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nelsonlala's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
mercipourleslivres's review against another edition
4.0
To be honest I had to skim this 900+ page behemoth because it was an inter-library loan and I just couldn't get the whole thing read in time. It was good enough that I'll definitely be purchasing a copy to read at leisure sometime in the near future.
Fans of the Samurai Trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune and Kaoru Yachigusa will enjoy the extra romance the book provides as well as a glimpse of Musashi's thoughts concerning Otsu.
In closing I'll say the book is definitely worth a shot if you enjoy huge historical epics (i.e. Tale of the Genji) but that I disagree slightly with those who would say this is Japan's equivalent to 'Gone with the Wind.' Maybe in terms of length or sheer epic-ness, but as far as characters go I will say that Musashi (the man) is no where near as captivating as Scarlett O'Hara, in fact I kind of want to smack him. A lot. Just marry Otsu and stop making her wait! Jesus.Though I guess Scarlett needs a lot of smacking too...just tell Rhett you love him! *sigh* Maybe these characters are alike after all...
Fans of the Samurai Trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune and Kaoru Yachigusa will enjoy the extra romance the book provides as well as a glimpse of Musashi's thoughts concerning Otsu.
In closing I'll say the book is definitely worth a shot if you enjoy huge historical epics (i.e. Tale of the Genji) but that I disagree slightly with those who would say this is Japan's equivalent to 'Gone with the Wind.' Maybe in terms of length or sheer epic-ness, but as far as characters go I will say that Musashi (the man) is no where near as captivating as Scarlett O'Hara, in fact I kind of want to smack him. A lot. Just marry Otsu and stop making her wait! Jesus.Though I guess Scarlett needs a lot of smacking too...just tell Rhett you love him! *sigh* Maybe these characters are alike after all...
sambora's review against another edition
2.0
I have spent the last 9 months listening, on and off, to the audiobook of Musashi and I can safely say that I am glad that I didn't try a print version, for I am certain that it would have been a DNF for me.
At it's core, Musashi is the story of a young man from Japan who grows up to be a renowned master of the way of the sword. Over the course of the 50+ hour long story, he encounters new sword fighting techniques and learns the skills and attributes that are required and expected of an honourable Ronin.
He studies philosophy, is taught humility, modesty, trust and how to train and teach others by a variety of other characters that he meets whilst on his journey for self-improvement and self-mastery.
This premise is what sold me on the book. I wanted a slow-burn Samurai adventure story. And, in a way, I got too much of what I was looking for - as well as some things that I definitely could have done with less of.
To start off with the obvious; 53 hours is too long. I feel as though this story could have been cut down into 20 hours and it would have still had all of it's major beats and all the more exciting and important events still in there.
There is so much repetition and going in circles, as well as huge chunks of the book in which it feels as though no forward progress is made.
The characters were also entirely two-dimensional. And don't even get me started on the sickeningly weak romance that is played out throughout the entire 1000 pages!
Otsu, a childhood friend of Mushashi (who is then known as Takezo), follows him across the country, trying to find him, win him over and convince him to show her love.
He declines and turns her away multiple times, not because he doesn't love her in return, rather simply because he doesn't wish for their relationship to get between him and his personal goal of mastering the sword.
But yes... she continues to trail him, with fate, destiny, coincidence and dumb luck bringing them together over and over again. It got so terribly boring and predictable.
Musashi also has two separate pupils at different times in the story, Jotaro and "Jotaro.2" - I label the character as such because I have completely forgotten the second character's actual name and he is ostensibly the same person as the original Jotaro.
There are dozens and dozens of characters and none of them felt like real people at all.
Plus the female characters are all either just pawns in the men's games, simple and shallow love interests or they are manipulative and bitter old crones - scheming against our honourable and virtuous male characters.
As for the setting and the themes, they are definitely the strongest part of the story. Those that are interested in period Japanese culture or want to see the morals and ethics of Sun Tzu's 'The Art Of War' exemplified in a fictional epic - you will certainly find more in this book than I did. But be aware, as stated above, that there is a LOT of fluff and filler surrounding that which you are looking for.
For those of you here for the action, similarly, there is certainly good quality swordplay and dueling, as well as moments of covert and military strategy, but these scenes are always relatively short lived and buried within the wider scope of book in general.
As I have already mentioned, the story's unspoken reliance on extraordinary coincidences is probably my biggest problem with Musashi as a whole. With an entire country to explore, the way our protagonist bumps into the same 4 or 5 characters dozens of times throughout the story just led to such a stale overarching sense of progress and development.
I know that I am in the minority regarding these opinions, but this book just wasn't for me. The fact that it took me 9 months to listen to it says enough, it wasn't what I wanted it to be and I know that's on me.
I am sure many people will enjoy (or have enjoyed) such an epic, and I am happy for them, but I cannot say that I enjoyed my time with this audiobook.
___________________________
Thank you for reading my review.
Musashi has been in my 'currently reading' for so long and I am relived to have finally finished it and to be able to start a new audiobook to listen to alongside all my physical reads.
Up next for review will either be [b:The Tower of Fools|48717387|The Tower of Fools (Hussite Trilogy, #1)|Andrzej Sapkowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585632089l/48717387._SY75_.jpg|7038935] by Andrzej Sapkowski or Book 4 in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King; [b:Wizard and Glass|13083063|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327411941l/13083063._SY75_.jpg|750558], depending on which one I finish first.
I hope that anyone reading this is doing well and that you are enjoying whatever book you are reading at the moment!
At it's core, Musashi is the story of a young man from Japan who grows up to be a renowned master of the way of the sword. Over the course of the 50+ hour long story, he encounters new sword fighting techniques and learns the skills and attributes that are required and expected of an honourable Ronin.
He studies philosophy, is taught humility, modesty, trust and how to train and teach others by a variety of other characters that he meets whilst on his journey for self-improvement and self-mastery.
This premise is what sold me on the book. I wanted a slow-burn Samurai adventure story. And, in a way, I got too much of what I was looking for - as well as some things that I definitely could have done with less of.
To start off with the obvious; 53 hours is too long. I feel as though this story could have been cut down into 20 hours and it would have still had all of it's major beats and all the more exciting and important events still in there.
There is so much repetition and going in circles, as well as huge chunks of the book in which it feels as though no forward progress is made.
The characters were also entirely two-dimensional. And don't even get me started on the sickeningly weak romance that is played out throughout the entire 1000 pages!
Otsu, a childhood friend of Mushashi (who is then known as Takezo), follows him across the country, trying to find him, win him over and convince him to show her love.
He declines and turns her away multiple times, not because he doesn't love her in return, rather simply because he doesn't wish for their relationship to get between him and his personal goal of mastering the sword.
But yes... she continues to trail him, with fate, destiny, coincidence and dumb luck bringing them together over and over again. It got so terribly boring and predictable.
Musashi also has two separate pupils at different times in the story, Jotaro and "Jotaro.2" - I label the character as such because I have completely forgotten the second character's actual name and he is ostensibly the same person as the original Jotaro.
There are dozens and dozens of characters and none of them felt like real people at all.
Plus the female characters are all either just pawns in the men's games, simple and shallow love interests or they are manipulative and bitter old crones - scheming against our honourable and virtuous male characters.
As for the setting and the themes, they are definitely the strongest part of the story. Those that are interested in period Japanese culture or want to see the morals and ethics of Sun Tzu's 'The Art Of War' exemplified in a fictional epic - you will certainly find more in this book than I did. But be aware, as stated above, that there is a LOT of fluff and filler surrounding that which you are looking for.
For those of you here for the action, similarly, there is certainly good quality swordplay and dueling, as well as moments of covert and military strategy, but these scenes are always relatively short lived and buried within the wider scope of book in general.
As I have already mentioned, the story's unspoken reliance on extraordinary coincidences is probably my biggest problem with Musashi as a whole. With an entire country to explore, the way our protagonist bumps into the same 4 or 5 characters dozens of times throughout the story just led to such a stale overarching sense of progress and development.
I know that I am in the minority regarding these opinions, but this book just wasn't for me. The fact that it took me 9 months to listen to it says enough, it wasn't what I wanted it to be and I know that's on me.
I am sure many people will enjoy (or have enjoyed) such an epic, and I am happy for them, but I cannot say that I enjoyed my time with this audiobook.
___________________________
Thank you for reading my review.
Musashi has been in my 'currently reading' for so long and I am relived to have finally finished it and to be able to start a new audiobook to listen to alongside all my physical reads.
Up next for review will either be [b:The Tower of Fools|48717387|The Tower of Fools (Hussite Trilogy, #1)|Andrzej Sapkowski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585632089l/48717387._SY75_.jpg|7038935] by Andrzej Sapkowski or Book 4 in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King; [b:Wizard and Glass|13083063|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327411941l/13083063._SY75_.jpg|750558], depending on which one I finish first.
I hope that anyone reading this is doing well and that you are enjoying whatever book you are reading at the moment!
jroberts1995's review against another edition
5.0
Musashi found its way to my bookshelf after I heard it being discussed on one of my favourite podcasts. My experience with Japanese literature is minimal: I've read Shūsaku Endō's Silence, I'll soon be reading The Samurai by the same author -- and that's all. Committing to a 970 page epic set in a time and place that I'm only faintly familiar with was quite a bold move. But, as my five-star rating indicates, it was a wise decision.
The foreword to Eiji Yoshikawa's novel is provided by Edwin Reischauer. For readers whose acquaintance with the book (including its themes and setting) is comparable to my own, I'd strongly recommend starting with the foreword. I'm guilty of frequently skipping prefaces and forewords, but Reischauer's brief guide to Musashi definitely enriched my experience of the book.
Each of us will take something away from Yoshikawa's masterpiece; and, given the magnitude of the book, your experience of it will probably be quite different to mine.
Despite serving as our protagonist, Miyamoto Musashi remains enigmatic and elusive. Yoshikawa keeps his reader at a distance from the title character, drawing us in before reminding us that, like many of the secondary characters in the novel, we really don't know Musashi. I believe this is why I kept turning the pages with increasing eagerness. Each scene - be it an encounter with an old friend, a duel with another samurai, or a lesson imparted to a keen student - adds to the intrigue of Miyamoto Musashi. Almost a thousand pages after being introduced to one of history's most enduring warriors, I believe Yoshikawa accomplished one of the most ambitious characterisations of the 20th century.
The foreword to Eiji Yoshikawa's novel is provided by Edwin Reischauer. For readers whose acquaintance with the book (including its themes and setting) is comparable to my own, I'd strongly recommend starting with the foreword. I'm guilty of frequently skipping prefaces and forewords, but Reischauer's brief guide to Musashi definitely enriched my experience of the book.
Each of us will take something away from Yoshikawa's masterpiece; and, given the magnitude of the book, your experience of it will probably be quite different to mine.
Despite serving as our protagonist, Miyamoto Musashi remains enigmatic and elusive. Yoshikawa keeps his reader at a distance from the title character, drawing us in before reminding us that, like many of the secondary characters in the novel, we really don't know Musashi. I believe this is why I kept turning the pages with increasing eagerness. Each scene - be it an encounter with an old friend, a duel with another samurai, or a lesson imparted to a keen student - adds to the intrigue of Miyamoto Musashi. Almost a thousand pages after being introduced to one of history's most enduring warriors, I believe Yoshikawa accomplished one of the most ambitious characterisations of the 20th century.
mo3rgan's review against another edition
3.0
Musashi is not a bad book; in fact, it’s kind of good. I enjoyed it enough to finish it. I wanted to read a samurai adventure by a Japanese author, and this book provided that. The title character has some reasonable depth and development. The ending is fairly strong.
The problem is that this book is a lot longer than it needs to be. If it were about 400 pages long, I would enthusiastically recommend it. At over 1,000 pages, it can feel tedious.
For the first few hundred pages, I enjoyed the book, and I thought it was building up to something exciting. As it progressed, I had difficulty keeping track of the diverging plotlines and growing cast of characters. Many of the plotlines just seemed to run in circles, and could have been significantly shortened. Most of the characters are 1-dimensional. The book never got bad, but it started meandering much more than I would have liked.
By the time I realized that this book wasn’t for me, I was over halfway through it. I didn’t want to give up after 25 hours of reading, especially when the book was kind of good.
I cautiously recommend Musashi to anyone who likes samurai stories and is a very fast reader. If you can finish this in 12 hours, it’s worth your time. If it will take you 50 hours like it took me, then there are better things you could do with your time.
The problem is that this book is a lot longer than it needs to be. If it were about 400 pages long, I would enthusiastically recommend it. At over 1,000 pages, it can feel tedious.
For the first few hundred pages, I enjoyed the book, and I thought it was building up to something exciting. As it progressed, I had difficulty keeping track of the diverging plotlines and growing cast of characters. Many of the plotlines just seemed to run in circles, and could have been significantly shortened. Most of the characters are 1-dimensional. The book never got bad, but it started meandering much more than I would have liked.
By the time I realized that this book wasn’t for me, I was over halfway through it. I didn’t want to give up after 25 hours of reading, especially when the book was kind of good.
I cautiously recommend Musashi to anyone who likes samurai stories and is a very fast reader. If you can finish this in 12 hours, it’s worth your time. If it will take you 50 hours like it took me, then there are better things you could do with your time.
bookrunner's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ljavery's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lo_run's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5