This is one of those books where a rating isn't enough to explain how I felt about it. It's not that it's a bad book, it's just that even trying to willfully disregard the 60's era racism it left me feeling icky.

Now, don't get me wrong. In an alternate history book where the Nazis won WWII it would be shocking if there wasn't any mention of racism. It's just that Philip K. Dick never really makes any point about that racism, he just has his characters act and talk completely racist and therefore makes them very unlikeable. None of the characters were well-rounded, even the two Jewish characters who were really underutilized and one-dimensional.

I did like how the one female character went from being a whiny damsel in distress to taking agency in a dramatic way, even if she did have to lose her mind and act like a lost little girl to do it.

And I really liked Tagomi's inner monologue, how he described his emotional and physical state all the time. There was some really nice language in this book and, as you'd expect with PKD, some interesting philosophical discussions.

I have a really hard time with Philip K. Dick because I really really want to like his work but what I've read of him so far has left me pretty cold. He clearly had a brilliant mind and I enjoy experiencing his weird view of the world, but his characters are always too underdeveloped and cartoonishly bigoted that I just can't. I can excuse a lot based on PKD being a product of his time but not everything. The lack of empathy and emotional connection he had with his non-white and female characters always comes through even when he's trying to be "woke".

But I'll keep reading a few more of his "classics" just in case I'm missing something.