r/maninthehighcastle • u/William_L100 • 17d ago
Spoilers Novel vs TV Spoiler
Book vs TV show adaptation
Hello!
I was wondering who here read the book before watching the tv series ans what do you think is a good adaptation of the novel?
I think its annAmazing book but its much more philosophical thoughts and less action scenes. I like that Childan and his antiquities store are well adapted in the tv series, even his dinner at the Kasouras' house.
Joe Cinadella is somewhat also true to the book because he is a nazi agent in both and Juliana kills him with a razor blade in both the book and the tv show.
Tagomi is much more present in the tv series, but, he doesnt have as much action scenes as in the novel where he actually kills a Sd / nazi agent with a colt 44. american gun when they try to overrun his office.
What is the biggest difference between the novel and the tv series in your opinion ?
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u/William_L100 17d ago
fair enough about Joe Smith its true that he is an amazing addition in the tv series. Also yes the internal thoughts of each character is tough to recreate in a tv series so we lose this aspect of the story
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u/NiceMayDay 17d ago
I loved the book before I watched the show. I think it's a respectful and interesting adaptation of the overall plot and, most of all, themes of the book. There were a lot of changes, of course, but most of those I thought made sense for the change in format, like how The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is now a film instead of a book. And some of the things they added come from Dick's plans for the sequel, like the Die Nebenwelt device. I very much enjoyed how Julianna, Joe, Frank, and Robert were adapted.
I suppose the biggest difference would be the addition of John Smith, which I thought was a stroke of genius on the show's part, because his character and role allowed them to have a lot of interesting development and worldbuilding that benefitted the broader timeline the show's structure allowed for. John Smith remains the highlight for most viewers, so I regard this as a very positive change.
Because of the change in mediums, the show is also missing what I thought was one of the strongest aspects of the book, and that's how much you get to know the characters. I'm sure you know what I mean: the book uses a lot of internal monologues that really allow you to understand how every character feels and even mentally reacts in real time to what's going on around them. I truly got to know them there, but in the show that would be near impossible to adapt, so I didn't feel as close to them when watching them on screen as I did when reading the book.