Gai-Jin

The Epic Novel of the Birth of Modern Japan

De: James Clavell

Narrado por: John Lee

The dynamic epic novel of political upheaval and societal change in late 1800s Japan, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell

This epic novel by master writer James Clavell, loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and Anglo-Satsuma War that took place in the late 1800s, is a richly researched, panoramic view of Japan’s budding relationship with the Western powers, its sweeping societal changes, and the political upheaval that followed.

As Malcolm Struan, the son of Culum and Tess Struan, and a small band of Westerners travel down the Tōkaidō road, they are attacked by two Satsuma samurai, who mortally wound John Canterbury and seriously injure Malcolm, who then finds reprieve in the merchant village of Yokohama after a narrow escape facilitated by the unscathed Angelique.

Angelique Richaud, Malcolm’s penniless but beautiful French companion, is thrown into a world of political intrigue, fierce devotion, unstable family dynamics, blackmail, and secrets as the trading houses battle for supremacy.

With a cast of dynamic and fully recognized characters, Gai-Jin spins a tale of passionate love affairs, devastating loss, intense power struggles, and the fight to survive and thrive in a hostile new land that will leave listeners longing for another foray into Clavell’s extraordinary Asian Saga.

©2015 James Clavell (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Wow, what a racist Japanese accent!!

The book is not as good as Clavell’s other books, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. The basic Japanese that was sprinkled throughout Shogun and gave the dialogue a bit of flavor is largely missing here. Of course, pronunciation of Japanese words is awful.

What’s intolerable is the bogus Japanese accent used throughout. The book is old but these readings are not, and portraying Japanese people with a bogus “Kung fu master” dub accent from the 1980s is unbelievably racist. The Japanese is poorly pronounced and obviously read by someone who has never heard a native speak the language. Dialogue between Japanese people presented in English had that weird cadenced breathy vowel, vaguely nasal grunting that was used for all Asians in bad English dubs in the 1980s. Occasionally, the reader slips from the bogus Japanese into a bogus French accent. For a person who speaks Japanese and works in both languages with Japanese people, it’s grating and offensive.

Compared to Taipan and Shogun this was mediocre.

Shogun in Taipan are epic books by the same author. This book was much less engaging. In addition, the performance was not as compelling. This may be due to the lack of depth and relation to some of the characters. The voices of all the Japanese characters sounded very similar. Also some of the Japanese word pronunciation was incorrect. If you don't speak Japanese then that won't bother you. This book was just okay. I'm glad I finished it, but I'm also glad it's over.

great book. I'm sad to see it end.

I had hoped for an ending as legendary as shogun and tai pan. this book was good all the way through.

Awful reading

The reading of this book was awful. The accents were terrible and often the book would say a person yelled or raised their voice and the reader would actually read it quieter. The book itself wasn’t as good as the first two but wasn’t awful.

John Lee's telling of this story was excellent.

Another Clavell work that is excellent in both depth of character and story. Please to anyone interested start with Shogun and follow the tale. You will enjoy the journey.

Narration was distracting trying to put all the voices and vernacular in place

I struggled through the first several hours but finally gave up. Would much rather read the book than listened to it in this edition. I love Clavel but not this.

In so many ways so much better than a movie

Books have such better character development and plot and scenery if you use your imagination. This is a fantastic way to enjoy James Clavell's brilliant writing, and the performance enriches the remake with the accents and characters and inflections.

Incredible reader!

An incredible in detailed story read with great attention to the voices of the different characters.

I found this story good, but hard to follow

There were to many characters that blended togather, and John Lee, while good, just wasn't as good as the narrator of Tai-Pan.

The story was interesting, but I'll have to listen to it again at a later date. Trying to do it casually just left me lost.

Good story but

I love the Shogun series but this novel lacked the warmth and friendship that developes in the other stories. Shogun and Tai-pan spoke to human nature as the characters form strong bonds despite different races, languages, or backgrounds. but in Gai-jin its just "hey everyone wants the only white girl in the settlement and shes devoid of personality or redeemable qualities. Sadly even most of the characters in the settlement are indistinct, lacking any point or ability to progress the story. Most male characters in the settlement: attack the Japanese and sleep with Angelique. Again I love this series but this was a sad departure. Even Yoshi Toranaga is more or less useless and his story does not contribute to the main story.