I still like Shogun better but Tai-Pan is a very close second. Don't let the size scare you. Just read it. ( )

A doorstopper of a novel that doesn't rise to the heights of Shogun. It's engaging and quite fun, but the length makes it hard to justify, compared to other historical novels. It relies quite a bit on repetition of the same themes and phrases by God and it's easy to see how you could cut it down severely without really compromising the contents. The novels chauvinistic and imperialist aspects might stand out to a modern reader but considering the time it was written and the period it's about, it's quite progressive. ( )

In 1841, British forces are setting up shop on Hong Kong, and Dirk Struan, leader of the all-powerful Noble House trading firm, is at the forefront of knitting China and Great Britain inextricably together. Unfortunately, most of his family has just succumbed to plague in Scotland, his lone surviving son Culum resents his father and can't be trusted to rule Noble House, his arch-nemesis Brock is trying to destroy him, his Chinese bastard Gordon Chen is secretly involved with the Triad anarchists, the British government is skeptical of Hong Kong's value, other European powers are trying to disrupt British plans, the Chinese mandarins keep trying to violently dislodge the traders from Hong Kong, and the other traders are developing alliances and betrayals at lightning speeds. Oh, and Struan's young Chinese mistress really wants to get married.

In theory, this is exactly the kind of sprawling book that I love. Unfortunately, nearly all the Western-Eastern cultural interactions are inevitably reduced to "foreigners are strange, but I will allow them to continue in their misguided ways while I smirk from within my invincible cultural superiority." Which I'm sure happened in 1841 -- it's not as if Hong Kong was settled in the name of universal brotherhood -- but the book is so desperate to convey the point that it bludgeons the reader with redundant scenes. Clavell, we get it. But, wait! Clavell wants to puncture this kind of ethnocentric isolation as much as he wants to portray it, so he makes Dirk Struan into a near-messianic figure of tolerance and understanding. Struan really is settling Hong Kong in the name of universal brotherhood.

In short: eh.
( )

I read this book over 25 years ago, soon after reading Shogun, which I loved. At the time, Clavell was probably my favorite author, and I read all his books. Since it was so long ago, I barely remember the details, but I do remember that I loved the book. ( )

Here's what I wrote after reading in 1988: "The master storyteller strikes again. This predecessor story to Noble House explains the origins of Hong Kong and its powerful conglomerate, Struans. Most memorable characters? Of course, Dirk Struan, the Tai-pan, who is ruthless, adventuresome, cunning, and surprisingly sensitive. Also memorable is May-May, his beautiful Chines mistress who helps him to be more "chinese" and less "barbarian". Memorable also is her seemingly favoriate word, "fantastical", "I'm fantastical urgent about marriage". Dirk Struan stuck with me; still think of some of his approaches and actions to this day! ( )