Rating: 
Summary: pass the sake
Review: I judge this novel to be overall quite enthralling. It entices and excites the reader on a multitude of levels. Romance, mysticism, spirtuality, adventure, action, and some gore thrown in for good measure, it's truly a novel of epic proportions. One can see why it is so revered in the eastern culture and spawned so many movies. This book has set me on a search for samurai swords on ebay and my first book on zen. Thanks Miyamoto! I would have given it 5 stars instead of 4 if not for the reoccuring Osugi sub plot. Damn that old woman!
Rating: 
Summary: The soul of the deep
Review: Ten years ago, in my 15th, I read this book in my school library in Shanghai, China. Now I just finished it again sitting in the office in New York City. It's ten years since then.
What makes me glad is that I find I'm able to have some new understanding and feelings about this book, or this man. I hope this can at least be a proof that I hadn't wasted this ten years absolutely in vain.When one read such a book seriously, he will inevitably keep asking himself a question: What's Musashi strving for with all his life? Different people give different answers.
I offer mine: Independence.
Rating:
Summary: action, intensity, humor, weird weapons and bad words!
Review: I bought this book years ago at Hakubundo in Honolulu mainly because the cover art is so incredible (the illos on the back cover of this book of each of the characters are so telling of the individuality of the characters) and after I had seen the year long NHK weekly Taiga drama of Miyamoto Musashi's life. However, once I read the book, I could not put it down, and became aware that I was really reading about how a wild man becomes civilized through his travels and fights and develops a a great compassion and aspiration as to what is true manhood. This book originally started as a serial in newspapers by Mr. Yoshikawa, and the popularity of it led to the publishing of the entire serial. I always felt after reading this that some of the wisest thoughts of great character was imbued in this novel, and felt uplifted by the transcending ideals beginning to answer what a life worth living for is about. This review sounds stilted now, but when I read this years ago, I mainly liked it for all the action, plots, and sheer frustration at that single-minded girl "Otsu" chasing after Musashi through thick and thin ignoring other appropriate men who held back their interest due to her obsession with him. When you see the illo of her on the back cover, she looks exactly as you would imagine with her gorgeous large searching eyes, concern written all over her face, and then there is the proud Sasaki Kojiro with the half-smirk on his handsome face, and then there is also Musashi's closest friend, who is portrayed as a rather weasely sort (I thought) as he is so portrayed in the novel until he makes good and grows up near the end of the novel. The novel is a great read, the translation is so alive and awesome with bad words included! Who would ever have thought a book with such wise ideas would be packaged in so much humor, intesity, action, action, action, action, and a beautiful girl being chased by a crazed baba (The granny who wants her to marry her weak weasely son) who spits needles out of her mouth as weaponry as the girl chases after Musashi. Too much fun!
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: I have read literally thousands of books yet this is the first that I have felt the desire to spend sick amounts of money to have bound in leather & edge gilded. Nuff said? Nope. Even if your not an avid reader & even if your not usually into samurai culture you will likely have a difficult time putting this book down. If you are into these things you may as I did have found a new favorite novel of all times.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent story!
Review: Loosely based on an actual historical figure in early 17th century Japan (1600-1612) Musashi is a "most excellent" novel written by one of Japan's famous authors, Eiji Yoshikawa. Mr. Yoshikawa deftly ties together many actual events in such a manner that makes it very difficult to put this book down.
The book comes in (in this translated version) just under 1000 pages, but is a very easy read. I highly recommend it as one of those classic novels that should be in everyone's bookcase.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful saga!
Review: This is a great book, and a must read for fun and for an insight into Japanese culture of the past 500 years leading up to today. I read the version translated into Brazilian Portuguese, which is the work of a master. The result is a very harmonic and smooth flow that carries you right into the imaginary life of Musashi, and the real life of samurais in Japan some half millennia ago. I can only imagine how wonderful the original in Japanese must be. I look forward to reading the English version, just to be sure I don't miss a thing in this marvelous saga. Don't let the 1000-plus pages daunt you. You will devour this book once you get started.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book, but remember that it's fiction
Review: This book is a pleasant read, but keep in mind that it is SUGGESTED by the events in Musashi's life. Most historians agree that several of the things in this book just never happened. Despite this, many people believe that it represents a totally accurate portrayal of the life of the famous swordsman. If you can view it as a work of fiction, you will find it to be an engrossing story of the maturation of a man-at-arms. The book presents a look into the customs and attitudes of feudal Japan. While it is a rather long book, it didn't seem to be so as I was reading it. If you enjoy "samurai stories", Musashi should prove to be a superb choice.
Rating:
Summary: A thrilling epic...
Review: The story is great, the characters are great, the action is great, and even the romance is great! A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Really, really, really great story!!!
Review: The only disappointment you will feel is when the book ends because there isnt anymore of it to read. The story was the first I read about medieval Japan. The story is a narrative written in elaborate, yet by no means boring detail. There are many elements to the writing that testify to the genius of the author. First of all, the story is riveting all the way from the beginning to the end, although in the end you are literally unable to take your eyes off the book (I read the last 120 pages non-stop and missed work that day!!). Second, all the characters interact nicely in a complex and yet realistic manner. This is the element that must have inspired the film noir genre! Third, the story provides a moral that you can infer easily without the author having to impose it on the reader. And last, there are no pretenses on part of the characters in the story: Musashi is a great and yet by no means a perfect man (he continues learning all the way through the story), and his adversaries are sometimes cruel and yet not pure evil. All of those factors combine to give a great epic that will definitely be an unforgettable reading. Go buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: a little over-rated, but you should read it....
Review: Good story about one of Japans most famous samurai, but I found this story to be a little difficult to read due to its format. It was originally a serial and was condensed to a book. If you are going to study Japan or just like samurai flicks, you have to read this book, howverer, it will be a bit tedious.
|
