When I was a kid I bought this novel for my old Mum for Christmas or her birthday one year, Shogun by James Clavell.
Shogun was also a popular series she watched on the telly in the early Seventies and this was the novel that went with it or it was based on.
I think I watched it with her too. I know we watched the Water Margin with old Dad as well.
I've never read Shogun and plan to get hold of it this year and give it a spin.
Do you remember the TV series or the book readers?
I've read the book a number of times when I was young, Woodsy. Got it during the 'japanese period' in my teens when I was into samurai and japanese prints etc. It's a pretty good read, very engaging and historically well-researched, although a bit over-romanticised and Clavell tends to over-stereotype various nationalities as well (I've also read his King Rat (set in a WW2 Japanese POW camp), Noble House (1970s corporate Hong Kong) and Whirlwind (Iran around the revolution there)). Funnily enough I got myself a 2nd-hand copy again as well, which'll be ideal for the next 2-weeks-in-the-sun holiday. :)
ReplyDeleteThe TV series I remember as being reasonably okay, but not as rich as the book.
Surprising thing is that it's based on reality, though Clavell changed all the names and will have invented a lot himself as well. Real story is fascinating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_%28sailor%29
Best -- Paul
Wow, Paul you've read the lot and you saw the TV series. I seem to recall Richard Chamberlain being in it. If I can get hold of a copy we'll be reading it together this summer maybe! ha ha. oddly enough I've found another Clavell paperback in my loft called Tai Pan. Is that any good? The 'real' story is fascinating. Thanks for the link!
DeleteCan't really recall I read Tai Pan, Woodsy, but I may have. It's set in 19th century Hong Kong, and Noble House deals with its characters' descendants a good century later so there's a lot of references to the events in the earlier book. But it'll be a good read as with the Clavell books (I do rememeber :) I've read.
DeleteBest -- Paul
Having some useless time this evening, and because of really being remnded of it, I got Shogun out of the bookcase and just re-read the prologue.
DeleteWhich reminds me of my most serious criticism of this book: the Dutch characters (the ship's crew) have names that aren't 'properly Dutch' (too many double consonants at the end of a syllable f ex which even in olden Dutch shouldn't really be there), and they speak something that's actually half German and with the odd typo thrown in. Won't be noticed by any other readers, but ss a Dutchman, that's quite a let-down in (what I recall as) an otherwise well-researched book.
Best -- Paul
I'll look out for those bad Dutch names Paul once I get a copy. I may actually have the Shogun style gift tag I made my Mum when I gave her the book! Its shuffling somewhere in the attic like a lost Ronin!
DeleteEnjoyed the tv film, found it a few years ago on video.
ReplyDeleteis their a film Andy? Is that made up of the series' episodes?
DeleteI enjoyed the tv film as a kid and read the book way back when as well. there were a number of historcal epicminiseries back when that follwed a popular book.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean JD. Shogun and Water Margin were two I recall and interested in because I was obsessed with Martial Arts and the Orient. Other historical TV series my parents watched included The Onedin Line, I Claudius, Upstairs Downstairs and maybe The Thorn Birds and the Far Pavilions but I maybe getting those confused. They may have been much later after my Parents were alive.
DeleteYes,
ReplyDeleteThe film was, I believe, put together from TV episodes.
I will check You Tube this week Andy!
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