Rating: 
Summary: can't recommend this book.
Review: Shogun is one of my favorite books, and I was pleased to find Gai-Jin in a used book store while I was travelling in New Zealand.Unfortunately, I just can't recommend Gai-Jin. I struggled through the first half, hoping that it would really grab me at some point, but alas, it didn't. I did a "spot read" of the second half of the book, and really don't feel like I missed anything that was really worth taking the time to finish it properly. I just never cared about any of these characters. Too bad.
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthwhile Read
Review: Of all the authors I have read books from in the past years, none have caught my eye like James Clavell. Gai-jin is the third book I have read by Clavell, and it does not disappoint.
I have never read a book with more depth and research evident in the topic. James Clavell has obviously spent many months studying the lifestyles of Japan circa 1850, and he captures the feeling perfectly. Every detail is explained, from the style of speak to eating habits and manners. The reader is immersed in ancient Japanese culture. The only author I can use as comparison is James Michener, when I read Hawaii.
If you have a bad memory, you may want to bring a pen and pad along for the ride. Gai-jin rivals The Lord of the Rings trilogy in terms of names and places, and it can become quite confusing at times. The sheer number of proper nouns, many of them Japanese, can overwhelm you, especially when the names are as similar as Ori and Shorin. With careful reading, however, it becomes apparent how deep the story is. It may dive to deep for some readers, though, and there are many chapters where nothing would be lost if they had been left out.
One thing that struck me as something Clavell left out was any kind of satisfaction at the end. The character left standing is not a role-model, and the heroic characters slip into obscurity. This left me feeling a bit cheated at the end, as the book did not give me the ending I wanted. However, I would recommend it all the same, as it delivers the same punch reminiscent of his earlier works. It is not up to the bar Shogun set, but it will live as a masterpiece for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to recommend this one
Review: I agree with the other reviewers who comment on the second half/finish of the book. After over 1200 pages too much is left unresolved. I might feel differently if there was a direct sequel continuing the story of these characters, but of course there isn't one. While I still enjoyed the setting and the development of the character's view of their world and their strategy for dealing with it, it's really more of the same from Shogun and Taipan. Further, possibly the most interesting character, Tess Struan, appears in the book only through her letters written to other characters. Wish I'd read 1200 pages of something else.
Rating:
Summary: Huge, complex and worthwhile...till the end
Review: Many of the reviews express disappointment in the book. However, I found the many, many interconnecting plotlines to be wonderful and rich. I do most of my reading in bed at night, and as each day neared its conclusion, I was chomping at the bit to get to Gai-Jin. You get a wonderful sense of the society of westerners that barely clung to their tiny foothold in Japan, always in danger of being overrun by Samurai. You also see that the various European nations represented barely remained civil to each other, and yet had to band together to earn some measure of cooperation from the Japenese, who also have about 20 different motives and agendas. There are some great individual characters as well. I enjoyed Nakima, the "rebel" Japanese samurai who wants to kill Gai-Jin (foreigners) but ends up infiltrating them and slowly becoming fascinated with their ideas and actually developing a friendship with two of the Brits. The character of Malcolm Struan is complex as well, a young man who has inherited the title of Tai-Pan, but because he is recovering from a serious injury, is unable to fight for what he thinks is rightfully his. I could go on and on. If you like fast reads with easy to follow plots...look elsewhere. This novel, although it spans only a very few months of time, feels like a major, multi-generational epic. Weak spots: Clavell often has his characters "thinking" things that really only serve to provide us with historical background, but it is stuff we need to know, and though the device is a bit obvious and pedestrian, I'm also not sure what else he could have done. The ending of the book is a bit much like NOBLE HOUSE (nature wreaks havoc like a deux ex machina), and many of the plotlines are wrapped up disappointingly thinly. We've invested a lot in these characters and plots, and some get very short shrift. After 1235 pages, what would another 30-50 of better wrapup have been, Mr. Clavell?? I highly recommend the book, but you MUST have read NOBLE HOUSE at least in my opinion (and although SHOGUN isn't all that essential, everyone should read that book anyway!).
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: A big fan of Clavell, I was thoroughly disappointed with Gai-Jin. This novel does not hold up to the other books in the Asia Saga. Although Noble House was one of my favorite books and I usually enjoy Clavell novels, it was an effort to finish this book. Clavell does a fine job recreating ancient Japan (I know, I lived there for many years) and the character development is sound.
The problem is the reader never knows who to root for and the ending is a letdown. There are a few wonderful twists that truly surprised me and I couldn't put the book down through the first 500 pages, but the story went downhill from there and fell flat.
Rating:
Summary: A sad ending to a fine saga
Review: While this is the third book chronologically in Clavell's Asian saga, it was the final book he wrote. It is sad that his final effort was so week, especially considering some of the other wonderful things he wrote. Malcolm Struan, heir apparent to Struan's, goes to Yokahama to see what is going on with the newly-opened Struan's branch there (Japan was only recently opened to European trade). He is soon gravely wounded, and, as he tries to recover from the wound, finds himself at the center of an intrigue both among the Europeans and Japanese. To say nothing of a young Frenchwoman, who has set matrimonial sights on him . . . As is not unusual in Clavell's books, there are several European and Asian stories running in parallel. While I was interested in finding out what would happen to the Struan-related characters and the other Europeans, I found the Japanese stories very difficult to get into. They made for sloggy reading. Perhaps the problem is that, while Noble House and Tai Pan were enlivened by Hong Kong, pre-Meiji Yokohama just doesn't do it as an interesting venue. Those who are into Clavell's novels will be annoyed by the legerdemain that he indulges in to fit a Tai-Pan named Malcolm Struan into a fairly detailed timeline laid down in Noble House. Oh well, what can you do? Only for the true Clavell fan who is prepared to ignore a thick, muddy plot to take in the details of this aspect of the saga.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to Clavell's own standard
Review: Having read and truly enjoyed Shogun and Taipan (as well as King Rat and even Noble House) I welcomed the opportunity to enter Clavell's well-researched and fascinating world of intrigue and inter-culture strategy set in 19th century Japan. Fans of Clavell's will undoubtably be a little forgiving, but there's so much to be apologetic for the volume would strain anyone: 1200 pages in total with very small print, a very dense plot, characterization that approaches engagement but leaves you just short of knowing where your loyalties lie. Short of telling you the plot, it's enough to call Gai-Jin unsatisfying ... to say the least. Malcolm Struan is the heir apparent to Struan's Trading, long a dominating force in Hong Kong, and now expanding into the insular world of Japan. At the same time, forces of renegade samurai called shishi are maneuvering to return power to the Emperor from the strangehold maintained by the military dictator - the Shogun. To further their cause, the shishi carry out a terrorist attack against Gai-Jin, (loosely - foreign devil, I believe) and Malcom is injured pretty greiviously. Arriving at the same time is a beautiful young social climber who has been shipped to Yokohama to seduce and marry young Malcom in order to restore her gambler father to his formerly wealthy state. The rest is vintage Clavell: Lots of stuff happens, loyalties are earned, changed, betrayed; and there's plenty of sex, murder, intrigue, and gamesmanship set against the clash of the industrial West meeting the traditional and reclusive East, who is by turns repulsed and fascinated by the technology and opportunity of a seemingly less "civilized" people. It's a pretty good start, but rather than the well-oiled Chinese puzzle of a plot of Shogun or Tai-Pan, Gai Jin has all the appeal of a well-oiled deli tray. Plot threads sit next to one another, only interact on a fairly superficial level; characters rub against one another but never quite enough to change each other's individual destiny or direction. Tess Struan, the matriarch of the Struan clan, and Malcolm's dominant motivating force, and one of the most interesting characters of the lot, never appears. We only read her letters and are treated to opinions of what she might do or think. And since you know that Malcolm is a headstrong young lad in the mold of his grandfather, well, the outcome is inevitable. I don't know whether the passage of time affected me as a reader, or Clavell as a writer, but the use of language in Gai-Jin sinks to a pretty low level. One glaring example is - amongst a regular sprinkling of both Chinese and Japanese words, twice Clavell uses the word "siesta" to describe a short nap, which struck me as incredibly lazy and completely out of place. How hard would it have been to put nap into Mandarin, Japanese, or even French? If you're a Clavell fan, you might as well read Gai-Jin to complete your journey through his body of work, but casual readers will be bemused, befuddled and bewildered by this less than noble finish to an otherwise pretty solid series.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to get into
Review: Gai-Jin is the third novel in Clavell's Asian saga and consequently the third novel of his that I have read. After such promising predecessors, (Shogun and Tai-pan) I was really looking forward to Gai-Jin and tackled it with gusto. Being familiar with both the Shogunate and Tai-pan character line, I found Gai-Jin, (unlike both Shogun and Tai-pan) extremely easy to get into. The first 500 pages are fantastic and I couldn't put the book down. However, around the mid-point of the novel, the story starts to fizzle and becomes a little stale, the plot comes to a roaring halt and nothing much else happens for the remainder of the book, which is too bad because Clavell, built it up so well. On a more positive note, I really enjoy the handle Clavell has on oriental politics and train of thought and how he contrasts it with the mentality of the Gai-Jin Europeans. All in all, the weakest book of the series so far, but still not a total disaster. Next up, King Rat!
Rating:
Summary: 1200 pages that I can't remember
Review: I would not go so far as to say I hated this book. It was just so inconsequential that there are very few elements worth remembering. There are so many characters thrown at you, with their 2+ page back stories, at the very beginning I found myself backtracking through most of the book. Who was that again? Oh! he was the delagate way back in...
When the action does kick in, it picks the book up a tad and they are exciting, but over too soon and you have to wade through another 200 pages for anything to happen. The one character that is fascinating is Tess Straun, but she never actually makes an apearance in the book. She only corresponds through letters and is talked about by others. People who are familiar with the Clavells Asian saga, will remember her from Tai-Pan. It's a shame that we don't see the arc that this character makes for the shy waif in the first book, to the shrewd and somewhat domineering matriarch in this one. It is a good book and it was interesting while reading it. But after finishing it two days ago, it troubles me that I can't recall what hapens at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Boring....
Review: What can I say? I got this book from a secondhand bookshop and I sat down excited and started reading it. In a month I have only managed to read 50 pages. Despite my expectations this book turned out to be so boring. Clavell could have easily described what he did in 50 pages in less than 15- the writing is so long-winded that makes you lose interest...The book is still on my desk and I don't think I'll ever finish it. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy it, unless you have a lot of patience.
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