Reviewed by Jessica Day George,
Author and Bookshop Talk Host
I’ve been aware of this book most
of my life. My dad had a battered paperback he’d picked up on a business
trip and read. My mom got all into the miniseries (starring the woefully
miscast Richard Chamberlain!) when it was on TV. It really never occurred
to me to read it. But then Lucy joined my book club. Lucy, avid
fantasy reader, Star Wars junkie, could not believe that I hadn’t read
Shogun. She told me fervently how it had changed her life the first time
she read it, how she’d been so involved in the Japanese culture, as described
by the book, that’d she’d accidentally bowed to people, and said “Hai!” instead
of “Yes!” I promised her I would read it . . . sometime. A few months
later, at the book club Christmas paperback exchange, I picked up a nice,
chunky, wrapped book . . . and found myself the proud owner of a copy of
Shogun, thanks to Lucy. By now other friends had recommended it, and I
could avoid it no longer. I dove in.
Reading Shogun is a commitment, I
won’t deny it. It clocks in at around 1,200 pages, pages with narrow
margins and very tiny print. But tackle those dense pages and you will be
rewarded. You’ll come away from this book with a new understanding of
Japanese culture, a true respect for anyone who dared to brave sailing around
the globe back in ye olden days, and a violent hatred of the Jesuits.
Okay, possibly the last bit was just me.
Anyway! Moving on!
Clavell has meticulously researched Japanese life and politics in the 16th century, as well as the culture and politics of Europe at that
time. The contrast in the two cultures is fascinating. Japanese
people at that time were cleaner, healthier, better educated, and lived decades
longer than Europeans. And at any time they could be ordered to commit
suicide by their leader, and they would do so. Even women and children
could find their lives forfeit if a husband or father displeased the
authorities. Through the eyes of Blackthorne, an English pilot working
for the Dutch, we see the good and bad of this way of life versus what he knew
in Europe. As Blackthorne is initiated in the ways of the samurai, the
reader is also treated to an inside view of bushido. And with Blackthorne
we are caught up in a desperate power struggle as feuding warlords vie for
control. An intricate, thrilling look at Japanese history, put the
enormous page count out of your mind and dive in!
Market: Adult Historical Fiction
Language: Mild
Violence: Some scenes of sword
fighting and battle, nothing graphic, beatings, and discussion of suicide
Sensuality: Some PG-13 type “love
scenes,” two rather frank descriptions of, ahem, adult toys.
1 comment:
This looks awesome. Another one to put on my to-read list.
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