Rating: 
Summary: This screed was a national bestseller?
Review: Let's give Trevanian credit where it is due. He's created an interesting, if somewhat juvenile and cartoonish, lead character (Mr. Hel reminds me of no one so much as the hilarious Col. Flagg of M*A*S*H, who in one scene holds his index finger up to Charles Winchester and says "Do you believe I could kill you with this finger?"), and runs us through some beautiful curves and contours of Japanese culture. But really. Here in the 21st century, post-Oliver Stone, post-X Files, this book's paranoia with the Corporation That Runs The World is remarkable only in its prediction of how other slick hacks 25 years later would try to convince us that They control us. Trevanian's view of modern corporate society in this book is roughly equivalent to Michael Moore's: fevered, clichéd, sophomoric and bearing only a tenuous connection to reality.
And is the book really that special? Besides the depth of research Trevanian obviously had to undergo to write the book, what's really so great about it? It starts off well, but the middle is a muddle, with little action and only Heinlein-esque political sermons given against the backdrop of straw man arguments. The ending is disappointing, anti-climactic and illogical (if the Corporation That Runs the World really runs the world, why couldn't they suppress an unflattering report on an assassination?).
But, what the Hel, I can't say the book's all bad. Where else could we get an apology for the Japanese occupational forces, the rape of Nanking, and the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity sphere? Only Trevanian could have the sheer chutzpah to try. Give the man his props at least for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Excels in all ways
Review: Firstly, Shibumi is *not* as a previous reviewer described it (the proximity sense that Hel discovered he had). Shibumi is a state of ultimate and elegant simplicity, something which Hel was still striving for at the end of the book. He was looking for Shibumi in his garden creation which he had been working on for 15 years and estimated another 15 years before he would achieve it. For example, moving a stone a tiny amount so that the rain drop makes a perfect resonant sound when it falls on it.
What I loved about this book is the articulate way the details are described. Usually I skim through all the background stuff, wanting to get to the point. But in Shibumi I loved getting to know the intracacies so articulately conveyed of every aspect of the story. I loved how the dislike for Americanism was so exactly described--not disliking Americans, but disliking a culture of consumerism and merchantile priorities which could best be described as "American," simply because that is where it is most prevalent.
All the things that happened during Hel's lifetime developed him into the character who handled the situation in the way that he did. Shibumi: things understated. An American culture, moulded to overstating and shouting, could potentially miss the subtleties that are so equisite in this story.
I just finished this book for the third time and it was as much a page-turner as it was the first and second times. It is a thrilling adventure story with every background aspect intricately and deeply understandable, adding to the whys of what happens. I loved the caving stories and the portrayal of the Basque culture--gripping, fascinating.
Shibumi is a story that is complete, suspense-filled, enlightening and mind-opening. I consider it a must-read!
Rating: 
Summary: Awful disappointment.
Review: Terrible book. Everyone in the book dies and the hero is planning to kill himself by the end. All the action is "off stage": Hero walks behind a curtain with a comb, bad guy is dead. Then he walks behind the curtain with a credit card, another bad guy is dead. Great build ups to no pay off. Hero becomes a "Go" expert: Never plays "Go" again in the book. Just a bunch of grandiose wish fulfillment by the author. It does have a great caving sequence. (like the nice moutain climbing in his last book.) If you must get the book read the chapters about the caving. They stand completly alone very well without bothering with the nonsense of the rest of the book. Over all a very depressing read.
Rating:
Summary: The intellectual masterpiece
Review: For those who enjoy an action packed book with small, monosyllabic words like pow, slam, blap, and thork, this book is not for you. On the otherhand, those who appreciate reading a well-woven story with intelligent, complex thinking and anti-heroic ideals, this may be your thing. It's old school! I have read all of Trevanian's stuff, but they all pale in comparison to Shibumi. The Eiger Sanction was pretty good, Loo Sanction wasn't bad, everything else was a little disapointing. I have read Shibumi at least 10 times over the years and I still enjoy going through it every once in a while.
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