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Book Meme, Day 5
Jun. 7th, 2018 02:33 pm5. Doesn't belong to me.
Shogun by James Clavell is my father's favorite novel. I don't own a copy, but I've read Dad's copy repeatedly. Not that my AP isn't into book sharing, you understand, but that one he'll always want back, ever since discovering it in the early 80s. When James Clavell was at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the early 90s, I got a signed copy of another Clavell novel for my AP, but Shogun is where Dad's heart is at.
As for myself: I do think it's Clavell's best novel - peace, King Rat fans in my circle! -, and I'm always annoyed when people accuse it of things it's not guilty of. Starting with "white savior". No. Blackthorne is the first pov character we get, yes - though as opposed to the tv version, which mainly sticks with Blackthorne, the novel then gives us the huge ensemble's povs as well, and other than Pater Alvito, they're all Japanese characters - but he doesn't save the day or suddenly aquire martial arts knowledge. He's an outside observer and also a chess piece in the novel's central power struggle between two of the regents, Toranaga and Ishido, as well as in Toranaga's long term strategy to become Shogun. Nor does Mariko, the Japanese lady Blackthorne falls in love with, confirm to the Madame Butterfly cliché, giving all for love etc. In the big climax of the novel, it's Mariko, not Blackthorne, who has the mission given to her by Toranaga who is her liege lord (to get his wives out of the hostage situation they're in in Osaka), and who pulls that off. (Meanwhile, Blackthorne's central goal throughout the novel - to build a ship so he can return home - ( has spoilery results ).)
(Not that you can't critisize the novel in other regards, mind, but I do suspect that some people who never read it simply make the assumption that if there's a male white character in a historical novel set in Japan, he has to be a white savior etc..)
I mentioned the huge ensemble. It contributes to what this novel does really well, to wit, create a layered narrative reality with lots of shades of grey. It's never as simple as "people our hero hates = bad guys"; and the Japanese politics are easily as interesting and complicated as anything going in Europe at the time.
( The other days )
Shogun by James Clavell is my father's favorite novel. I don't own a copy, but I've read Dad's copy repeatedly. Not that my AP isn't into book sharing, you understand, but that one he'll always want back, ever since discovering it in the early 80s. When James Clavell was at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the early 90s, I got a signed copy of another Clavell novel for my AP, but Shogun is where Dad's heart is at.
As for myself: I do think it's Clavell's best novel - peace, King Rat fans in my circle! -, and I'm always annoyed when people accuse it of things it's not guilty of. Starting with "white savior". No. Blackthorne is the first pov character we get, yes - though as opposed to the tv version, which mainly sticks with Blackthorne, the novel then gives us the huge ensemble's povs as well, and other than Pater Alvito, they're all Japanese characters - but he doesn't save the day or suddenly aquire martial arts knowledge. He's an outside observer and also a chess piece in the novel's central power struggle between two of the regents, Toranaga and Ishido, as well as in Toranaga's long term strategy to become Shogun. Nor does Mariko, the Japanese lady Blackthorne falls in love with, confirm to the Madame Butterfly cliché, giving all for love etc. In the big climax of the novel, it's Mariko, not Blackthorne, who has the mission given to her by Toranaga who is her liege lord (to get his wives out of the hostage situation they're in in Osaka), and who pulls that off. (Meanwhile, Blackthorne's central goal throughout the novel - to build a ship so he can return home - ( has spoilery results ).)
(Not that you can't critisize the novel in other regards, mind, but I do suspect that some people who never read it simply make the assumption that if there's a male white character in a historical novel set in Japan, he has to be a white savior etc..)
I mentioned the huge ensemble. It contributes to what this novel does really well, to wit, create a layered narrative reality with lots of shades of grey. It's never as simple as "people our hero hates = bad guys"; and the Japanese politics are easily as interesting and complicated as anything going in Europe at the time.
( The other days )
