I rarely write book reviews, but I have a bone to pick.
There were many very interesting parts of this book, and it started strong. Half-way through, when the main character (Hel) catches up with the present, all goes to hell.
1) Trevanian substitutes thesaurus use for style.
2) None of the main characters have any redeeming value. Despicable human beings.
3) Every woman is an easy lay, and "our hero" is more than happy to oblige. Give me a break.
4) This book was sold to me as "off the beaten path." Yet it was utterly conventional. With more depth, it might've been Clancy. With more action, it might've been Ludlum. It struck an unhappy medium.
5) And worst for last... Trevanian has created a character who belongs to no culture. From that pinnacle, he (Hel, and presumably Trevanian who doesn't pull back from his awe of Hel)is well-perched to pass judgment on all cultures. And America takes the worst beating. Hel wasn't shy about hopping up on every available piece of furniture to spit on the culture of the USA. And Trevanian was more than happy to help, by painting the absolute worst image of America's people, principles, and organizations. This is a shoddy way to treat the country that gave you birth, education, and employment for so long. We *made* you, Mr. Whitaker.

I might have given it 5-stars (or 4.5) if I was absolutely sure all of it was satire. My favorite parts were the conversations on GO, his time in prison, spelunking, and the various Basque characters. It was fun more than it was important. Other reasons I didn't give it 5-stars?* 1) The weird fixation on sex that seems today to really date the novel. 2) The reliance on ethnic stereotypes.

Again, this all really pivots on whether or not Trevanian was coming at this as a farce or playing it straight. if this really was more of a Tropic Thunder satire, I get it. But I'm afraid a lot of those who love it view it more in the James Bond (which I think also sinks into a satire soup) model.

* Not that stars are some cosmically important or useful measure.

En sevdiğim romanlardan biridir.

Welp, this is what I get for judging a book by its cover. I thought this would be a cool spy novel with some sort of Go tie-in, but I couldn't get past the first few chapters because of the casual racism and sexism in it. The actual CIA spy plot also seemed like a terrible setup. At first, I read this thinking it was parody, but after checking the publish date and reading some reviews of the book, I guess it's in earnest. Some would say this was a product of its time, so maybe it should just stay in that time because it's definitely not 2020 material.

It reads like some sort of male power fantasy fulfillment (if you're into that type of thing) so...maybe not for me.

The name reminded me of a Samurai and of what he would have faced during a life time of combat. There can be parallels to this idea in this book but what it is in reality is a totally different beast. Trevanian creates an elaborate joke which scorns at the 'Super Assassin' genre in Shibumi.

Shibumi in simple English means Casual Elegance tells the author. A way of life which in itself sets the dudes aside from the dunderheads. The story is about a man named Nicholai Hel who the author repeatedly reminds us for about 75% of the pages is the most formidable assassin ever. A mystic, a sexually hyper charged alpha male, able to kill with bare hands, world renowned underground cave explorer, well read and a polyglot with a command of over seven languages, able to think in mathematical abstractions owing to his refined state of play in the Japanese game of Go etc. Yes, I am talking about one man and he is not a computer. The back story fills a big chunk of the book and then for about a hundred pages we are given the details of how he discovers an underground cave. Being an assassin, his core competency is examined in roughly about 15 pages towards the end.

For a man of such fine tastes, the way he overcomes his enemies is something that made me blanch. I strongly believe that the final 100 pages of this book was the biggest bunch of hogwash I have ever read in recent times. There is a lot of America bashing in here, Trevanian spares nothing : food,culture,sex,western philosophy, the CIA & even the government is all scorned at. The conclusion : Japan has a kick ass culture & America does not. There are culture comparisons and then there is bitching. A good part of the comments offered here fall into the second category.

For a book that was recommended as a master piece among thrillers, this one was a dud !

I do like a good junk-food book from time to time, but this one is just silly and contemptuous. I suspect the author was playing an elaborate joke on the reader, dressing up hollow nihilism and tired screeds against the bourgeoisie with second-hand Japanese mystic-chic cliches.

Harika bir roman.

I read this when it first came out and remember thinking it was fantastic. I actually just recently took the hardback off my shelves when culling some book for donation. A great review of this book just popped up which triggered me to see if I had added this to my read books. Somehow I missed it when I went through my shelves of books already read.

Το Go μου κέντρισε το ενδιαφέρον για αυτό το βιβλίο! Ευτυχώς το πήρα και το διάβασα σχεδόν απνευστι !!!

MEGLIO SE LE GRU NON RITORNANO



Sono capitato su questo libro solo perché ho voglia di leggere ‘Satori’ di Don Winslow e ho scoperto che sono collegati: credendolo un sequel, ho voluto leggere prima ‘Shibumi’.
Poi, ho capito che ‘Satori’ è il prequel di ‘Shibumi’ e quindi questa inutile lettura potevo evitarmela. Sigh. Ma anche doppio sigh: perché, oltre che inutile, è proprio brutto.



Tante pagine per raccontare una storia molto datata che avrebbe bisogno di molte meno pagine.
Ma soprattutto avrebbe bisogno di una mano di scrittore meno banale, meno mediocre.
Più volte (in realtà, quasi sempre) mi è sembrato di essere in una di quelle barzellette da dopoguerra: c’era una volta un americano, un italiano, un inglese, un francese, un tedesco…
Per Trevanian, c’è un americano, un cinese, un francese, un basco… e via avanti con insulsaggini del genere.


Nel primo “John Wick” si vede un vigilante leggere questo romanzo.

Chissà perché ‘Shibumi’ è tenuto in così alta considerazione dai critici e dai colleghi di Trevanian.
I lettori, invece, sembrano meno entusiasti.


”The Eiger Sanction – Assassinio sull’Eiger” di e con Clint Eastwood (1975), tratto da un romanzo di Trevanian (che non leggerò).

Qualche chicca:
- L’amministratore in seconda della CIA è il Secondo Ufficiale di Collegamento Internazionale Operativo, meglio noto come SUdiCIO.
- Il calcolatore (presumo si riferisca a un elaboratore elettronico, comunemente denominato computer) collegato col sistema centrale della Casa Madre si chiama Ciccione. Un nome che viene usato a ripetizione.
- L’organizzazione da eliminare si chiama i Cinque di Monaco.
- Materiale di ricerca importante è denominato telefoto.
- Il protagonista è un semidio.
- Le donne sono oggetti, a volte appetitosi, a volte inutili.
Eccetera…

2001 Odissea nello Spazio ha 50 anni e rimane un capolavoro.
Questo libro ha 39 anni, ne dimostra cento, e non è mai stato un capolavoro.


Shibuni

Kesinlikle sevmedim.

Yazar, birkaç kısımda, okuyucuya, kitap ve baş karakter hakkında ne düşünmesi gerektiğini söylüyor, resmen okuyucuya karışıyor, okuyucuyla muhatap oluyor.

Zaten baş karakterin ve şatodaki hanım arkadaşının üstün niteliklerle donanmış olması okuyucuyu itiyor. Bu karakterlerin derinlikleri yok, sadece birtakım zorluklardan geçip hayatta kalabildiklerini ve birkaç ırkın özelliklerini birden taşıdıklarını biliyoruz ama kendi kendilerini eğiten karakterler için fazla seçkinler.

Kitap baştan sona çok ırkçı, Amerikan kültürünü biz de çok sevmeyiz ama bu kadar da ayan beyan ırkçı ifadeler beni çok rahatsız etti. Amerikan, Arap ve Fransız halklarıyla ilgili çok çirkin ifadeler var.

Kitap kesinlikle cinsiyetçi.

Go oyunuyla ilgili bir roman olduğunu biliyordum ve tüm kitabın bir Go oyunu hamleleriyle ilerlediğini duymuştum. Okumadan önce bir oyunla çok fazla ilgili olacağından ve çok fazla teknik terim okuyacağımdan kuşkulanıyordum ama Go oyunundan neredeyse hiç bahsedilmiyordu.

Kitap, çok fazla şey sunacağını söylüyor, kendi kendine bunu söylemesi bile çirkin. Baş karakterin trans anlarına daha çok eğilse, "şibumi" anlayışı ile ilgili daha içsel birkaç şey söyleyebilse belki de çok severdim. Ama büyük bir hayal kırıklığı oldu bu roman, tamamen popüler kültüre "Sizin kültürünüzü eleştirecek ve size yine hazır bir felsefe sunacağım, siz de bunu kapış kapış alacaksınız..." diyerek yazmış ve bu kitabı okumanın "cool" sayılacağını tasarlamış gibiydi yazar. Ne yazık ki sevmedim, keşke sevseydim de güzel bir kitap okumuş olsaydım, "Herkes beğeniyor, o yüzden ben beğenmemeliyim..." burnubüyüklüğü değil bu, resmen hayal kırıklığı.

I would like to give this 5 stars, really, I would. But there's so much irritating about Rod Whitaker's perspective that I just wouldn't feel comfortable lending the book that level of personal approval. This book interested me from the start and I even started playing a little badu (badly). When I heard that Whitaker's was racist, misogynist, and just generally disgusting, I thought that this may have been just a product of the time but it's really just a product of his personal revulsion for anything not Whitaker. You can tell that he identified with the flawless Hel. Whitaker's pedestrian attitude toward other cultures emerges to that point of satire. By the way, I'd love to see a body count in this book.