Shogun
by James Clavell
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Book Summary Information
Author: James ClavellEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: French (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1976-06-01
ISBN: 0440178002
Number of pages: 1152
Publisher: Dell
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Book Reviews of Shogun
Book Review: Most Wonderful Story
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, I am not a critic and never can be. I am a scientist, not a literary critic. I could never write such a wonderful novel as this, so I have no place criticizing it or the author. I am just giving my thoughts and how I felt and what I learned from the novel. There might be some spoilers if you have not read it and you read this, but I just recently read it, and also watched the mini-series on DVD. I was so happy I bought the DVD because I watch scenes from it allot, just like you might listen to a music CD of your choice. I don't think you can find it in a rental store though, so if you love the book, you will probably have to buy the DVD if you care to so. The movie is different from the book, and well you may or may not like the way things turn out. I didn't, but well Yoko Shimada was perhaps the most beautiful actress you may see in the movies, at least she was to me. She won a best actress award for her portrayl of Mariko, the Lady Toda. So it was worth it to me so I can just watch and dream about her. :)
I don't think you can fully appreciate the book in just one reading. Clavell is just so fluid in his writing that you get lost in his story and you don't think about some things as you read it the first time. Now critics probably will because that is what they do, criticize. But I read novels, when I have the time, for enjoyment, and this novel was very pleasing to me to read. You will find that there are several themes that run throughout the book. A love story, a tradgedy, and a triumph, really a rags to riches story, but one that ends so sorrowfully. Amidst all this is subterfuge, treachery, usery, duty and honor (bushido), beauty and a love that can only exist on a spiritual plane. Mariko and Blackthorne became soul mates if you will. Should we all be so fortunate to have such love?
It was truly just a great chess game though, if you know how to play chess: Toranago, being the white king, who so adroitly manipulated all of his pieces and thus became Shogun. Mariko the Queen, Blackthorne the two rooks, he was that powerful I think. Alvito and Del'Aqua the bishops and Yabu and Omi the knights, because they were so treacherous and oblique. You will understand I think what I mean when you read the book. You won't get that from the movie though. Compared to the book, the movie is very shallow in its development of the characters, and in fact the themes.
I will talk a little now about the plots and characters. First off, I had to do some research on Feudal Japan's history and economy to truly understand the story, You will never understand just how important and powerful and rich Blackthorne became in Japan unless you do. The man became legendary within I think 6 months of time, more powerful than just about any Samurai out there and his sexual prowess was renouned. At first he was sentenced to death, lived in a pit, urintate on, and subsequently sent to a death prison. Then through Karma ( I will state it that way) he became a Hatamoto, Samurai and Chief Admiral of Toranaga's fleet with a small fief at first, but in the end, one that would make him a Lord of considerable note. He would become lord of Anjiro, Yokese and Itu, almost an entire province. I am somewhat of a historian of Medevial times, and I know just how precious that can be for that period of time. So at first he may be likened to a Baron, perhaps a Viscount in England, but in the end perhaps more like a Marquess. His annual income would be 4000 koku per year for just Anjiro, but my guess is it would have been raised to close to 10,000 koku per year for the addition of the other two cities, if the story had progressed. I would say he was like a Duke (I think Toranaga thought of him as a brother), but he had no hereditary title so that would be forbidden, so Marquess is perhaps the best title. And the swords given to him, one would not realize I think on first reading just how precious they were, and how valuable, just as they would be in Medieval Europe. The swords given to Blackthorne by Toranaga were over 200 years old, and worth maybe 50,000 koku, maybe even 100,000 koku. They were named Oil Seller (you will have to read the book to know why). He was extraordinarily rich with just his first stipend from Toranaga of 240 koku per year. Towards the end where he was given the Minawara sword by Yabu, who was given the sword by Toranaga, and that sword was claimed to be priceless to a any samarui, he became like a Bill Gates, if not in money at least legend. So in effect, Blackthorne became everything he wanted to be in England, but instead it happened in Japan which he came to love. In so doing though, he lost the two most precious things in his life; therefore the tradgedy of the story.
Unless you think about it, you won't realize why Mariko decided to give herself physically to Blackthorne after Yokese. There are many reasons, but most importantly, he was samurai. She knew by then she would be dead after Osaka but also that she loved him beyond measure. She wanted to experience the love and happiness she had never known in life before she died, so she put both her's and Bleackthornes life on the line so that she might experience the greatest joy she had ever known, "more joy than I can expect in 20 lifetimes"! Even the fear of disgrace and that of her son if found out did not deter her from her need to be with Blackthorne. This of course was a crime punishible by immediate death by her husband, for both of them, Thus the extreme concern for Blackthorne's life. I love the dialogue in the book during the romantic scenes so I have tabbed them. Many of you might also.
In the book he was given Kiku as consort and she would soon become his wife. It was the best compensation that Toranaga could give to Blackthorne for the loss of Mariko. He knew exactly what the two meant to each other and the incredible indescretion that they had purpertrated. He did not care because I think he loved them so much, at least needed them more than any others of his thousands of vassals. So this was Toranaga's gift to both Kiku and Blackthorne and in reality, Mariko. Kiku was worth 3000 koku, an incredible amount of money, one that most can't fathom unless they read up on the economy of the time. Blackthorne actually did love her in a physical way, and perhaps in a more emotional way too he found her so pleasing, but certainly not on the spiritual plane of Mariko. The movie was not that way though, which I found disturbing because they took so many passages from the book verbatim which was nice, but then displaced them in place and time, and really changed the plot in sections. Why would they change the ending??? You will read in the book where at first Kiku was absolutely revolted when told she was to be consort to Blackthorne "The Barbarian". When told she would become his wife with a stipend of 1000 koku per year (which would make her personally rich beyond her wildest dreams) after the first born son who obviously would be samurai, and also that she herself would be made samurai by default, she was mollified. "after all samurai is samurai and two swords are two swords and his sons will be samurai. He's hatamoto, one of my most important vassals, Admiral of all my ships, a close personal advisor -even a friend, Neh?" She would be wife to one of the most powerful samurai's in the land and one of the most legendary. She in effect would become legend just like Mariko. She was overcome with glee and became ecstactic because she knew that with Omi she would be nothing more than a non-samurai consort of low status if that. What would you expect from a peasant girl, sold and raised to live her life in the Willow World? The greatest thing that could ever happen to her, that she constantly dreamed of, was that she would become Samurai, and how could the impossibile become reality? But it did; a true miracle, or Karma, who knows?
I am absolutely positive that if you are a romantic who takes pleasure in such stories, you will love this book.
Summary of Shogun
A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust, and the struggle for power...Action & Adventure Books
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