James Clavell (1921–1994)

In this very slight short story, packaged in book form as a novella with many blank pages, Clavell focuses on an elementary school classroom immediately after a war, when the victors have made control of the educational institutions in an unnamed western country—evidently the US—a priority. Dressed in olive drab, a young, pretty, fresh-smelling nineteen-year-old enters the classroom. She is “New Teacher”. In her light, entirely unaccented, perfect English, she directs the show more children’s frightened teacher, an old-school elderly spinster, to the principal’s office, and then proceeds with an expert deconstruction of the American pledge of allegiance. In a few short minutes, the flag is dismantled—its cloth is cut, a piece is distributed to each student, and the flag pole is tossed out the window. God is shown not to exist, and prayer is, of course proved to be utterly ineffectual. No one, other than another human, will give you anything, New Teacher says. “Praying to God or anything or anyone is a waste of time.” In sweet tones, she also undermines parents and their old-fashioned ideas. The grown-ups with “bad thoughts” are being sent back to school to unlearn them. In fact, the father of Johnny, the only resistant student in the class, is one of them. Ultimately, though, even he submits to the teacher’s charm and gentle reprogramming. Candy is enough to gain power over his classmates, but New Teacher has to expertly employ a different strategy with him. She acknowledges—strokes—his intelligence and need for power by appointing him class monitor.

The last few pages of this little book present a reproduction of Clavell’s scrawling handwritten explanation of the genesis of the story. According to this account, years ago one of Clavell’s children asked for a dime as a reward for quickly, accurately, and fluently reciting the pledge of allegiance—without comprehending a single word of what she was saying. This apparently concerned him greatly. Not understanding what you’re signing on to, obediently and unquestioningly doing what you’re told, and being rewarded for easy compliance, as the story illustrates, sets you up to be indoctrinated, controlled, and exploited by others (including pretty, olive-drab-clad young women who are cogs in Dear Leader’s communist, atheistic oppressive system).

This is a facile, underwhelming little story, dressed up as a cautionary tale. It’s not quite clear whether the author thinks the pledge is a bad thing in itself (though I detected a slight whiff of horror at the possibility of a nation’s religion and belief in God being erased). What Clavell seems to be concerned about is citizens, even the youngest, not being encouraged to think about what they’ are taught. When an educational system values and fosters obedience and compliance in children, it consequently plays a major role in creating a society whose citizenry is vulnerable to manipulation and control—by its own government and others.

Who can argue with that? show less

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 show more 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?) show less

Every few years, I pull out my copy of Noble House and sit down for a reread of one of my favorite books. The story takes place during one week in 1963 in Hong Kong when it was still run by the British. It is essentially a Chinese city, and the British living there understand that, while it's also a hub in Asia for other great powers like the United States, Russia, and China.
The main protagonist is Ian Dunross, tai-pan of the Noble House (the commercial side of Struan's). Ian is a show more descendant of Dirk Struan, the pirate and founder of the Noble House, and there are many references back to the previous books in the Asian Saga. It's probably not necessary to read them to understand this book, but knowing them does lead to better enjoyment here. I like all the Easter eggs for Shogun and stories about the Hag, Dirk, and Tyler Brock.
The central premise of the plot is the American company Par-Con that comes to make a deal with either Struan's or their main rival, Rothwell-Gornt (the descendants of Tyler Brock). Linc Bartlett and his CFO Casey Tcholok are raiders, determined to get into the Asian market with whoever profits them most. Events are hampered by gun-running, fires, kidnappings, drug-running, spies, and more characters than I can name. The action moves quickly and there is a lot packed into every day. I've read this book several times, and I was still on the edge of my seat with all the villains, the plotting and the politics, all mixed in with actual events of the time. There's still resentment and scars from World War II, the US is gradually getting into the Viet Nam war, and spy scandals like Profumo rock Britain. At the center of it all is Hong Kong, the hub of commerce in Asia and a focus of the great powers of the time.
As I stated, there are a lot of characters. Mr. Clavell does a wonderful job of differentiating them by personality and culture. I find that some of the most interesting parts of the story. Women are just getting into the business world though not treated equally, and even less so by cultures. It's a long book and covers so much, but is never boring or slow. I'll pick it up again in a few years, but right now I highly recommend a read. show less

Overall this is an incredible story. Even though it takes 1300 pages for the author to tell us that all Toranaga wanted was a friend. Great history blended with heated emotions, loss, betrayal and lots of daring do.

A 17th century English sailor is shipwrecked upon the shors of Feudal Japan and soon caught in a game of political cat and mouse with the warring lords who roam the land. War, Love, intrigue, religious persecution and friendship ensue in this epic tale of Japan. Considering the show more size of this book it moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged. The characters all exude massive personality and really give you something to cling to as you turn the pages. show less