Scan barcode
A review by paul_cornelius
Gai-Jin by James Clavell
3.0
Gai-Jin is the weakest of the three Clavell novels I have so far read, Shogun and Tai-Pan being the other two. The strengths that Clavell brought to bear in the first two books of the Asian Saga, clear storylines and focus, disappeared in Gai-Jin, which, in some parts, frankly, is a mess. Its principle fault is that the story bobs and weaves, which is fine if you are a boxer, but not so effective if you are a novelist. In fact, I felt that the main strength of Gai-Jin was that it was an elongated backstory for a prospective mini-series for television. (It had the feel of TV script.) Alas, by the time Clavell published it in 1994, Gai-Jin was part of a genre, historical fiction, which had already pretty much seen its best days as an adaptation for television mini-series.
In fairness, this is an enormously ambitious work. Clavell has taken a vast range of characters whose lives were drawn from historical figures, and done quite a good job of giving them a resurrected life in literature. Along with Shogun and Tai-Pan, King Rat and Noble House are the other novels in the Asian Saga which have been rendered into film or television. And I have seen all of them several times. Gai-Jin was the first of Clavell's novels for which I had no previous image imposed as to what the characters were like. It's impossible to watch Shogun and not see Richard Chamberlain and Yoko Shimada or Tai-Pan and not see Bryan Brown and Joan Chen. So I was happy to find that, like Dickens, Clavell does create characterizations that stand independent of film and television personas. All are vividly pictured in my mind bar one--Malcolm Struan for whom I simply cannot attach a face or even strong overall physical presence.
The story, however, does not satisfy the reader. Really, what is the story? I'm not quite sure. All the way through, I felt it should be the tale of Toranaga Yoshi. But he seems a mere afterthought towards the end. Meanwhile, the Europeans take center stage. And they are a repulsive bunch. To make this Angelique Richaud/Struan's story to me is an abomination. Like most of the main characters, she is a foolish, greedy child, a gold digger in fancy and in fact no matter how much Clavell tries to redeem her towards the end. His other novels have been stories of older, grizzled survivors. Gai-Jin contains too many pompous entitled barely adult know-it-alls. Yes, the opening of the Asian and Pacific trader to Europe was something accomplished by young adventurers. But Angelique, Malcolm, Phillip Tyrer, Settry Pallidar, and Edward Gornt became so annoying that I kept wishing the Japanese would kick them all the way back across the Pacific.
So what happened, here? A failure to focus on the right story, I think, the story of Toranaga. Several times, you feel the novel is turning that direction. But it quickly resumes with the petty affairs and plots of Angelique and her bevy of admirers instead. Clavell was much better when he focused his sympathies on the Japanese in Shogun and the Chinese in Tai-Pan.
(And why did Clavell slip in a couple of metric measurements when the rest of the novel uses English weights and measurements, which is historically accurate?)
In fairness, this is an enormously ambitious work. Clavell has taken a vast range of characters whose lives were drawn from historical figures, and done quite a good job of giving them a resurrected life in literature. Along with Shogun and Tai-Pan, King Rat and Noble House are the other novels in the Asian Saga which have been rendered into film or television. And I have seen all of them several times. Gai-Jin was the first of Clavell's novels for which I had no previous image imposed as to what the characters were like. It's impossible to watch Shogun and not see Richard Chamberlain and Yoko Shimada or Tai-Pan and not see Bryan Brown and Joan Chen. So I was happy to find that, like Dickens, Clavell does create characterizations that stand independent of film and television personas. All are vividly pictured in my mind bar one--Malcolm Struan for whom I simply cannot attach a face or even strong overall physical presence.
The story, however, does not satisfy the reader. Really, what is the story? I'm not quite sure. All the way through, I felt it should be the tale of Toranaga Yoshi. But he seems a mere afterthought towards the end. Meanwhile, the Europeans take center stage. And they are a repulsive bunch. To make this Angelique Richaud/Struan's story to me is an abomination. Like most of the main characters, she is a foolish, greedy child, a gold digger in fancy and in fact no matter how much Clavell tries to redeem her towards the end. His other novels have been stories of older, grizzled survivors. Gai-Jin contains too many pompous entitled barely adult know-it-alls. Yes, the opening of the Asian and Pacific trader to Europe was something accomplished by young adventurers. But Angelique, Malcolm, Phillip Tyrer, Settry Pallidar, and Edward Gornt became so annoying that I kept wishing the Japanese would kick them all the way back across the Pacific.
So what happened, here? A failure to focus on the right story, I think, the story of Toranaga. Several times, you feel the novel is turning that direction. But it quickly resumes with the petty affairs and plots of Angelique and her bevy of admirers instead. Clavell was much better when he focused his sympathies on the Japanese in Shogun and the Chinese in Tai-Pan.
(And why did Clavell slip in a couple of metric measurements when the rest of the novel uses English weights and measurements, which is historically accurate?)