ShgunJames Clavell [Book Review] - The Bookish

Oh my God, so I'm finally here. I've been meaning to do this video for three days. I tried to do it two days ago, and I have had the worst headache. It has been a miserable experience.

If you'd seen me on camera, like [groans] But here I am, and I feel better. And so I'm going to talk to you about Shgun, this book that I've mentioned a couple times that I've been reading for the past, like, few weeks. It was really good. I tried explaining this book to my friend the other day, and a few seconds into me telling him this story, he's like "Oh, it's like Game of Thrones, but Japanese, right?" I mean, if you want to be reductionist, yeah.

And his reaction was like "Oh God, I can see it now." "Were all the Japanese people like these magical, mystical... [Cackling]." "Stereotypes?" And I was like, "No, this is actually a really good authentic, well-researched historical novel." So he was impressed by that, and I was also impressed by it. So basically what this is... Shgun is "an epic novel of Japan" is what it's billed as.

It's the first chronologically in Clavell's Asian Saga. It takes place in 1600 at the height of the Spanish Armada. So it's basically about James Blackthorne, who is a, uh, sailor. He's the pilot of a ship with the Dutch East India Company.

And so there's like this retinue of five ships that is going to circumnavigate the globe, I believe. Um, but they all end up dying because, y'know, ships... Sailing's hard and fuckin' whatever. There's one ship left and there's a storm...

Whatever happens to him. But then he wakes up in Japan. And so he befriends -- well, sort of -- he becomes involved in the politics of Japan, which is sort of in turmoil with the death of the Taiko. And so basically it is like very Game of Thronesy where everybody kind of wants to be in power.

And so Blackthorne ends up being in kind of like the entourage of this Toranaga, is his name. He's a daimyo, which is basically a clan leader. And then he becomes the first Western samurai, basically, of-- underneath this Toranaga. And it's based on a true story, um, Blackthorne is a fictionalized version of William Adams, and Toranaga is a fictionalized version of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was, like, the shgun of Japan in 1603, is when started what's known as the Tokugawa Shgunate.

This book basically fictionalizes the events leading up to that, you know, real world ascension of Tokugawa. I really loved this book. It's 1,200 pages, but like, it's one of those books that you just can't stop reading. And because of it's length almost, it really gets you.

And so you feel like you're, like, kind of living this story instead of just reading it. It's really, really cool to get-- If you're in the mood to get really wrapped up in something, this will do it for you. It is an epic novel, which I think you need to understand going in. I've seen a few reviews of this that were negative.

They were saying like "Oh, I didn't like the characters. There was nobody I could really relate to." And I'm like "That's not... That's not the point." This obsession with relating to and really liking characters is weird to me. I don't understand why people are so fixated and wanting to always relate to somebody in a book.

It's a novel about politics and power and the clashing of cultures and war, and so, I mean, it's not for you to make friends with anybody, ok? The characters don't want to be friends with each other. This is not RuPaul's Best Friend Race. Everything in this book is intrigue and manipulation, and it's interesting. It's fascinating.

He weaves a really complicated story. There's a ton of characters in it. But one that he's also really good at making sure you're always understanding what's going on. So if there's a character you haven't seen in about 100 pages, and they come back, he'll say: "Oh look, this is this character.

And by the way, he's married to her. He's brothers to these two people. And they all fought, and this is why the scene you're about to see is pretty tense." It's really helpful without being terribly hand-holdy. Uh, and you'll find yourself appreciating it if you're like me and you're like-- you just get lost in these things very easily.

But what's really intersting about this book -- like my favorite aspect of it-- is, um, Blackthorne entering this culture that he knows nothing about. And it's a culture that's so alien from what he's used to. Um, he doesn't know the language, he doesn't know the customs. It's rare to find a book -- especially one outside of like sci-fi and fantasy -- where we find people trying to really ingr-- uh...

Really assimilate themselves into a culture that truly is not what they come from. I don't know much about medieval Japan or the samurai customs or bishnen or whatev-- not bishnen... Bushido! Ha! Yeah, bishnen means something else. So what James Clavell's really good at doing is portraying both of these culture trying and failing or succeeding in understanding one another.

Not only is this picture of Japan so very foreign to what we as Westerners are used to, he also does a good job of showing us that Western culture is so very foreign to the Japanese as well. Um, and he does so without really dishonoring either side. There's no, like, sensationalism about it. A lot of times when people turn to East Asia for a setting, um, it's for like flavor and color, and it's done is a really poor way.

But this book is very true to the source history. It's also a little bit billed as a love story. There's not-- I don't find that to be very strong here. He, Blackthorne does meet a woman and fall in love with her.

Um, a Japanese woman. And of course, you know, they try to navigate this relationship amongst the very structured life that she needs to live. And she's also married with a husband, so... It's interesting, but it's not...

It's not a huge, huge part of the book. Although the woman, Mariko, is one of the best characters in here, and that's something else that I like about this book. Though historically relegated to a very, very stringent role in samurai society, Clavell write women as strong and as shrewd and as intelligent as the male characters. The one, the love interest, her name is Mariko, and she is pretty badass.

She's really smart. Um, she's pretty. She is sort of a tragic figure, in a way. But in the end, like, she does something in the last couple hundred pages of this book, which completely turns the plot around.

And it is one of the fiercest scenes. I can't give-- I don't wanna say too much about it, but um... But basically she's out on the streets and making something happen for her. Like, forget Katniss Everdeen entirely, ok? Mariko-noh-Buntaro-noh-Jinsai knows how to work a street.

Uh, she's fierce, and it's awesome. The other thing that's fun about this book is the language in it. Obviously Blackthorne speaks no Japanese when he arrives in Japan. Um, he learns it eventually, but for the first, like, two-thirds of the book, He doesn't understand what anybody's saying, and so, neither do we.

Although you will pick up some Japanese when you read this, which is kind of fun. I have to admit, I was a little bit... Uh... I guess you would say...

Horrible... When I was reading this book because I don't have have a very broad frame of reference for the Japanese language. And so, what I know, basically, is like some... J-pop.

I got into this mood where I was really fun so like read the Japanese out loud. And so -- this is awful -- whenever a woman was speaking, I would sort of hear it in my head like a silly, high-school girl in modern Japan. You know, like, giggly with like Professor Genki falling from the sky. [High-pitched voice] Ah, gomen nasai, Anjin-san! Wakarimasu kaaaaa? And then the men, though, was...

I used to have a recording of "Be Prepared" from The Lion King in Japanese. So think, like, Jeremy Irons. [Deep, slow voice] Anatawa suimin iwa, Fujiko-san. Racist.

Sorry! But it's fun! I guarantee if you read this, you will be entertained and you will learn something. Uh, the only thing that I really hard against the accuracy of this -- and I don't know too much about this era in the first place, as I said. But apparently, like, samurai were not actually so quick to, um, want to commit seppuku. And characters, like, at the drop of a hat...

Like they sneeze, and they're like "Oh, sorry. Allow me to commit seppuku." The Japanese samurai had a little bit stronger of a survival instinct, and would not just slice themselves open at the drop of a hat. So again, it's Shgun by James Clavell. And it's long, but it's worth it.

And you will walk away remembering these characters and this story. So, thanks for watchin', but... Put this book on your list..