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Shogun: A Novel of Japan
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| List Price: | £8.99 |
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Product Description
This is James Clavell’s tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world.
Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #16568 in Books
- Published on: 1999-12-02
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 1136 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
'My bet for the most satisfyingly popular novel of the year ... It has power, it has violence, subtlety and lots, lots more ... Clavell never puts a foot wrong ... Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' -- Daily Mirror 'SHOGUN is a huge exotic, blood-stained canvas of sixteenth century but still medieval Japan, rival warlords and proselytising Jesuits, geishas, seppuku, samurai with the death-with and a shipwrecked Elizabethan' -- Guardian 'Mr Clavell tells his story brilliantly' -- The Times 'One of the great page turners of all time' -- Good Book Guide 20020208 'I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. It's irresistable, maybe unforgettable. Clavell ... creates a world so enveloping you forget who and where you are' -- New York Times 20020208
In Clavell's last whopper, Tai-pan, the hero became tai-pan (supreme ruler) of Hong Kong following England's victory in the first Opium War. Clavell's new hero, John Blackthorne, a giant Englishman, arrives in 17th century Japan in search of riches and becomes the right arm of the warlord Toranaga who is even more powerful than the Emperor. Superhumanly self-confident (and so sexually overendowed that the ladies who bathe him can die content at having seen the world's most sublime member), Blackthorne attempts to break Portugal's hold on Japan and encourage trade with Elizabeth I's merchants. He is a barbarian not only to the Japanese but also to Portuguese Catholics, who want him dispatched to a non-papist hell. The novel begins on a note of maelstrom-and-tempest ("'Piss on you, storm!' Blackthorne raged. 'Get your dung-eating hands off my ship!'") and teems for about 900 pages of relentless lopped heads, severed torsos, assassins, intrigue, war, tragic love, over-refined sex, excrement, torture, high honor, ritual suicide, hot baths and breathless haikus. As in Tai-pan, the carefully researched material on feudal Oriental money matters seems to he Clavell's real interest, along with the megalomania of personal and political power. After Blackthorne has saved Toranaga's life three times, he is elevated to samurai status, given a fief and made a chief defender of the empire. Meanwhile, his highborn Japanese love (a Catholic convert and adulteress) teaches him "inner harmony" as he grows ever more Eastern. With Toranaga as shogun (military dictator), the book ends with the open possibility of a forthcoming sequel. Engrossing, predictable and surely sellable. (Kirkus Reviews)
Review
'My bet for the most satisfyingly popular novel of the year . . . It has power, it has violence, subtlety and lots, lots more . . . Clavell never puts a foot wrong . . . Get it, read it, you'll enjoy it mightily' (Daily Mirror )
'SHOGUN is a huge exotic, blood-stained canvas of sixteenth century but still medieval Japan, rival warlords and proselytising Jesuits, geishas, seppuku, samurai with the death-with and a shipwrecked Elizabethan' (Guardian )
'Mr Clavell tells his story brilliantly' (The Times )
'One of the great page turners of all time' ( Good Book Guide )
'I can’t remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one. It’s irresistable, maybe unforgettable. Clavell ... creates a world so enveloping you forget who and where you are' (New York Times )
About the Author
James Clavell, the son of a Royal Navy family, was educated in Portsmouth before, as a young artillery officer, he was captured by the Japanese at the Fall of Singapore. It was on this experience that his bestselling novel KING RAT was based. He maintained this oriental interest in his other great works: TAI-PAN, SHOGUN, NOBLE HOUSE and GAI JIN.
Customer Reviews
Epic really is the word!
Shogun by James Clavell truly is a mammoth tale of action, intrigue, passion, tragedy and betrayal. I had never previously read any books by this author or indeed any about Asia, so I was pretty daunted when I first saw the size of Shogun and I felt that it might be hard work to get through (this was not the case at all). The story follows English sailor John Blackthorne and his slightly accidental landing on the Japanese coast. It's as though he has gone to a different planet, the culture, lifestyle and beliefs are utterly different from anything he had previously experienced. Gradually he begins to show his worth to the nations powerful Lords and slowly his status in the country rises.
Shogun is action-packed from start to finish, never before has a novel taught me so much about a nations culture and language. Shogun is an incredibly gripping and intriguing book, that keeps you wondering how it's all going to turn out right to the very end. It's fascinating to see Blackthorne begin to understand and appreciate the Japanese way of life to the extent that he almost seems to prefer their ways to that of Europe by the end of the book.
Shogun is a book that is definitely worth a read and I'm certainly tempted to read another Clavell novel now.
Stunning achievement
There are very few books that one would wish to read more than once. Of those, there are, for me, three that stand head and shoulders above the rest. One is (almost predictably) Lord of the Rings; one is Dune; and the last (but not least) is Shogun. Once picked up, it is very hard to put down. The reader is drawn into a 100% real and credible world - in my case, so completely that when I reached the last page and put it down for the last time, I felt a sense of bereavement, as though I had come back from visiting a land that I knew I could never return to. And that is precisely the power of Shogun. So well is it written that it transports you into both a different land and a different time effortlessly and, despite the fact that it is by no means short, it leaves you wanting more. Here is a completely different culture, philosophy, and language, viewed through the eyes of a stranded Englishman, who gradually comes to understand the beauty of the Japanese way of life as well as his surroundings.
Atmospherically gripping
With only a couple of anachronisms, Clavell has written a hugely enjoyable, action-packed novel. The simplicities of peasant life are contrasted with the intricasies of court and diplomacy in a way guaranteed to engage the reader, leading to a revaluation of many of our Western views; while the action keeps us wanting more.
Fascinating, enjoyable and rewarding.
