Tai-Pan: The Second Novel of the Asian Saga

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He brings to light the manipulations that occur behind locked doors over a glass or two of good port or brandy with results that benefit the few over the many. Tai-Pan is an excellent historical fiction about the early days of Hong Kong and British-Chinese trade. Truth be told, I think this was better written than Shōgun even though I actually liked the 1975 book set in Japan better. Horatio Sinclair – clerk to William Longstaff, church fanatic and harbours incestuous desires for his sister Mary.

There are two major characters I want to talk about, although Clavell managed to create a fairly interesting and diverse cast of characters. The two have been feuding for decades, sworn to destroy each other, despite having similar interests and actually working together a lot of the time.All in the brand-new Hong Kong revolves around him: he built the place, he saves it, and all others can suck it.

g. “spiritually“), opened his eyes, and certainly not to the degree of Blackthorne’s love affair with Japan. When you get right down to it Tai-Pan is a historical romance in the older sense (a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. All these aspects of Clavell come out strongly in his novels and will either drive you crazy or have you nodding in agreement.

The third part of the arrangement, Struan agreed to sell Jin Qua a sizeable plot of land in Hong Kong with the deed to be recorded in the name of Gordon Chen. Dirk Struan and Tyler Brock left many children, legitimate and illegitimate, who take up their respective fathers' mantles and continue the battle.

Before joining Goodreads, I had already read ‘Shogun’, so you, my friendly reader, do not have the luxury of a review of that as comparison, but I believe that what I say about ‘Tai-Pan’, set in Hong Kong, can easily be said of it’s predecessor. To a 1960's reader this wouldn't have been unacceptable, but in 2012 I have to agree that it might be difficult to swallow. But it doesn’t get more, because it doesn’t significantly deliver on its promise on the cover to be part of an ASIAN SAGA; one in which two cultures encounter one another, and the political and cultural consequences that follow. Una volta ripresomi dalla sorpresa mi sono però potuto immergere nelle atmosfere della Cina (e della nascente colonia britannica di Hong Kong) del 1800.

The Noble House was on the brink of financial collapse and about to be destroyed by rival Tyler Brock. The New York Times said the book was not as notable as King Rat but was "almost an archetype of pure story telling.

He is, of course, completely over the top, and it’s this that provides a lot of the friction in the work: he’s a Scottish giant who has Plans and Schemes, and who twists representatives of the Crown around his little finger. While I found Clavell's use of language in Shogun fascinating, here it felt nothing but off-putting to me. He knows how merciless life can be and his primary goal every day is to protect what is his and the people he cares about.It is a wide ranging story about Western trade interests in China and the establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony. There is so much missing from the plot of the book that I'm not really sure how anyone can watch the movie and understand what is going on.