The Man in the High Castle

Classic science fiction writer Philip K. Dick became a legendary writer because of visionary ideas that broke genre boundaries and offered fresh new stories of bleak and harrowing futures. This story is the one that put him on the map, as Dick paints a bleak portrait of a post-World War II America that is jointly occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan. The very notion is downright scary, and narrator Tom Weiner delivers a classic performance that captures the Orwellian atmosphere that abounds in this tale while giving a nod to radio announcers from the 1940s. His voice is somewhat robotic and rigid, but it serves the plot all the more as his characters are incredibly rich and perfectly realized. One of the best and most complex readings this year! L.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

June 2, 2008
Dick's Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternative history considers the question of what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost WWII. Some 20 years after that loss, the United States and much of the world has now been split between Japan and Germany, the major hegemonic states. But the tension between these two powers is mounting, and this stress is playing out in the western U.S. Through a collection of characters in various states of posing (spies, sellers of falsified goods, others with secret identities), Dick provides an intriguing tale about life and history as it relates to authentic and manufactured reality. Tom Weiner reveals an impressive vocal range that delivers the host of characters with distinct culture, class and gender personas, which helps to sort the various plot strands. His prose reading is engaging, though sometimes lacks sufficient emphasis and energy.