Nice item on the writings of this wonderful author. I remember watching the TV series Shogun many years ago and remember how enthralled I was.
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4 comments to An appreciation of James Clavell |
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I remember being enthralled by the book. Come to think of it, my son might like it…
I recently posted a clip from Shogun at my blog. Enjoy.
I read the Noble House books with great pleasure.
It gave me much insight into the chinese mind.
His Whirlwind, was also a revelation as to how fast the supposedly most westernised country in the Middle East (Iran) can turn into a Muslim fundamentalist state overnight.
That is why I worry about letting Turkey into the EU.
I remember reading an account of the Bataan death march when I was a young man, and being utterly mystified by the behavior of the Japanese soldiers. Their indifference to the suffering of the captive prisoners was every bit as strange to my mind as their vicious cruelty in punishing minor infractions by savage beatings and beheading.
When I read King Rat and Shogun, many of those initial questions as to the “why” of Japanese behaviors and beliefs were answered.
I have re-read Shogun several times over the years, and even the casting of Richard Chamberlain as Anjin in the TV miniseries couldn’t spoil the show for me when it aired.
I am happy if I can find one book each decade that grips me with the same intensity. As with movies, it is necessary to read, or watch, dozens of mediocre attempts to find the select few which actually succeed in creating that unique universe within which one can actually exist for the short period of time the story lasts.
I urged each of my children to read, in large part, in the hope they would experience that sad but exhilerating moment when the book ends and I realize that, if there were additional pages, I could continue reading happily for hours and hours more, just to remain in that imaginary other reality.
Clavell was able to create those moments for me, and I mourned his passing.