James Clavell deserves his own thread

[UNM1136]

Remember my mom watching the Richard Burton Miniseries. Knew about it for years, never read it.

Picked it up last year in one of those "take a free book" tables. Was enthralled. Watched the miniseries, loved it.

I have made a point the last few years of only buying new books on Kindle or Nook. I have five bookcases between me, the Mrs, and three kids. The kids share one, and my books are vomiting out of 2 1/2 cases. One of the inherent risks of reading books on a tablet is being able to touch words and look then up In a dictionary and online. Clan of the Cave Bear was a great rabbit hole to run down, and learning that many of the medicinal and food plants referenced were new world plants, while the series took place in modern day Ukrane and the cave the Clan lived in was based on an Iraqi archeological site.

Shogun was similar, reading the paperback and googling stuff on my tablet. Like the Golden Hind...and William Adams.

I have all The Wheel of Time books and have read most of them. They were gifts from one of my wife's lifelong friends who has since passed from pancreatic cancer. I can't bring myself to get rid of them, and I can't bring myself to finish them, or reread them, for that matter. The complexity mentioned comes off as schizophrenic to me, where some plot twists you could see coming a mile away, and others had me backtracking saying "huh? When did that happen? Is that what happened?" After like 18 books I just couldn't take it anymore. Shogun also had me bouncing back and forth to check on storylines, An old college habit of to skip over parts when I am tired, and it seems like I am always tired.


pat

[BehindBlueI's]

Loved Wheel of Time for the complexity. Until I didn't. I think the stories had sprawled out to the point Jordan couldn't figure out how to pull the plots back together (especially with failing health). Couldn't make it past book 7. Which is a damn shame since the first four are way up there in my regard...

It picks back up and Brandon Sanderson ends the series in a strong manner. I still recommend the read.

Dune notwithstanding, you can't hide enormous numbers of people in a desert.

Rand is the most punchable hero in all of sf/fantasy fiction.

Well, with magic you can do lots of things you can't do. And I never found Rand to be irksome, but it's been awhile since I read it.

[1slow]

I liked Tai-Pan the best. Shugun 2nd best, Read most of Clavel's, Shogun, TaiPan, King Rat, Noble House.


Read Shogun in 3 days in high school in the 70s, while studying Uechi Ryu.
Bought it in Peoples Drug Store.

[Dave Williams]

There’s no chance the new Shogun is any good.

[Chance]

Yeah, I don't see how this new series is going to work out. The first part of the novel basically focused on the aspects of Japanese culture that offended western sensibilities. In the era of Internet-facilitated instant ire, that's going to stir up some controversy.

I can easily see folks that are still perturbed over Japanese behavior in World War II using some of the things depicted in the novel as fuel for a hate campaign. South Korea and Japan were still bickering over comfort women just a few years ago - I can imagine some folks in South Korea making memes from shots from the show.

[Chance]

The initial reviews are stellar.

[CleverNickname]

The initial reviews are stellar.

I remember starting to watch a rerun of the original series as a pre-teen and my mom turning it off after this scene.

[LittleLebowski]

Deep sigh…

#PlotSpoilers

I’m ready to discuss my binging 🤣

They’re crushing it overall. Yes, I know that Mariko basically got her ass kicked by men in the novel as per accuracy and that she’s now routinely dispatching easily five male samurai at a time and that the AmidaTong assassin is now female. (my daughter wrestles co-Ed, I don’t delude myself about sexual dimorphism)

Anyway, she nails it otherwise. The guy playing Toranaga is doing it too cold and he’s too skinny; though Minowara, he was a an amply built man whom enjoyed a good jest in private. I’d say the guy does pull of Toranaga’s genius level intelligence and he does pull of the samurai thing quite well. Yabu, spot on. Omi, seems ok so far. Blackthorne/Anjin - should be blonde and maybe even bigger physically, but he’s nailing it, spot fucking on so far. Fujiko - good to go. Hiromatsu should be a more barrel chested dude, but the actor portraying him absolutely channels his “”no fucks to give, I’ll kill you in an instant right here, right now” way of life, just great overall. Ochiba is perfect, crazy good. Ishido - perfect. Kirk, perfect. Buntaro, I wish they’d found a near sumo wrestler build of a crazy alpha male actor as per the book instead of this dude, but he’s ok. Rodriguez nails it though his character was Portuguese in the novel. The Captain Ferrara, pretty much perfect, pulls off the asshole vibe quite well. The guy playing Tsukkuu/ Alvaro is perfect.

If anyone cares, I’ll discuss plot twists and plot streamlining 🤣

[Dave Williams]

There’s no chance the new Shogun is any good.

Man was I wrong. It’s great.

[blues]

Man was I wrong. It’s great.

I left partway through the second episode. I found it tedious, and fast forwarding through commercials made it even more so. (Have read the book, and seen prior version.)

Really wanted to like it, really didn't check off the boxes for me.