Musashi

Simply sensational. The most profound read I have ever done in my life.

Personal rating: 4.899/5.0

Serialization is underrated. Yoshikawa makes it work to his advantage with stories that interleave like both a play and epic.

Mushashi tells the story of a legendary Japanese swordsman from his youth to perhaps the greatest battle he ever fought

The hero is very japanese. Just look at all ‘them Cartoon/Manga etc. Asian super heroes out there and you kow what i mean. The characterization resembles to my mind Myazaki and studio Ghibli movies.

Definately something to read for those who like Japanese culture or who have read the “Shogun” series by Clavell and now would like to leave the Western point-of-view aside.

3.5/5

DNF 270. The beginning is really good since it's following the story of Musashi but after awhile it switches over to different characters who I care nothing about and are annoyed at their very presence. Just couldn't stay interested in this. It's compared to Gone with the wind but I think it's more like the Japanese Walmart version of the Three Musketeers

Done!

A weak five stars.

The bad: The book is too damn long, with several large swathes in which Musashi doesn't appear for ten plus chapters. There are too many characters who serve no purpose, including several major ones, and too many chapters which do the same. Perhaps worse, the book ends in a big epic showdown, which is cool, except that Musashi did lots of much more interesting things later on his life. A missed opportunity.

But, there's lots of good here too. The Musashi chapters are all extremely inspiring for anyone who wants to be really good at anything. When people congratulate him for being an exceptional swordsman, Musashi says “you embarrass me. I'm still an amateur; it's just that there are a lot of people who seem to be worse.” What an attitude.

In all honesty, the best parts of the book are not about being a samurai. It's the stuff where Takuan sets a trap for Musashi, where a little boy torments grandma, where Musashi has his soul polished, or where Musashi takes a few years off to become a farmer. That's the stuff that is the heart of the book, and otherwise it's just a bunch of people doing things, occasionally hitting other people with swords.

As it stands, if you're willing to sludge through some interminable sections to find nuggets of gold here and there, it's a worthwhile book. If I were to read it again (but I won't,) I'd be happy to skip any chapters about Jotaro and Otsu (when they're together), Iori, Akemi, Matahachi, Daizo or Aoki. You could probably manage skipping every second chapter about Kojiro too...