I don’t think I’ve ever read a book and then decided I’ll never read anything else written by the author until now. Wow, this book was a drag. I began reading it after learning that a new miniseries based on this book was in the works. I thought, I should read the book now to appreciate the miniseries more.
In the 47 days it took me to read this book (yes, it was 1100 pages long, but still), I finished three novellas and 11 other books (2 of which were literal academic books about the modern political divisions in Taiwan; not exactly breezy light reading, but far more interesting than this pig slop).
This book was all over the place. I do not understand why Blackthorne and Mariko fall in love. Having served in the military, I know that when husbands are separated from their boorish, unattractive wives, who they can barely tolerate, and are in exotic locations with new attractive sexually liberated women who have no pubic lice, the desire to cheat is strong. But love?!
Also, switching back and forth between not one, not two, but three languages in the course of a single conversation, and then explaining it in English, is simply too much. Sometimes the author will simply skip large chunks of time or locations in the time it takes to move on to the next paragraph, which is also very jarring; other times, there are breaks within a chapter that make no sense.
>!Lord Toranaga is supposed to be a master strategist and an honorable man, but isn’t he just a huge asshole? That burns down Blackthorne’s ship just to keep him in Japan? How many ninjas attacked the castle in the final climax? At least sixty, if not more. Sixty plus attackers is a small army, it is not exactly a small elite strike force. The whole second half of the book is talking about this huge war that’s supposed to happen but doesn’t because, I don’t know, my eyes and brain started to glaze over when the characters started talking circles around each other trying to outmaneuver and backstab each other. Does the war actually happen? Who knows? I certainly don’t, because!< I made it to the final chapter and just skimmed blocks of text just so I could finish the book and mark it as read.
Given that it was first published in 1975, I understand that Westerners were beginning to become interested in Asian culture. Even though this book is historical fiction rather than an exact historical retelling, the characters and the plot are so unbelievably dull that no amount of historical accuracy can make up for it.
by OddAlbatross1737
26 Comments
Yeahhh, I’m gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there
Well that’s certainly an opinion
I disagree sir.
One of the most engrossing and exciting adventure stories ever put to writing. Sorry it didn’t stick with you.
Everyone is welcome to their opinion. Personally, I could barely put it down. Loved it.
I have never disagreed with a review so hard before. I feel like you and I read completely different novels.
Nah man it was good
It sounds fair to say you don’t like the author or style. Cool, cool.
“Shogun” remains one of my top 10 all-time favorites, but to each their own!
It’s been a minute, but pretty sure those last few blocks of text tell you what happened with the war.
Which was a tad, “…Really? I waited for that,” for my tastes. I still don’t regret reading it though.
I really enjoyed the novel. However, it’s not one I would read twice.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, having watched the 1980’s miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain. It is probably inaccurate from a historical viewpoint, but the Shogunate was a turbulent period in Japan’s history. As an adventure/romance story with travelogue thrown in, it seemed to work pretty well.
I also hated it but I didn’t finish it I read maybe 30%. I keep my head down about it on Reddit though they jerk off to shogun here.
I read Shogun a few decades ago, I loved it so much that I’ve probably reread it ten times since. It’s a fantastic book, great characters, awesome storyline. If you’re even slightly interested in this part of Japanese history you’ll get a lot out of it.
Not everything is for everyone.
> Lord Toranaga is supposed to be a master strategist and an honorable man, but isn’t he just a huge asshole?
> I made it to the final chapter and just skimmed blocks of text just so I could finish the book and mark it as read.
Well I guess you shouldn’t mark it as read then, because you clearly didn’t get it. If you had read the book properly you would’ve understood, that the big reveal of Toranaga‘s plan at the end shows that he is in fact both: A strategic genius and an ”asshole“, because he managed to fool everyone (including the reader) on his long mission to become the Shōgun.
Respectfully, I disagree.
This book has been on and off my “Want to read” list so many times based on the completely polarised reviews…
Oh man is today the bad takes day? First project Hail Mary now this lmao
I haven’t read it but I did enjoy the mini series, with Richard Chamberlain.
tl;dr: “It was really long and hard to read.”
I think you’ll find that some of the finest literature ever written is fairly long and may take a certain amount of effort to understand. Saying something like this is not a critique of a book. It’s simply a sign of the unwillingness of the reader to engage with the work.
If you didn’t enjoy it, that’s fine, but that doesn’t make it “bad.”
One thing Shogun isn’t is a drag. It is a rip roaring historical adventure based on a real story. Read the book Samurai William by Giles Milton for historical context. Shogun is one of my favourite novels.
May be the setting didn’t appeal to you but I find Japanese history and all the samurai traditions fascinating. It is full of political, religious and military intrigue with fascinating characters and storyline.
The only thing I didn’t like was the abrupt ending. It would have been better if it was more developed like the rest of the book.
I didn’t read the entire post because I’m reading the book right now and don’t want spoilers but I fear I won’t love it either. I’m more than 3/4 way through the first book and nothing is happening, it is needlessly drawn out and I am just hoping something mildly exiting is going to happen to end the first book
I am hoping this is just a slow but great story, I only heard good things up until now so I’m not giving up but I am forcing myself to keep reading at the moment
Everyone else is talking about Shogun, but your “I’ll never read another book by him”… King Rat is a masterpiece, and it is completely different. It’s based on his own experiences as a prisoner of war in Changi prison camp. Incredible book.
Mariko falls in love with Blackthorn because he treats her decently, as opposed to Buntaro treating her as a slave who should be grateful to him for marrying her, since her father betrayed and assassinated the powerful warlord Goroda.
Toranaga treats people under him as expendable because he’s from a culture where it’s understood the samurai are the unquestioned superiors of non-samurai. His behavior looks awful in a vacuum, but in the context of the story (and the actual history on which the story is based), all the people who die for him are a small sacrifice compared to the decades of peace he’ll usher in as Shogun. His apathy towards death isn’t uncommon among other Japanese characters; Mariko and Yabu both readily kill themselves at his orders.
There’s an afterward that very briefly summarizes the campaign between Toranaga and Ishido’s factions; Toranaga’s forces win and he humiliates Ishido before executing him. I dont have the book in front of me but it may literally be two or three sentences.
All I read was “it took me 47 days to read 12 books and 2 academic journals, my brain is too big for James clavelle. I need something my enormously high IQ can really wrestle with.”
Read this book many years ago now and I can still remember parts of it I enjoyed it so much. In fact, I think that it’s about time for a re-read.