The Wilbur Smith Discussion Forums

I have only read Shogun.

This is a long novel. You will have to invest a lot of your time to read it, and sometimes it's not an easy read. If you are a Westerner you will be immersed in a different world where everything you are used to and consider normal it's challenged. It takes a while to get into the book, it's slow at the beginning, but after 300 pages you will continue coming back for more. As I said, it takes effort to go thru it but at the end you will be sorry it is over and the story and characters will be with you for a long time.

If you have the patience this has the potential of being one of the most satisfying reading experiences of your life.

Domo peni-san!

I've read Shogun, Gai-Jin and Noble House by Jimmy, I mini-reviewed each in the "What are you reading at the moment" thread" I think. No idea why I didn't start a Clavell thread...

Shogun is by far and away one of the best books I've ever read - but as I mentioned elsewhere it is a "proper readers" book and it requires concentration and will take a while to get into. Very educational and interesting

Gai-Gin was OK, very hard to get into and not as gripping as Shogun but still good.

I really liked Noble House, but it's quite an odd novel that I would imagine some people may have a hard time getting really involved in as it's all about a business (take-overs, share dealing, rivals etc...) I love that sort of thing tho...

I picked up Whirlwind (i think) from the library a few weeks ago but it hasn't left my draw at work yet...

yeah, I'm a big Clavell fan too, dunno why we didn't have a thread for him, thanks Penitent!

I've read all his book, liked them all equally. He is a brilliant brilliant writer, and like you said, Pen, the characters are in your mind for a long time. Although I never had a hard time getting into his work, I've always been hooked from page 1.

Glad to see there are other fans. I have only read “Shogun” Any ideas on what should be my next Clavell?

Penitent - I recommend Noble House next.

Nefer - Could you please jog my memory for Escape? I can't remember who it was about. (I think it might be about an American woman trying to get her daughter back from her husband who took her & went back to Iran - or am I confusing it with a movie I've seen?)

I have read Noble House - set in Hong Kong of 1963, Gai-Jin - set in Japan of 1862 and Escape which is based upon Whirlwind. Excuse the pun but "Escape" escapes me (hence my Q for Nefer) but like Matt said, Noble House is fascinating & I loved it. The "take-overs, share dealing rivals etc." is written with down to earth terms as I didn't have a problem understanding any of it. I was going to borrow more of his books at the time I was reading the others but the library never had them in & I couldn't be bothered reserving them as I had plenty of other authors to go on with. Clavell was/is obviously very popular. He is also on my "WHO WRITES LIKE WILBUR SMITH" list which I got from the library years ago. I will eventually post this list which not surprisingly has a lot of the names already listed here in 'Other Authors'.
Whirlwind is set in Iran of 1979 & I'll be interested in what other members think of it.

(Matt, I see another large library fine coming up - don't forget Whirlwind is in your drawer!)

Thanks Ada, I will put "Noble House" on the list. Not sure when I would get to it since the list is pretty long already...

Ada, "Escape" is the love story of Eriki and his wife, Azadeh {FYI, azad means free, or freedom}, and the other British guy she met when she was in Switzerland, John (Jonathan?) Ross. It helps if you've read Whirlwind - because their story made me want more. I found "Escape" in a used bookstore - didn't even know he had written it till I saw it!

Apparently it was to be a movie script, but then he passed away and the script was turned into a book. Would make a brilliant movie, IMO.

Thanks Nefer.

Escape obviously wasn't the ^ one I thought it might be. It's been bugging me & the only other story I can think it might have been is one where they all end up in Afghanistan & become involved with the fighting there & her husband hasn't been entirely truthful about his past or what he's really doing there. (I'm not saying too much in case I'm right this time & I don't want this to become a spoiler.)

Please let me know if I'm wrong again & I'll see if it's in the library next time I'm down there & flick through it or reborrow it. I'm starting to think my brain has filed it in the recycling bin & then deleted it! - Is it possible to read too many books.....Nah, never!

You may be thinking of Whirlwind - Escape is the romance spin-off of Whirlwind, so it's easy to get confused btwn the two!

Following the recommendation of this thread, I’m happy to report that I have started “Noble House” today. I don’t know how long it will take for me to go thru it since I usually read 3 or 4 books at a time and my time to read is very limited these days and I forget to mention… this thing is HUGE. But I’ll keep you posted…

Done with “Noble House”! It was a real nice read. In between all the financial crosses and double crosses there is a lot to learn about Asia. Recommended indeed!

There is another book by Clavell that is not part of the Asian Saga called “King’s Rat”, I believe it’s part autobiographical. Has anyone read it?

I haven't read King Rat Penitent but according to my list it is set in a Japanese POW camp in 1945. Was James Clavell a prisoner of war? If so, that explains it being autobiographical.

I'm glad you enjoyed Noble House.

Yes, he was a POW. "King Rat" is supposed to be based in some of his experiences at the time.

And a remarkably good book!

I've read it and was gripped by it - theres so much movement and action in the book for all that its based in a POW camp. I could also never figure out which character was Clavell himself.

Did you both think that the 'writer' character in Noble House was Clavell himself?

Nefer wrote:
Did you both think that the 'writer' character in Noble House was Clavell himself?

There was a 'writer' character in it? I'm getting worried about my memory. It was too long ago that I read these books. (In a way it is good when this happens - I've done it with WS's books also - when you reread them there's all these parts you've forgotten!)

Clavell's books are often called faction since most of the stories are based on real events but with the names changed around.
Hence Tai-Pan (Read this before Noble House as it explains things more) and Dirk Struan would be Jardine and Jardine's.
Shogun is based on William adams and his relationship with Tokugawa Iesayu.
And King Rat would obviously be based on his experiances in Changi.

I didn't know that about his books - I had a feeling they may have been loosely based in reality but didn't know for sure (except for King Rat).

Thanks for the tid-bit!

King Rat and Shogun were great. I just couldn't get into Noble House, maybe I'll try again sometime...
I had do get rid of most of my collection of books (kept all WS) Noble House was one of the ones that went.

Son of the Silver Fox wrote:King Rat and Shogun were great. I just couldn't get into Noble House, maybe I'll try again sometime...
I had do get rid of most of my collection of books (kept all WS) Noble House was one of the ones that went.

Try Tai-Pan utterly brilliant novel with a touching end.

Currently reading "Whirlwind".

Liking the connections to Noble House, but the format and subject seems at little dry atm, I'm not too far into it yet tho so hopefully I'll get more into it! Will post my thoughts later.