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Notes -
I loved Shogun, but I understood it completely differently after reading King Rat, Clavell's first and largely autobiographical novel. Viewing Shogun as the work of a man who lived through imprisonment by the Japanese, I think it's asking much more interesting literary questions. The book is about forgiveness,How can Blackthorne ever forgive the Japanese for boiling his crewman alive and pissing on him? Meaning how can Clavell forgive the Japanese for what he went through in Changi? And how, in turn, can the Japanese forgive the West for Hiroshima? Clavell, personally, experienced having his life saved by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how can the Japanese forgive that?
Viewed as Clavell working through those questions psychologically, I think the book is much more interesting.
What's always disappointed me about Clavell is that I read Shogun first, and all his other books are only half as good by comparison.
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