The Man in the High Castle

As with all of Philip K. Dick's work, the question has to do with the nature of reality, and our relation to reality. The reality here is an alternate history in which Giuseppe Zangara succeeded in assassinating FDR, leading to the Axis triumphing over the Allies in the Second World War.

How realistic is the alternate reality? I'm not sure I buy the Nazis on Mars (!) in 1962. The scope of their projects? Absolutely. Our setting is the Western United States, though, an area controlled by the conquering Japanese.

One device that I really like is the incorporation of the I Ching, which several of the characters use to guide their actions; "should I follow the suggested course?" or "what is going to happen next?"

A nod at the nature of reality is that there's a popular novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (paraphrased from a line in Ecclesiastes) in which Roosevelt survives the assassination (as he does in our reality) and through his strong leadership, the US is prepared for World War II, and the Allies win. As more of this novel-within-a-novel is revealed, it's clear that the world of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is not our own -- Roosevelt doesn't seek a third term, and there are other important points of divergence.

The climax of the novel is (perhaps) a Japanese diplomat slipping into another reality after contemplating a piece of jewelry made by American artisans. Left unsaid is if the reality is the one of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, of our reality, or another one entirely. (One would think the reality would be one of the above. A third reality, resembling both of those, would be needlessly complicated, right?)

Or perhaps the climax could be said to be the end, which implies (of course, this being Dick) that the world of the novel isn't the true reality, but a false one. As to whether true reality is the world of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (thus implying our world is false, as well), our world, or another one entirely is left unsaid.

I really enjoyed this -- I thought the characters moved the plot well and were better put together than some of Dick's other stories, and the interweaving of Japanese culture into American really worked for me. The questions as to the nature of reality and the prophecy of the Book of Changes were well incorporated, as well. Recommended.

Shattered Sword

Shattered Sword offers a new perspective on the Battle of Midway -- previous English accounts had been based off of mainly American combat records, and a few Japanese sources. The authors here have seen some primary Japanese sources (ships' logs, etc) translated into English for the first time, and as such are able to provide clarification on how events actually occurred.

Worth checking out if you're very interested in this particular area of history.

Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

I was unfamiliar with Murakami before I picked up Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World on a whim. While I enjoyed the novel quite a bit, it's not what I expected Murakami to be -- although the more I think about it, the more "the End of the World" sequence is what I had anticipated.

Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is two seemingly unconnected narratives that Murakami gradually draws closer together. "Hard-boiled Wonderland" reads as inspired by Western pulps, although it becomes nearly immediately obvious that this isn't quite the world we currently live in.

"The End of the World", in contrast, is obviously something very different -- the narrator is watching unicorns from afar as the first chapter begins. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that something is very, very different -- this isn't just a normal fantasy world, this is something else entirely. As the novel progresses, more and more is revealed about the world of "The End of the World" and it becomes more bizarre and surreal. In contrats, "Hard-boiled Wonderland" stays at roughly the same level of odd -- sure, the modern world depicted isn't quite our modern world, but it's similar enough.

The unifying thread here is consciousness, and what one's mind is doing beneath the surface. The medical procedure our unnamed protagonist is described as having gone through is a tone-setting example of that. The separation of the narrator from his shadow in "The End of the World" is another, as are the twin narratives here.

Recommended.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove

My first impression of the title story in Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove was something approaching awe -- this was a novel premise, beautifully executed, well-written. Russell uses the backdrop of vampires who've settled in a small town in Italy to show a couple falling out of love. It's a great story, and probably the best in the collection.

Of the other stories in the collection, "Reeling for the Empire" is nearly as good, and "Proving Up" is truly creepy. "The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979" and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" are both coming-of-age stories set amidst unsettling conceits. "The Barn at the End of Our Term" seems a little aimless and "Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating" has its funny moments but doesn't really rise to a point. "The New Veterans" has an interesting premise, but really lags in the middle. And the pre-middle. And the post-middle.

This made me want to seek out more of Karen Russell's work -- she puts her characters in odd environments, gives them fantastic (in the literal sense) stimuli, and in that she almost reminds me of Ray Bradbury.

Neuromancer

What can I say about Neuromancer that hasn't been said already? It's one of those novels that nearly any description is going to use either "seminal" or "groundbreaking". Not to say this isn't a good novel -- it is, I'd compare it favorably to any of the sci-fi I'd read recently -- but reading something like this nearly 30 (!) years after it was published, one tends to focus on where the author's vision of the future lacks verisimilitude, rather than where he was eerily prescient.

Despite the above, Neuromancer still retains its power. Worth picking up.

One of the necessary settings in a novel like this is an unpoliced Wild West area, where drugs and technology flow freely, and the opening setting of Chiba City in Japan may be the archetype of that.

The opening setting of Chiba City in Japan, a world of drugs, gangs, nightclubs, arcades, with little to no police presence could be the model for this genre; a Wild West-type area is needed in cyberpunk, and this certainly is it. Our protagonist, Case, is an archetype, too. So is our enforcer, Molly. While the plot may not be too unusual, the overall goal is an interesting one.

Again, Neuromancer is absolutely worthwhile, particularly for its treatment of artificial intelligence.

Japanese Death Poems is a collection of the last poems written before dying by many Japanese poets, both Zen monks and practitioners of haiku. It also contains a lengthy introduction explaining Japanese attitudes towards poetry, death, and religion. While initial death poems were often written by warriors or samurai before battle, the custom eventually spread to others, and preparing a death poem became accepted practice -- several of the writers in this book have more than one.

Reading anthologies can be tedious work; this is even more true when the pieces are short, such as an anthology of 3-10 line poems, as Japanese Death Poems is. Not that Japanese Death Poems is particularly tedious, but it can be tough to maintain focus, especially when many of the poems are presented without any biographical details, other than an approximate date of death. While many of these poets are obscure, and it might be tedious to read " . . . was a monk for thirty years . . ." hundreds of times, it'd be worthwhile to have some background on all of these poets, especially since the biographical sketches (anecdotes, really) are quite interesting. Even if further anecdotes would be banal, I'd have preferred to have at least some insight into the lives of these poets. (or merchants, samurai, monks, etc)

I don't know how often I'll refer back to this, but it does cover at least two styles of poetry (tanka and haiku), has the work of dozens of poets, and gives some insight into Japanese culture, so I think it is worth having in my library.