Shogun (Asian Saga Book 1) by James Clavell (Epub)

Description

Here is the world-famous novel of Japan that is the earliest book in James Clavell’s masterly Asian saga. Set in the year 1600, it tells the story of a bold English pilot whose ship was blown ashore in Japan, where he encountered two people who were to change his life: a warlord with his own quest for power, and a beautiful interpreter torn between two ways of life and two ways of love.

The principal figures are John Blackthorne, whose dream it is to be the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, to wrest control of the trade between Japan and China from Portuguese, and to return home a man of wealth and position; Toranaga, the most powerful feudal lord in Japan, who strives and schemes to seize ultimate power by becoming Shogun—the Supreme Military Dictator—and to unite the warring samurai fiefdoms under his own masterly and farsighted leadership; and the Lady Mariko, a Catholic convert whose conflicting loyalties to the Church and her country are compounded when she falls in love with Blackthorne, the barbarian intruder.

In dramatizing how a Westerner, the representative man of his time, comes to be altered by his exposure to an alien culture, Mr. Clavell provides a spellbinding depiction of a nation seething with violence and intrigue as it moves from the medieval world to the modern.

User’s Reviews

Review “Superbly crafted…grips the reader like a riptide…gets the juices flowing!”—Washington Star”Exciting, totally absorbing…be prepared for late nights, meals unlasting, buisness unattended…”—Philadelphia Inquirer”Adventure and action, the suspense of danger, shocking, touching human relationships…a climactic human story.” —Los Angeles Times“A tale surging with action, intrigue and love…a huge cast…vast and dramatic …stunning…savage…beautiful…an extraordinary performance.”–Publishers Weekly“I can’t remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one….It’s not only something you read–you live it.” –New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Paperback edition. From the Publisher A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power. “Superbly crafted…grips the reader like a riptide…gets the juices flowing!” — Washington Star. “Exciting, totally absorbing…be prepared for late nights, meals unlasting, buisness unattended…” — Philadelphia Inquirer. “Adventure and action, the suspense of danger, shocking, touching human relationships…a climactic human story.” — Los Angeles Times. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Inside Flap A bold English adventuer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in a mighty saga of a time and place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, lust and the struggle for power. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ As noted by every other reviewer, the story is fabulous. But this Kindle version has a real problem… the scene breaks are missing. There’s no indication, extra lines or symbols where one scene ends and another begins. So you’ll be reading one sentence and then the next suddenly starts a new scene or train of thought. When it first happened I thought the book didn’t download correctly but it’s all there. So be forewarned.

⭐ Epic historical novel that truly sweeps you off of your feet and takes you to a far away land. Engaging, riveting, gripping, enthralling, powerful, exciting … and all the other words that fit! I’ve read and purchased multiple times.So much has already been written here and so many other reviews already — suffice to say, I love it, will always love it. Instead of detailing more about the story or writing, I’m going to share some of my favorite passages so you can get an idea of how brilliantly this is written. The first quote is one of my all-time most cherished.“Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you’re here and nothing you do will change that. Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune. Look at this suset, it’s beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.”“How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now.”“Isn’t it only through laughter that we become one with the gods and thus can endure life and can overcome all the horror and waste and suffering here on earth? …Isn’t it only through laughter we can stay human?”“Always remember, child… that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one onf the things that discipline – training – is about.”“It’s a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.”I highly recommend all of the other novels in James Clavell’s Asian Saga, especially Whirlwind and Tai Pan. The entire Saga spans from 1600 to 1970’s and is truly an experience to behold.

⭐ I was recommended James Cavell and specifically Shogun many years ago by my father in law who sold me on it by saying this. He used to work at a power plant, and reading Shogun was a mental vacation for him. It got to the point where he would stuff a section of the book in his boot and any chance he had a few minutes waiting for a gauge to go up, or for another co-worker, he’d pull out his section of Shogun and instantly be lost in medieval Japan. Any book that could turn a hot, dirty, rough job like working in an old power plant and turn it into a vacation, especially one so addictive that he had to stuff sections in his boot because he couldn’t put it down was a heavy enough endorsement for me to give it a chance. I am so glad I did.I’ve read and re-read this half a dozen times over the years. It still remains my favorite novel. The rest of Clavell’s Asia saga is fabulous (until Whirlwind at any rate), but Shogun is and always has been for me, head and shoulders above its peers. I just re-purchased it for Kindle because my 2nd copy of the physical book is barely holding together anymore.

⭐ Thou. There is a term of endearment said between two characters. It somehow encapsulates the entirety of their emotions for each other. Thou also is how I would address the book Shogun. My absolute love for this sublime historical novel of Feudal Japan. Set in the year 1600, one of our protagonists, John Blackthorne, an English Pilot serving aboard a Dutch ship, shipwrecks onto the coast of Japan. And through him we discover Feudal Japan, a land of samurai and ritual, a land where the Emperor is said to be a scion of the gods but holds only ceremonial power, a land of beauty and ceremony. And oh so different from Elizabethan England. And yet the Pilot from Elizabeth England must somehow navigate the culture of this land.But really Blackthorne, is not at the center of the book. Both he and his love story are important, But both he and Mariko, a Japanese Christian who speaks Portuguese, Latin, and Japanese and acts as Blackthorne’s interpreter for much of the novel, are pawns in a much larger chess game. At the center of the book is Japan and its people. Japan in 1600 is unstable because the former leader – the Taikō – died early and left a too young heir. Now there is a Council of Regents to lead Japan during the youth of the heir, but that Council is divided by men who all claim they do not wish to lead alone. But maybe one does want to lead and not give up power to the Taiko’s son? Maybe one wants to be the Commander in Chief of Japan – the Shogun!Throughout the book, Clavell brings Japan to life. Its people, their customs, the land itself. Clavell allows the people of Japan to speak. Women. Men. Lords. Ladies. Courtesans. And there are a smattering of outsiders such as Portuguese priests who fear the arrival of Blackthorne and what it means for their religious and economic monopoly in Japan. And they fear Spain and its representatives in Japan too for the land of Portugal itself was swallowed up by Spain only 20 years ago and the monopoly the Portuguese hold on Japanese trade is now threatened by Spain and by Blackthorne.Beginning Shogun is beginning a long journey to Japan. Ending Shogun is like losing a very good friend; there is great sadness in finishing the book. It will move you. It will make you want to learn everything you can about Japan and its people. Clavell truly wrote a masterpiece that will speak across the years.

⭐ I have several copies of Clavell’s Shogun — paperback and Kindle, actually — but I wanted an edition as stunning and attractive as the story. This edition of Shogun is beautiful; there is no dust jacket and the paper is brilliantly white and silky, almost like a shoji door, and each page is marked with a Japanese character watermark. I would give this edition 5 full stars, but it was printed in China which deters from its overall aesthetic, but, at least, of the finest mass-produced Chinese quality.

⭐ Wow. Yep, that’s a five star book. And a long one at that! Over 1,100 pages of small type, coming to together into one hell of a story. I took my time with this, savoring it, and I’m impressed by James Clavell.He has crafted a story here that picks you up and places you, no, forcesyou into 1600 Japan. Studied historians may disagree (or may not, I don’t know), but wow did he do an excellent job of immersing you in Japanese culture of that time. Through the eyes of stranded English pilot John Blackthorne (who will come to be known as Anjin) the reader is shown a living, breathing Japan. The discipline, the manners, the political manuevering, the brutality and utter loyalty of the Samurai; we get a front row seat. As Blackthorne deals with the language barrier and tries to survive in a foreign land, so too do we. Japan is subject to a precarious peace with the recent death of the Taiko, the once-peasant conqueror of Japan who has left behind a sole heir not yet old enough to inherit power. The Council of Regents attempts to hold the country together as all of its major players cultivate their own ambitions; Ishido and master strategist Toranaga chief among them. The presence of the Christian faith, brought to the island by the Portuguese; key trade partners and now residents of Nagasaki, complicates the political climate even further. The stage is set for a memorable tale.Beyond an intriguing plot Clavell cultivates some truly beautiful scenes, and has brought to life an enormous cast of characters, all with their own motives, loyalties, and dreams. Blackthorne, Toranaga, Mariko, Yabu, Alvito, Omi, Buntaro, the list goes on (and on). Yoshi Toranaga was an absolute thrill to read about; and god help anyone who thinks they’ve gotten the better of him.Though the book was lengthy, it could have easily continued with no complaint from me. Clavell has carved out a piece of time here and given us the full story, with a tangible feeling that the story had been barreling along before we were privy to it, and would continue to do so when we were done. I suppose I’ll take that as a sign that I should read the next book in his Asian Saga.I did not choose to be what I am. It is my karma.

⭐ Massive disappointment. I don’t understand the positive reviews for this book.I have read hundreds of books in my lifetime, and Shogun is one of the very very few I could not finish. I dragged myself up to page 150 or so, but then said enough. Threw it away.The themes of the book and story setup are right up my alley, but the execution is awful. I found it unreadable, and would be very curious to know what other books people who rate this 5 stars are reading…It’s written like a bad tv soap opera.The characters speak and act in ridiculous and unrealistic ways. Their constant inner monologues are especially laughable.The representations of different cultures are little more than shallow caricatures.If you’re going to write a book with characters from various cultures, and that’s an important part of the story, at least do some research on them, and don’t just make stuff up.For example, the several Portuguese characters never speak a word of Portuguese, but speak highly eloquent English, use Spanish slang, and pray to the Virgin in Italian (which everyone does in the book for some reason).Father Sebastio? That’s not even a real name, the proper name would be Sebastião. Was he missing that key in his typewriter?The writer’s understanding of Japanese culture is basically a teenage boy’s fantasy. According to the author the Japanese welcome dirty, smelly, hostile Western sailors (and toothless with scurvy!) by giving them spa massages and sharing their women with them. The main character, a British sailor, apparently has the largest manhood ever seem in the Empire of Japan, and also has unmatched wit, courage, and dignity, very much unlike all the other Western characters, which are portrayed as overly religious simpletons, and barbaric.I could go on and on about silly things in this book, but to sum it up: don’t waste your time on this massive dud (1200 pages of it).

⭐ This is the first of five excellent volumes in Clavell’s asian masterworks. It reads well, connects well to the following volumes, and is a significantly weighty read all on its own compared to most works of fiction — while the series itself is nothing less than massive and marathon-worthy. Highly, highly recommended.Shogun is an eye-opening window into the world of samurai dominated Japan; the level of intrigue and almost orthogonally different sensibilities as compared to modern western outlooks draw me in, capturing my imagination without fail or surcease. One of my very favorite series, and one of my very favorite books. The kindle version provided me with my fifth read of the work in about 20 years time. Every time was a pleasure, and I expect to read it again, too.Be sure to read the books in order for the most enjoyment; they’re connected although quite distant in time from one another, and by reading them in order, the history of the current book you’re reading will be deeper and your comprehension of what is going on, and why, will be much better.. Shogun is first, while the series all told flows in this order:1) Shogun — read first2) Tai-pan3) Gai-jin4) King Rat5) Noble House

⭐ Forty years ago, I read Shogun and shortly afterwards watched the TV mini-series. I rarely re-read novels since I have so many other un-read books on my bookshelf, but Amazon offered the Kindle edition of Shogun at a discounted price so I purchased it.Since I had read it before, and Shogun is a long novel, I was a bit hesitant to start reading it; but once I got started, I could not put the novel down. This is story-telling at its best. It takes you to a different time, a different world. The characters are so well developed that they become three-dimensional. The story line is complex, but easy to follow. Although it is a long novel, when I finished reading it, I wished it could have kept going on and on.If I was going to be stranded on a desert island with only one book, Shogun would be one book that I would seriously consider.

⭐ “Shogun” is a classic novel of Japan, a thousand pages in length.Maybe that was why I waited so long to tackle it. Whatever the reason, it is a remarkable , majestic novel with unforgettable characters and a sense of history. After reading it one almost wishes it had been written thirty years earlier; Americans would have known better the nature of Imperial Japan.There was no time in all those pages that the story lagged, no time when the complex treacherous, relationships and passions ever felt wrong. The author, James Clavell, wrote a masterpiece.I recommend it highly.

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