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michaelromeo 's review for:
Tai-Pan
by James Clavell
I just finished reading Tai-Pan for the fourth time. It is high on my list of favorite reads. Many people criticize James Clavell citing his overlong narratives, caricatured people, slightly skewed history and over the top drama and adventure. But these are the things that draw me to Clavell’s books and make me go back to read them time and again. If I want succinct writing I’ll read a magazine. If I want real life characters I’ll read a biography. If I want precise history I’ll read a text book. And if I want a realistic portrayal of life I’ll watch the news. Clavell provides an escape. He not only thrusts his readers into a larger than life world, he keeps the world swirling and dancing until his readers are hypnotized and need more to meet their daily fix. People who tear apart Clavell’s writing are missing the point.
Tai-Pan is a rollicking adventure filled with people the likes of which you only find in fiction. The entanglements of their lives border on soap opera, their pride and their temperaments would be comical in the hands of a less skilled writer. But here in Tai-Pan we join a group of hardheaded, single sighted people who have their sights set on settling one of the most inhospitable islands in the then known world, Hong Kong. The book is filled with an heroic, conquering spirit the likes of which is rarely seen in contemporary literature. Heroes and villains abound and sometimes trade places until you are not quite sure who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, but what the hell, we’ll just root for them all.
If you want a dry, historically and politically correct telling of the settling of Hong Kong, The Opium Wars, and the clash of cultures, go read a scholarly tome. If you want escapist literature at its best and to be swept into another time and place (and not mind staying there for a while) grab Tai-Pan.
Tai-Pan is a rollicking adventure filled with people the likes of which you only find in fiction. The entanglements of their lives border on soap opera, their pride and their temperaments would be comical in the hands of a less skilled writer. But here in Tai-Pan we join a group of hardheaded, single sighted people who have their sights set on settling one of the most inhospitable islands in the then known world, Hong Kong. The book is filled with an heroic, conquering spirit the likes of which is rarely seen in contemporary literature. Heroes and villains abound and sometimes trade places until you are not quite sure who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, but what the hell, we’ll just root for them all.
If you want a dry, historically and politically correct telling of the settling of Hong Kong, The Opium Wars, and the clash of cultures, go read a scholarly tome. If you want escapist literature at its best and to be swept into another time and place (and not mind staying there for a while) grab Tai-Pan.