The Man in the High Castle

I don't even know what the hell is this supposed to be.

>Why are the Japanese so nice compared to the Germans?
PKD is a weeaboo obsessed with Asian spirituality (and spirituality in general). Haven't you read anything else by him?
You might find it easier to understand what the books means if you know more about him.
Do you know the history behind the story? They say he used I Ching to determine it. Though I don't know how much of this is an urban legend, it sounds like his kind of thing and reflects the philosophy expressed in his works.
I wouldn't call the book a "parody". It uses the alt-history thriller setup as a plot device to convey something entirely different.

>What does it mean that "Germany and Japan lost the war"? Is it a reference to our world
Yes. Abendsen wrote The Grasshopper book by using the I Ching to make plot decisions, and PKD did the same to write The Man in the High Castle. It's kinda typical for the ending of his books — he has a big thing for turning the whole of the reality he built inside out at the last minute.

The Germany/Japan to USSR/US-UK allegory is a good reading, that didn't really occur to me. I figured he was working from the stereotypical image of Asians as passive, obsessed with propriety and honor, etc.

But yeah, good book

It's not realistic that the usa could be taken over by germany and japan. Does the book have and explanation?

>Haven't you read anything else by him?
I read Androids and some short stories, that stuff didn't come up, only a lot of fatalistic Cold War pessimism.

>Do you know the history behind the story? They say he used I Ching to determine it. Though I don't know how much of this is an urban legend, it sounds like his kind of thing and reflects the philosophy expressed in his works.
Yeah, I heard. Although I Ching readings are so vague that it doesn't seem like the book would be much different if he just followed his intuitions, lol.

>I wouldn't call the book a "parody".
Yeah, that isn't exactly the word that would describe it, although there is some commentary about the alternate history genre in the novel. On the other hand, I find it funny to imagine someone clueless looking at that cover and picking up the book expecting oppression porn (people shot in the streets, propaganda posters, foreigners bullying locals, American flag with a swastika) and a plot based on resistance or another upcoming armed conflict, and then getting a story about regular people pursuing mundane goals while thinking a lot about art, philosophy and the meaning of life. The TV show seems to be exactly the former, from what I understand.

>Abendsen wrote The Grasshopper book by using the I Ching to make plot decisions, and PKD did the same to write The Man in the High Castle.
The I Ching might have had some claim to magical knowledge if it described the history of our world exactly how it happened. Instead, it's just another piece of speculation. Sorry user, I don't think that answers my question.

FDR gets assassinated by Joe Zangara in 1933, leading to no New Deal and a weaker America during WW2.

This is some of the most retarded alt history ever. I guess I shouldn't be surprised Veeky Forums likes it since they just stick to fiction that confirms their world view.

Here comes the missing-the-point brigade.

I can tell you flat out that you're reading way too much into this

You can make a point without writing deviant-art tier alternate history

>>Abendsen wrote The Grasshopper book by using the I Ching to make plot decisions, and PKD did the same to write The Man in the High Castle.
In the book The Grasshopper reflects reality. After this revelation the reality of the universe described in the book just seems to fade out. This is also an answer to your question about the ending.
The nature of reality, fading in and out of reality is a major point of interest for PKD.What appears to be rational might in fact be irrational and what appears to be irrational might in fact be rational.

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wtf, I know barely related covers are typical of genre pubs but how

also pic related is probably the sort of thing user was requesting

That's a pretty good one, ngl

Makes absolutely no sense to me that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan could possibly invade the United States
Probably will read the book though

God I love these, but I don't have them on my computer any more. Me and my brother regularly use the phrase "High as Fuck Hugo" because of these.

So the whole reality just transitions into the Grasshopper universe? Seems kind of drastic. Was this foreshadowed somewhere before?
Or is the transition to our universe after all? But if so, why so many inaccuracies in the Grasshopper, then?

Good one, got any more?

kek, "High as Fuck Hugo" is how I always call PKD to myself

here hugo

(sometimes I also call him High Philip)

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these are so stupid and I'm laughing way too hard at them
keep going, user

super rare edit, do not save!

>Nazis walking over shitkickers and WASPs in the South, Midwest, PNW and Northeast
>Not being afraid of even leaving the coast in fears of having their patrols ambushed, scalped and lynched for everyone to see

That would've made an incredibly interesting story actually, instead of having the Germans completely wreck the US you'd have them watch as the US turns into a Vietnam tier shitshow.

>PNW insurgents infesting the woods
>Mountain men in Appalachia who always seem to be one step ahead
>KKK and Dixie Rebels commanding the swamps and wetlands
>Northeastern WASPs turning Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire into a frozen hell hole for anyone who comes around
>White, Latino, and Native Americans come together in the Southwest to start an insurgency that would make Ho Chi Minh proud

If I could write a book I'd do it but I'm a brainlet

That's the High Castle, dick.

Maybe I'll do that down the line (or not, lol *evilface*)

I could give it a swing but my only foray into writing I ever did was writing a half assed screenplay for a high school project. I would shoot for actually making the reader feel sorry for the Germans whenever they get caught in compromising positions or captured by the very vengeful American resistance

>Why are the Japanese so nice compared to the Germans.
Struck me as well. I think the explanation is pretty simple: the Nazis were (and are) more demonized in the West than the Japanese (in Asia you see the exact opposite). Every American knows about Auschwitz and the German (but not the Soviet) invasion of Poland; only nerds and specialists know about Unit 731 or the invasion of Manchuria.

It's never really explored in detail but I recall the Germans basically allied with the Old South to subjugate the North.

If its to get back against the North I could see that but it would be interesting to see what they'd do if they went full xenophobe on the Germans, most of them are WASPs and probably wouldn't take too kindly on invaders

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That's some H.R. Gieger shit

bump

>So the whole reality just transitions into the Grasshopper universe? Or is the transition to our universe after all?
It doesn't transition. It just sort of falls apart. I don't mean literally in the context of the story but as a narrative in the meta sense.

>the ending
It says somewhere he or his editor couldn't figure out a second part so they decided to stop there

That seems... weak. I get that PKD is po-mo but it still seems like a pointless thing to do; like, you could have any story out there fall apart like this.
Anyone care to elaborate or provide a more interesting interpretation?

The characters break through to our reality (the real one where the Allies won). That's pretty much it.

There is no evidence of a "break out" or a "transition". Just of decay. All of the plot-lines get resolved anti-climatically or are straight up dropped without any justification.
Also note that "true" reality is not "our" reality.
Why is it strange that an alternate realities plot would be attractive to someone struck by the multiplicity and elusiveness of truth?

Whoever is responsible for these I love you