I’ve discovered about shogun recently when the new film trailer dropped, I instantly was interested as I’m hooked on Japanese culture and learning actively Japanese.
The book was a fire, intense, stressful to read, dramatic and tragic but also partially satisfying with a dry aftertaste.
It’s so strange that I didn’t know that there was a book based on William Adam’s life although a lot of fiction in shogun still it highlights a lot William’s life, what I found satisfying is that in reality William Aka Anjin-san didn’t loose his lover as ( spoiler alert) he did loose Mariko in the book, that was a shocking twist, and the twist of toronaga who had burnt Erasmus in order to keep the barbarian in Japan, I’ve rarely cried over a book, but I’ve been crying for quite a long time on this boon.
Now I’m filled with sadness as such a wonderful book came to it’s end.
I tried reading this and as much as I enjoyed what I did read, I just can’t remember all the characters. It felt like there were so many. Do people make notes?
One of my favorite books. At the time it was released it was considered one of the most comprehensive texts on feudal Japan.
I love Shogun, and the rest of the Asian saga.
A more modern book that is also about cultural displacement and being a foreigner is the Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
I clicked trying to find out what it was that you missed the most in books that Shogun gave you but you don’t seem to say