Gai-Jin

This is a long read, but keep up. What kept me reading was the depth of each character...one time incredibly innocent, then cunningly evil.

I'm not sure why this book received so many low ratings. I liked it and was able to plow through its 1,230 pages within a few weeks. The story is similar to Tai-Pan as it involves a taipan with a forbidden love interest. It takes place in Japan in the 1800's and concentrates on the resistance/animosity the Japanese have to the colonial British. There is not much for us to learn about Japan like we did in Shogun. I suppose the book could have been a bit shorter but I liked it just the way it is. If you've read the 1st two books in the series I'll bet you'll like this too.

This wonderful read is absolutely engrossing and gorgeous instyle. It intcludes war, sex, betrayal, love, death, life....Everything you could want in a book. It is NOT as good as SHOGUN or TAI-PAN, but it is the next best book. I also recommend THE POWER OF ONE, THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, IT (king), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and OF MICE AND MEN.

Awsome, there was a fate crawling behind every corner, many characters, good choice of words, makes you feel like you are there, it was one of the best books I've read in a long time.

I was surprised to hear that people didn't enjoy this book! I loved it. It definitely was not Shogun, but then again, what is??? I still think that this book provided much entertainment and suspense. I couldn't put it down! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of James Clavell's novels. (Why is Whirlwind out of print?)

Hold onto your hat! James Clavell has done it again. After "Shogun" and "Tai-Pan," one has to wonder how he could come close to a better effort, but in "Gai-Jin," he's done it. Action that begins right in the first pages never lets up. This book is exteremely well written, the characters well developed, and all eventually tied together in a remarkable climax that will shock even the reader accustomed to Clavell's writing. The story of the Struan family continues with young Malcolm, the next in line to be Tai-Pan after the death of his father in "Tai-Pan," and Angelique, the object of his affections and his mother Tess's objections. Clavell takes the reader all over Japan, including right into Osaka castle and conflict with the Japanese, with more drama and suspense than one could hope for. "Gai-Jin," set around 1865, not only gives the reader an insight into 19th century Japan, as the Shogunate era is approaching its end (in 1868), but it also ties in the stories of "Shogun" and "Tai-Pan" with references back to characters and events from those books. I would recommend reading those two first, then take on Gai-Jin; it all makes for sense that way. If you can't wait to get into it, though, go ahead -- Clavell has not made Gai-Jin dependent on the others.