rocket flights from Northern Europe to San Francisco, and an intriguing passing mention of the damming and draining of the Mediterranean to gain massive amounts of land are three spoiler-free examples). For those who have found themselves here via Amazon's mini-series: The book and show are different entities with different foci. You will find the book to have different character priorities - I would urge you, despite this, to enjoy both the novel and the series as different approaches to the same rough story. I will say no more about the book - there's a reason it's a classic and should be read. I cannot, however, recommend this audiobook of it.

The narrator, quite simply, ruins it. Dick's work was published in 1963 and is deliberately harsh in its language, especially when it comes to race - he was making a point. But the racial and national slurs that pervade the work seem tame compared to the outrageously stereotype accents used by the narrator. The Japanese voices would be at home in Second World War Warner Brothers' cartoon propaganda, the Germans are right out of 'Allo 'Allo or Dad's Army, and one of the main protagonists' Jewish ancestry and faith is demonstrated by a straight out of central casting "Jewish New Yorker" so bad it would make Jackie Mason and Woody Allen wince in pain (which makes no sense as Dick plainly states the character has gone out of his way to hide his background for safety reasons). Read the book or find another recording, but avoid this version (and this narrator) if you want anything other than painful stereotypes.

Wanted to see what all the buzz was about!

I watched the pilot on Amazon and then picked up the book. Interesting premise but was difficult to always comprehend his steam of thought. The audio book made it much easier for me to enjoy.

I probably need to listen again to try and catch more. Book is a different direction from the TV show... But enjoyed it. Would recommend... Just realize that this isn't your typical novel...

Couldn't bear the voice.

I've listened to the first two chapters and I can't continue. Instead of listening to the story, I can only think about how much I dislike the voice actor.

Tough listen

Any additional comments?

Story was very good and engaging. Narrator does the worst accents I've heard in a long time . Germans sound more English, Italians sound Russian. Very distracting for me

I'll never get those hours back

Painful listen. Narrator's accent work on the characters was tough to listen to, as well as, the story that started, jumped around and just ended. Brutal

Unfinished

The author never really finished this book. After a while, it's seem to lose focus and he never really tied the story together fully. The television series is actually much better.

Cool Idea, Terrible Read

The idea of what would happen if the Nazis and Japan won WWII was really intriguing to me. However, I probably could have eaten a bowl of alphabet soup and crapped out a better story than this. Basically, America is the same--everyone works, there's pretty much no discrimination against Americans by the Germans or the Japanese, not really any oppression, and everyone is reading this book that shows what the world would be like if America won the war, and the Germans don't really give a flying flip that everyone reads it. Actually, it's very popular with the Japanese. I highly doubt America would be that chill if it was under nazi rule. Not only is it implausible, it was boring, the characters were underdeveloped, and the story ended abruptly and in a way that made me go "Huh??"

Racist and Sexist Accent Much?

It's almost impossible to listen to this audio book. Half the book is narrated by the guy in a terrible stereotypical Japanese accent while the other half is read in an uncomfortable breathy imitation of what the actor perceives to be a female voice. It makes you cringe throughout. Unfortunately there is no alternative on Audible.