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Review title: Dated Dick
Product review: I had heard that this slim novel, in which Germany and Japan have divided up American, after winning WWII, was one of the best alternate history books ever. Being a moderate counterfactual history fan, I was excited to such a book by someone as respected as Dick. Unfortunately, while the setup is excellent, there's almost no plot to hold the reader's attention. The story, such as it is, hovers around San Francisco and a few people trying to work within this postwar system, where everyone has "place" or rank. There are some interesting incidents and characters, but ultimately they get bogged down in meaningless mystic nonsense. I can see how in 1962, when the book first appeared, the combination of alternate history and I Ching-babble must have been revolutionary, but both have been been done so much better since, that this ends up feeling quite dated and inadequate. Most disappointing of all is the obscure non-ending.
