Search - Shogun

Among students of Japanese history, this historical novel is notorious for inaccuracies. Samurai really were not so mean and bloodthirsty. The Tokugawa Ieyasu stand-in (Toranaga) did things Tokugawa did not do. A character could not have practiced judo because it hadn't been developed at the time of the novel. These are quibbles though. The action rocks, the character Mariko is great, the intrigue among the warlords feels real. It evens works as a novel that shows the process of inter-cultural understanding: gradually Anjin-san comes to understand the Japanese do what they do for consistent reasons, once you understand the logic behind the action.

One of the best books I've ever read! I love this story and found its characters unforgettable. This is a rare story that makes you see the world through different eyes. I felt I learned a great deal about ancient Japanese culture during the time of the Samurai. I even learned a little bit of the language. After reading this--I had to see the movie with Richard Chamberlain which is very good as well. Highly recommend this book!

I requested this book because I'd heard many good things about it (and the resulting mini-series) and all I can say is that I was massively disappointed. I couldn't even finish, that's how bad it was.

First of all - the writing in itself is not very good. The author often changes character POV without warning, leaving the reader confused. Commas are abused (improperly placed and sometimes not placed at all where they are sorely needed), leading to more confustion and often forcing the reader to reread sections to understand what the author was trying to say. My 11th grade English teacher would've given this guy hell if he'd turned in a paper like this. His editor must've been asleep at the wheel because there are numerous typographical errors throughout the book and I can say that that personally DRIVES ME NUTS as a reader.

And the writing style leaves much to be desired. Frequently stilted and often overly simplistic. I could've forgiven this if it weren't for all the other problems.


Then the inaccuracies. Holy crap. First of all - if you're going to write a novel in which you need to use a language that is foreign to you, get someone who actually speaks it to PROOFREAD YOUR WORK. At first, I thought it was maybe the author trying to show that the main character, Blackthorne, could only manage broken Japanese, but then when other characters were using it, too... UGH. Honestly. And his romanization and names are a joke. He makes a big point of the Japanese characters telling Blackthorne that they don't have the syllables in their language to pronounce his name properly, then the author himself massacres the language (Hint: There is no 'ye' syllable in Japanese. I know; I studied it for 4+ years). And some of the names I swear he just made up to sound 'japanese-y' to western audiences.

Then we've got how all of the Japanese characters are nothing more than stereotypes that frequently border on racist. Come on. I learned more about samurai and feudal Japan by watching freaking *anime*. If I was writing a 1000+ page novel on the subject, I would've invested far more time in research than Clavell did. Then there's all the supposedly Buddhist stuff and the 'by the Buddha!' swearing that the Japanese in the novel do. Uhhhhm, no, not really in reality. Japanese religion is primarily Shinto, which mixes in elements of Buddhism, but it's absolutely nothing like what's protrayed in Shogun.

In other words, the historical information found in this book is about as accurate as that found about Native Americans in a John Wayne movie.


So, if you picked up this book expecting to learn more about Japanese history, like I did, PUT IT DOWN. There are far better, far more entertaining sources.

A good read.

excllent book, first in the Clavell Asia series. good read

Shogun is an entertaining read. The story winds around and is interesting. The ending is a disappointment where Clavell seems to have run out of energy to properly finish the novel. At over a thousand pages long, this really says something.