Shogun

Rating:
Summary: Book that started me to love reading
Review: I would ride the train to the World Trade Center in the late 70's and could not take my eyes & mind from the book Shogun. This was the first large book I did not have to be made to read. There was a couple of times on my way to or from work, when I would purposely not get off my train stop because I had to finish reading the chapter to find out what was going to happen next. I reread this book last month with excitement throughout every chapter and now I'm giving my son a copy for his birthday.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: James Clavell has succeeded in offering an irresistable novel of feudal Japan. Having researched Japan extensively for stage productions, and having a specific target on the Edo or Tokugawa era, I found this to be extremely culturally accurate. Yes, I do know that the history was fuzzy, but he made a statement in the front of the bood that was kind of like this: "Yo, I know the history's not totally accurate, so back off you perfectionist." So I really give him credit for taking the liberty of doing that. Overall, it is a masterfully interwoven tale.

We will rule hagerstown!

Rating:
Summary: Not quite how it happened, but a good read anyway
Review: Clavell is the master of storytelling. A tell of love, politcal power, betrayal, and adventure. A look at the first Englishman to step foot on the Japanese shores, during a feudal war for power in Japan.

Rating:
Summary: viewing Japan from within
Review: Clavell's sensitivity to Japan's culture and ancient history makes this book a very good instrument for understanding the country in present days. Much of what is described in the book appears in the present as a heritage, reconstructed by the "social imagination" in different important ways, and it makes it possible to better appreciate the drastic changes opperated in modern Japan. Plus, the plot is great fun and Clavell gives us a multicultral perspective, with emphasis on japanese perspective, on 16th century Japan and on the events he created. Being a foreigner in the country, it was great reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Historical fiction on a grand scale
Review: I remember back in the summer of 76 my father was very ill. He spent most of that summer in the hospital and my mother bought him dozens of books to read - cable was still in it's infancy and VCR's were few and far between. She focused on buying big thick books and Shogun was one of these books. I was nine years old at the time and utterly fascinated by it's thickness. When the mini-series aired four years later I watched all of it with my parents. I remember the plot being complicated and difficult to follow, but I did enjoy the overall atmosphere and ,of course, the many action scenes. I especially liked the Ninja sequence.

Now, over twenty years later, I've finally read the novel and enjoyed it tremendously. It's fast moving, engrossing and exciting. It does exactly what the best of this genere should do. It takes you away and makes you feel as if you're actually in another time and place. What more can one ask?

And yet I couldn't help noticing some of the other reviewers critiques of Calvell's incorrect use of Japanese words, expressions etc.The fictionalizing of historical personas, incorrect depections of various martial arts, and just his overall depiction of old Japan. So in defense of the late Mr. Clavell I'm going to address some of these points. First of all Mr. Clavell began writing Hollywood screenplays back in the fifties. You can see his name in the credits for Gunfight at the OK Corral with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. In his day fictional authors created thinly disguised fictional characters in place of the actual people and events. It was considered tactless to write a work of fiction with actual persons interacting with fictional protaganists. Mr.CLavell did just this when he wrote Shogun. When looked at in these terms it makes sense. As far as the arrogance of his changing of Japanese history and comparing it to a foreign film in which the name of George Washington is changed......well there have been foreign films made in the past which have "messed" with our history. A good example would have to be the Sergio Leone westerns, but there are others. Like it or not, Clavell wasn't writing for a Japanese audience. His book was for readers that knew pratically nothing about pre-Tokugawa Japan.I have to say this is one reason why he has his characters using Judo and other modern martial arts. The average American in 1975 had heard of Judo, but I doubt they knew what jijitsu and others were. For those readers with truly curious natures I don't doubt they went on and learned more on their own. Never forget that this is a work of fiction first and formost.

Does Clavell engage in some idolization of Japanese culture? Yes. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Clavell was a man who admired Asia. Writers have the privlige of putting their worldview into their work and Clavell does just that in Shogun.This is one reason why I've grown tired of reading fiction. But, in Shogun, I didn't find it overbearing and tiresome. This is a skillfully written piece of popular fiction, deserving of it's rating. It isn't a coincidence this book is still in print after twenty-five years or that the mini-series is available. To read this book and others like it one needs to check one's self-importance at the door and go in with a easy going attitude.

Believe me I know. I used to be soldier and now I'm a cop. If I allowed myself to be infuriated over all the innaccuracies that I constantly catch in books and movies about cops and soldiers I'd never be able to enjoy anything. So relax and enjoy. It's lots of fun, and what more can one ask for?

Rating:
Summary: Fuzzy history. Excellent fiction.
Review: If you ever want to irritate your Japanese History professor (assuming you ever have one), mention "Shogun" (and pronounce it "show gun" while your at it). What bothers many of them is not just the glaring historical innacuracies, and there are plenty of them, but the westerners who mange to get through all 1152 pages and assume they're now experts in Japense history. Let's face it, the Japan in Clavell's Shogun is a fictional world, only slightly more real than Tolkien's Middle Earth. Don't mistake a work of fiction for a book on history because you'll be sorely mistaken. Another reviewer has pointed out a few of the martial arts related inaccuracies, so I'll spare you the hundreds of historical and liguistic ones.

To defend Clavell only slightly, Japan's history is an ever changing landscape that can make a newly published history book obsolete in a few years. You wouldn't think so, but there are some history books on the shelves that paint just as innacurate a picture of Japan as "Shogun" does, and many of them are written by Japanese authors. That's the nature of the beast.

All that being said, "Shogun" is one of my all time favorite books and probably had a little to do with me coming to Japan where I now live. It's so entertaining that it's easy to forgive all the historical blunders. Easy enough for me to give it a five star review.

Shogun is an adventure story, a tale of forbidden love, and a political thriller all rolled into one. It may seem impossibly long if you're not used to reading big books, but believe me, it will be over before you know it. While Clavell's samurai may be flawed historically, they're no less fascinating, and many of the comparisons between the Japanese and Western characters are at least based in truth.

The main character, Blackthorn is tossed into a mysterious and dangerous world where deception is a survival technique and violence is liberally dispensed. While the charcter begins the story as a stranger in a strange land, he eventually adapts, and ultimately prospers with only his wits to guide him.

Blackthorn may be the main character, and the one Western audiences most identify with, but he is not the most interesting. Toranaga, based on Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of Japan's last shogunate, is a man of almost superhuman intelligence and charisma, capable of escaping the most well crafted trap and turning the most unexpected events into an overwhelming advantage. Toranaga is more like a creature of myth than a part of history.

So if you like epic yarn's full of intrigue, adventure, sex, assassination, war, samurai, ninja, sailors, geisha and swords and aren't too concerned about a history lesson, "Shogun" is for you. If you want to learn Japanese history take a class with an open mind. Oh, don't mention Crichton's "Rising Sun" either, that one isn't nearly as forgiveable as "Shogun."

Rating:
Summary: One of the best historical novels
Review: Despite what some reviewers say, Shogun is one of the better crafted historically based novels. What some people forget is that this book is of the fiction genre. Yes, that means the author is bound to take some liberties with the historical matter. If certain, rather minor historical inaccuracies really bother the pseudo historian in you, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you are in the market for one of the most complete novels ever written - Shogun might just be your book. This book takes a fabulous love story, lots of action and intrigue and wraps it in a torrid period in Japan's history. Lord Toranaga's character is actually based on the last true Shogun of Japan, Ieyasu Tokugawa, who conquered all the other territories, creating for the first time in centuries - a unified Japan. Many of the other central characters are based on true historical figures as well. I completely recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Asian culture and in a terrific read. Clavell in my opinion is one of the best western authors ever to catch the true "asianess" of the Chinese and Japanese cultures he writes about. His attention to minute details of the culture is what really creates a lasting and sincere portrait of Japan in this novel.

Rating:
Summary: You will not be able to put this book down
Review: I normally don't even like reading very much, but I started reading this book during my commute. I got so involved in this novel that I missed my stop several times and I spent every spare minute reading it. That was last year, and I just re-read Shogun a few weeks ago and was again amazed by what a masterpiece of literature it is. The characters are well developed in a highly intriguing plot with many twists you will never expect. All of the main characters (approx. 10) are very intelligent individuals trying to survive in highly treacherous society. This is an extremely entertaining book -- I did not encounter one boring section in 1100 pages. Shogun is long, but it is well worth the time investment. I also recommend reading the rest of Clavell's novels (Tai-pan, Gai-Jin, King Rat, Noble House) because they all tie in together.

Rating:
Summary: Help! Now I'm thinking in Japanese!
Review: Completely engaging. A beautiful story of Western morality, Eastern philosophy, dignity, betrayal, and marvelously clever war strategy. The characters are all human (even the bad guys are sometimes likable) and the women are sweet, sensual, and brutally manipulative.

Read this when you've got a long weekend coming...you won't be able to put it down. Suspense strings you along for hundreds of pages at a time. I read it obsessively and had dreams about samurai for three nights straight.

And I love it when I find a book that can open my mind to new ways of thinking, and tell a story at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: I first heard about Shogun from a friend of mine when I was at UofI. My friend suggested the book because I was really into Japanese culture. It was an excellent book and I was very happy that I read it, although my grades did suffer a little. After reading the review of Stuart W. Mirsky, I realized I had to make a comment on his mistake. He claims that James Clavell had a few characters in his book using Judo and kicking, when they were not around in Japan in the 1600's. This is in fact not correct. In the book, the characters do not use Judo, they in fact use Jujitsu. It is evident when one character pushes on a pressure point against the main character, that it is not Judo but Jujitsu. Jujitsu is Judo, but with the use of pressure points included. Also, in order to recieve a black belt in Jujitsu, one must be adept at kicking. I highly suggest to Stuart W. Mirsky that he researches material before he goes talks about them.