The Man in the High Castle

It descends into psychosis, just as the other Philip K. Dick book I have read, which is alright, but not really my cup of tea.

The reason I give it four stars, not less, is that Westerners should really read it for a small glance of what it feels to live under occupation.

My biggest problem with the book is how glorified Japanese are in it. Of course, at no point we can see narrator's opinion on them, we only read the thoughts of people living under Japanese occupation, brainwashed and prone to rebellious outbursts, but I can't help but to observe the fact that the European holocaust is mentioned a lot, but the equivalent which has happened in Asia at the hands of Japanese is swept under the rug. It almost feels like the author doesn't want to touch this subject.

This quote about nazis, however, saves the book:

They are overcome by some archetype; their egos have expanded psychotically so that they cannot tell where they begin and the godhead leaves off. It is not hubris, not pride; it is inflation of the ego to its ultimate—confusion between him who worships and that which is worshiped. Man has not eaten God; God has eaten man.

And it is all so familiar as we see the events of the modern world unfold.

1) '''Gee,' the girl said, awed. 'Is that really true? That he had one of those on him that day?'
'Sure. And I know which it is. You see my point. It's all a big racket; they're playing it on themselves. I mean, a gun goes through a famous battle, like the Meuse-Argonne, and it's the same as if it hadn't, unless you know. It's in here.' He tapped his head. 'In the mind, not the gun.'''

2) ''No doubt about it, he thought as he hung up the phone. The Colt .44 affair had shaken him considerably. He no longer viewed his stock with the same reverence. Bit of knowledge like that goes a long way. Akin to primal childhood awakening; facts of life. Shows, he ruminated, the link with our early years: not merely U.S. history involved, but our own personal. As if, he thought, question might arise as to authenticity of our birth certificate. Or our impression of Dad.''

3) '''Don't undervaluate the possibility suggested by the esteemed importer. He is a shrewd personage. You and I---we have no awareness of the vast number of uneducated. They can obtain from mold-produced identical objects a joy which would be denied to us. We must suppose that we have the only one of a kind, or at least something rare, possessed by a very few. And of course, something truly authentic. Not a model or replica.' He continued to gaze past Childan, at empty space. 'Not something cast by the tens of thousands.'''

4) ''In any case the war, Operation Dandelion, will sweep us all away. No matter what we are doing at the time. Our enemy, alongside whom we fought in the last war. What good did it do us? We should have fought them, possibly. Or permitted them to lose, assisted their enemies, the United States, Britain, Russia.
Hopeless wherever one looks.
The oracle enigmatic. Perhaps it has withdrawn from the world of man in sorrow. The sages leaving.''