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himpersonal's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted so much to like this more than I did (I loved Shōgun). But I had a lot of emotional problems with this book:
- Aside from May-May, none of the women are written as characters of any worth (even Tess didn't live up to what I was expecting).
- The annexation has always bothered me. The British had no business being there in the first place (they had no business being anywhere where they occupied, annexed, colonized, imperialized, etc., and neither did any of the other countries that did the same). Wreaks of white centrism, white supremacy, white saviorship.
- Because it was written with Struan as the central character, so was the worldview written from his perspective - a white, Christian, alpha male's (my least favorite kind of male). The first time he lays hands on May-May made me want to scratch out his eyes to blindness.
- Hated the broken English ascribed to all the Chinese characters. I get why Clavell chose to do it, but it was still triggering for me (as an immigrant who grew up in the US, I will always remember the racism and xenophobia my parents were particularly subjected to because of their imperfect English).
- He was a terrible father, a terrible husband, and a hypocrite to his precious Christian god, and he got through life fairly unscathed. (May-May must've been devoted to a lot of gods to make that happen for him!)
If I ignored all these emotional barriers, if I could pretend I didn't care about any of it, then yeah, the story is full of adventure and triumph. But in the end, I felt too disturbed by all this and more.
The British were the outsiders, but Struan was constantly trying to subject the people in his life to western morality, never mind that the Chinese had lived by their own codes without any issues until then. And although Struan admits Chinese are wiser (e.g., how British never showered or washed their clothes*), the distinctions between the cultures might be the only thing I liked about the book. May-May (my only favorite character) was constantly reminding Struan about how the whites were the barbarians and their civilizations were far more immature. I especially loved May-May's rants about why it's acceptable to follow and pray to both the Chinese gods and the Christian one as well as her insistence on fengshui. May-May was the only one who made me laugh. She also evoked in me sadness for her, as well as awe. She made this book worth reading, and Struan did not deserve her.
Undecided if I want to read the next book in the series...
* I think Clavell might be extra sensitive about hygiene. It had a pretty noticeable presence in Shōgun too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic