Shogun, by James Clavell: ***1/8

As my friend Craig said of this book as the dubbed voice-over for karate QUIP-man Howard Greenman in some commercials that we made for the morning announcements back in high school, "It is very good. And very long. Ha ha ha ha." 12 years later, I can give no better assessment. I was briefly scared by the prospect that this book might turn out to be nothing more than a really long romance novel, but it is thankfully much more. If it had kept the trajectory of the first 400 pages or so, it would have been complete genius. Instead, it is a rich and rewarding experience.

I originally thought to read this book because of my love for fantasy novels. I figured that, since traditional fantasy is more or less like historical fiction based in Europe in the middle ages, this might have a similar flavor, based in Japan instead. In a lot of ways, Shogun does remind me of fantasy - the epic scope, the adventure and swashbuckling, the fish-out-of-water/ ordinary-joe that becomes important in a political struggle - but for reasons I can't explain it never felt like a fantasy novel. I don't think it's just because it takes place in Japan instead of Europe, and I don't think it's because there's no magic. I've read other fantasies that don't really have magic and they still feel like fantasies. I guess, since historical novels set in Europe's middle ages don't necessarily feel like fantasy, this shouldn't either. Whatever the reason, this reads as both an epic tale and a historical novel that looks at middle-ages japan and the beginning of western influences on their culture, especially the catholic church. It didn't satisfy my thirst for fantasy, but it was very good. And very long. Ha ha ha ha.
(winter 2002)

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