Gai-Jin
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3.6 • 13 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The dynamic epic novel of political upheaval and societal change in late 1800s Japan, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell
This epic novel by master writer James Clavell, loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and Anglo-Satsuma War that took place in the late 1800s, is a richly researched, panoramic view of Japan’s budding relationship with the Western powers, its sweeping societal changes, and the political upheaval that followed.
As Malcolm Struan, the son of Culum and Tess Struan, and a small band of Westerners travel down the Tōkaidō road, they are attacked by two Satsuma samurai, who mortally wound John Canterbury and seriously injure Malcolm, who then finds reprieve in the merchant village of Yokohama after a narrow escape facilitated by the unscathed Angelique.
Angelique Richaud, Malcolm’s penniless but beautiful French companion, is thrown into a world of political intrigue, fierce devotion, unstable family dynamics, blackmail, and secrets as the trading houses battle for supremacy.
With a cast of dynamic and fully recognized characters, Gai-Jin spins a tale of passionate love affairs, devastating loss, intense power struggles, and the fight to survive and thrive in a hostile new land that will leave readers longing for another foray into Clavell’s extraordinary Asian Saga.
Customer Reviews
Problems with this book
The story is interesting, however the ending is weak and makes little sense. There’s no resolution for the main character, beyond “I will get you what you want, I promise… from a shady person… who plans to use basically nothing to force a borderline crazy person of indomitable will to give in, on what they said they would never give in on… gee the climax to that would be awesome! Too bad that whole climax got … forgotten? I guess? In the wrap ups of all the other minor characters? Terrible. The reader is left with a strong expectation that there should be a sequel which follows this book immediately, but the next novel that mentions the Struan family Tai Pan dynasty in the publishers description takes place 100 years later.
At least, I GUESS this woman is the main character, since the other primary character who we see the most, who is near the centre of the story, drops DEAD half way through … only excuse for this is setting up the female MC for a big show down with the lady Tai Pan, but it just …pfft… nothing happens.
Total anticlimax, like the anticlimax in Tai Pan with the duel, except worse!
And I literally assumed this book had been written in the 1950s or earlier, because the disgusting backward thinking about women and sexual assault which is all through this novel: a female character is raped by a total stranger - a Victorian European teen girl- sexually assaulted by a Japanese native man- and she apparently enjoys it. Like, since he didn’t beat or brutalize or try to kill her, and he was obsessed with her, she sort of has warm fuzzy feels for the pervert, who is of a people her contemporaries refer to as “colonials” “natives” and “monkeys”.
The girl child character matures almost miraculously into iron strong woman, with little explanation for what causes the change inside her own mind… and nothing is DONE with this. Basically the whole last part of the book , plot wise, does almost nothing at all related to the hero’s and main plot line. The editor of this book should be fired, honestly. They were asleep at the switch, because this reads like a first draft of a writer whose characters all got away from him, and who was throwing every though for every character and event at the page, until a few were resolved and they said “meh good enough, I’m tired of writing this and they want it handed in…” I’m not totally sorry I read it, but I’m not happy I paid for it, because I’m sure I won’t ever reread this one. Terrible after the Shogun book, which was excellent, and Tai Pan, which was good.