Synopsis
(from Amazon):
‘America, fifteen years after the end of the Second
World War. The winning Axis powers have divided their spoils: the Nazis control
New York, while California is ruled by the Japanese. But between these two
states - locked in a cold war - lies a neutal buffer zone in which legendary
author Hawthorne Abendsen is rumoured to live. Abendsen lives in fear of his
life for he has written a book in which World War Two was won by the Allies. .
.’
Disclaimer: I have watched all four
seasons of the Amazon web series based on the book. However, there would not be
any comparisons between the series and the book and references if any, would
not be made unless unavoidable.
It is a
frightening thought – what if the fascists had their way in the Second World
War? The book from Philip K. Dick explores the question in a hypothetical
scenario of the Axis Powers winning the war leading to the division of world
between technologically advanced Germans and the empire that focuses more on
spirituality, Japan.
The book
revolves around five principal characters – Robert Childan, an American
artefacts dealer in San Francisco, Pacific States of America (vassal state of
Japan), Frank Frink – a craftsman in San Francisco, Juliana Frink – his ex-wife
who now lives in the neutral zone in Colorado working as a judo instructor and
Nobusuke Tagomi – a high ranking Japanese official in San Francisco. Chancellor
of Germany, Martin Bormann is ill which starts a succession battle in the Nazi
party, that could well determine the future of Japan and the world at large.
There is a famous book, banned by the Nazis – The Grasshopper Lies Heavy which explores the hypothetical
situation of the Allies having won the war – which is of interest to the
characters, particularly in the sub-plot involving Childan and Juliana.
I liked the
tangled web that the author weaved, by writing novel which presents an
alternate history in which there is a novel in that plot which presents an
alternative history in the world of the author which is in fact the real world
of the reader. Another interesting aspect is the way in which he brought out
the fascist takeover and the reaction of the people – where there is no
significant resistance movement and people seem to have accepted it (or those
who did not probably were eliminated during the course of the fifteen years).
The only interesting character in the book was Childan, who is a very proud
American and has poor opinions on blacks, the Japanese, though the latter is a
bit paradoxical where there are often situations where he can’t help but admire
them.
With that said,
I would say that this book was four different plots weaved into one with there
being only a loose connection between the storylines of each of the characters.
Much as the author is known for science fiction work, this seemed more of a
fantasy novel with the characters relying more on the Chinese oracle – I Ching than any technological
advancement. It took me nearly 70% of the novel to realise that I was more than
halfway through and there was still, barely anything that resembled a plot,
with each character having a different objective. I liked the discussions
between Juliana and her Italian boyfriend – Joe Cinnadella, a former soldier
who had fought in North Africa, but I found it very unusual why an Italian
would have the name ‘Joe’ (I have no idea about the diminutive of Giuseppe but
I am sure in a world where Allies lost the war, anglicising names would not have
been trend). I do not normally nit-pick on names and I ignore it if the plot is
good, but this book does not deserve the leeway. In fact, the book ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ within the
plot does not even resemble the world as it was in the period in which the
author claims to base this plot on.
The story might
have been interesting if the author had chosen to focus on one plot, but
instead, had four different sub-plots, with little to no connection of
consequence. My disappointment may also be contributed by the fact that I
enjoyed the series that my expectations on the book were rather high.
To make matters
worse, the foreword from Eric Brown in my Kindle edition even contained
spoilers to the book and so, if you plan to read the book, avoid the foreword.
To conclude, you
are often told never judge a book by its movie (I have a lot of bookmarks with
similar quotes). However, this is the first time I am encountering a reverse
situation where I enjoyed the series but not the book. To those who have
followed the series but have not read the book, you have not missed anything. I
would award this book a rating of two on ten.
Rating
– 2/10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
Andy
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