The Man in the High Castle: TV series Vs. Novel

I have recently taken up reading again and one of the novels that I tackled was The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, originally published in 1962. I was unaware of the the writer but unbeknownst to me I was well aware of his work because adaptations of his bibliography boast the likes of Blade Runner, Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau as well as many others. The were a couple of reasons that I chose this novel, one of which was the fact that I wanted to spend £20 on Amazon to get free delivery, the other being the Amazon Instant Video adaptation of the book which I devoured over the course of a couple of weeks.

I fell in love with the series during the first episode, the alternate universe truly captured me. The Man in the High Castle TV series followed what life would be like if the USA had lost against the Nazi's and Japanese, leading them to divide the country and ruling over their respective territories. The US is now a society where fascism is rife and conformity is the key to the citizens survival, denouncing their faiths, loved ones and in some cases their whole personalities. The setting is intriguing and daring because of peoples sensitivity towards the wars. What makes this a riveting tale is the uprising against the totalitarian governments, with members getting inspired by videos which are depicting an alternate lifestyle where the US won the wars. The members of the resistance strive to collect as many of these videos as they can on behalf of a man known only as "The Man in the High Castle" in the belief that these videos mean something and could somehow change the world.


In the TV series Julianna Crain (Alexa Davalos) comes across one of these films, titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, unintentionally through her sister who had the intention of taking it to Colorado but after tragedy occurs Julianna takes ownership over the video. Through this event she becomes sucked into the world of the resistance and entangled into a web of lies and deceit, at the same time leaving her boyfriend Frank Frink (Rupert Evans) to pick up the pieces and pay for her actions. Other characters include Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), a character who Julianna comes across on her troubles and may have dubious goals, John Smith (Rufus Sewell) who is a high ranking Nazi official and the ever ambiguous trade official Nobusuke Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). None of the main characters seem sidelined at any point in the series, its always wonderful to explore each and every one of their story arcs.

I loved the series which is what led me to read the book, I couldn't go months without having some High Castle in my life. What I didn't realise was that the TV adaptation is a very loose adaptation of the novel, the only commonality they seem to have is the universe and the character names. The novel is more of a pondering on their lives and meanings of it, and although their are some moments of action it's just not as thrilling as the series. The series had me on the edge of my seat constantly and I couldn't wait for the next episode, whereas the novel left me bored at times and I was close to abandoning it. From the moment I unwrapped it I didn't have the best feeling about the novel, purely because it seemed so short and made me wonder how it could tell the full story within its pages. The truth is, it didn't. The novel sets the scene very well but it barely scratched the surface on events that could have occurred. The characters also aren't as compelling as they were in the TV series and reading the events of the book unfold made my heart sink.

I tend to prefer source material when it comes to adaptations because we get the fully formed story the author wanted to tell. Adaptations tend to cut sections out and/or dilute characters to make them more bland and digestible to a mainstream audience, but it's the opposite with The Man in the High Castle. I don't think the novel is bad, it's well written but I do believe that the television series is miles better because it keeps me wanting more and whenever I put down the novel I didn't think about it till I had to pick it up again. I do wonder if that is purely because I engulfed the series prior to the novel, maybe if it was the other way around I would've preferred the novel. No, the show is fantastic.

Live Long and Blog!

Related Posts

Any Human Heart: Mini-Series Vs. Novel