Shōgun
1975
- fiction
- historical fiction
- history
- spanish language books
- fiction in english
- warlords
- adventure ficiton
- samurai
- british in japan
- catholic church
The story
After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen--Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne's loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds that will each be forever changed. Powerful and engrossing, capturing both the rich pageantry and stark realities of life in feudal Japan, Shōgun is a critically acclaimed powerhouse of a book. Heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat action melds seamlessly with intricate historical detail and raw human emotion. Endlessly compelling, this sweeping saga captivated the world to become not only one of the best-selling novels of all time but also one of the highest-rated television miniseries, as well as inspiring a nationwide surge of interest in the culture of Japan. Shakespearean in both scope and depth, Shōgun is, as the New York Times put it, "...not only something you read--you live it." Provocative, absorbing, and endlessly fascinating, there is only one: Shōgun.
What it’s like
Dense, unhurried pages thick with particulars: the grit of mud-walled villages, the hush of paper-screened rooms, sea wind over a grey Pacific, lamplight on lacquer and armour. Clavell's prose is plain and muscular, a storyteller's voice that stops for long stretches of courtly ceremony, shipboard routine and the careful choreography of tea, rank and bowing, then snaps into sharp, bloody confrontations that arrive without much warning. The mood is weighty and immersive, a slow-burning epic with a steady undercurrent of unease and political menace. It suits a long winter weekend, a slow read on a train or a reading stretch measured in evenings rather than sittings. Violence is frequent and sometimes brutal, with beheadings, duels and battlefield deaths rendered directly, along with some sexual content and occasional cruelty toward captives and servants. Romance and grief are handled with real emotional weight. Best for readers who want a big, absorbing historical saga with an outsider's eye on a closed society, and who can take bloodshed and adult intimacy within it.
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