Shibumi is, without question, the stupidest book I have ever read. Period. Full stop. It's not close. Shibumi is the 1927 Yankees of stupid books. John Grisham and Dan Brown, working together, operating at the peak of their vaguely misogynist, airport-novel spewing powers, could never hope to approach the mind-exploding stupidity of this book.

The protagonist of Shibumi, Nikolai Hel, is best described as an amalgam of James Bond, Bruce Lee, Robert Mitchum and Jesus Christ. He is the least plausible, most ridiculous character in all of western fiction. He can kill any opponent, bed any woman, and presumably bed any opponent...but only if it was a girl opponent.

Hel is a master of an unnamed (and undescribed) martial art referred to as "Naked/Kill" which allows him to use household objects as deadly weapons, and much as made of the fact that it is completely impossible to defend yourself against him. Riiiiiight.

As the book jacket states, Hel is the ultimate assassin, but he cares not for such things, preferring instead to meditate on eastern philosophy in his enormous Basque castle and go spelunking (yes, seriously) emerging only to collect new female acolytes for sex training. I believe the term "Stage IV Lovemaking ability" is used w/r/t to our hero at one point.

About half the book is devoted to Nikolai's childhood (raised by Japanese prostitutes, of course) and coming of age as master assassin/sex deity, before finally getting to the "plot" in which the "Mother Corporation" tries to hire him, then kill him when he refuses. I will leave it to you bright sparks to figure out who triumphs in the end.

In my research for Shibumi quotes, I came across a wiki on bookshelved.org where the authors refer to Shibumi as a sardonic sendup of the spy novel genre. They express incredulity that Amazon reviews the book as a straight thriller. One refers to the book as"pure camp" and "one long piss take" from cover to cover.

This is food for thought. If Shibumi was written as satire, my rating would immediately go from 1 star to four or 5. There is no denying that this book is funny. If it was MEANT to be funny, I would have to take back most of the bad things I have ever said about it. The Wiki on Trevanian (nee Robert Whitaker, university professor) could be interpreted as evidence. Surely an educated man would not have created this thinly veiled masturbatory fantasy for ineffectual 12 year old boys in earnest? He must be joking...right?

I don't know. I just don't know. Suffice to say, Shibumi stands alone. It is, to borrow from my main man Neal Stephenson, fractally stupid; meaning that if you were to examine any minute aspect of it, that aspect would be as stupid as the book in its entirety.

Spend first 3/4 of the book explaining how the main character fuckin loves imperial Japan and how he got really good at assassinating people and how he has really good sex. Last quarter is him getting revenge for a girl who's a real hauler who he knew for about 18 hours

Всички часове нараняват, последният убива: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...

“Шибуми” има изчистен и познат сюжет – обучен в източни изкуства наемен убиец, който може да се справи с агентурите на няколко държави едновременно, докато изпълнява мисии по целия свят, в които убива опасни терористи. Треванян движи на две скорости историята. В едната е детството и младостта на Николай Хел, които преминават в Китай и Япония, сред пъстро общество и мъдри наставници, където освен съвършени умения в убиването усвоява и се пристрастява към играта Го. Около нея се върти обичайната за този тип романи подплата с източна духовност, която задължително превъзхожда западния материализъм отвсякъде. Втората линия е в наши дни, когато акция на специалните служби на едно летище се превръща в кървава баня, а единствената оцеляла успява да се добере до замъка на Николай, вече оттеглил се от играта, в баските земи. Там тя моли за помощта му, а нейните врагове му отправят ясно предупреждение какво ще се случи, ако се намеси. Но правят грешката да го засегнат лично. И кървава баня започва.

Издателска къща БАРД
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...

My original review was wrong in a couple of respects, not bad though for the 25 years or so that had passed since I read it. I'd say it is somewhat closer to Eisler's John Rain than the other authors I mentioned, & it wasn't shibumi that I didn't like, it was Hel's final thoughts & conclusions, although I must admit they fit him well & brings home a point made early on. Truly well done.

Nicholas Hel is an interesting character, one of the most complicated I've ever read in a mystery-thriller. He's intelligent & tough, a connoisseur of Go, assassination, caving, rock gardens, & love making. I found the last a bit much in the context of the book even allowing for hyperbole, but the others were kind of neat & all worked toward his goal of shibumi. He learns secrets of these arts & we're shown glimpses of them, but Trevanian excuses himself from giving details about 1/3 of the way through with a footnote that indicates his previous books were responsible for getting a man killed (The Eiger Sanction) or as a guide to one of the greatest art thefts. (Not sure what book that was in.)

Shibumi is the noun form of 'shibui' according to Wikipedia, although the book says at one point that the former is greater than the latter. As I understand Trevanian's definition in the book, it is the aesthetic of perfect function in or of something that is done in a simple and unobtrusively beautiful way or form. That is Hel's goal in life, to creating perfection in himself & his surroundings. This implies balance within himself, his relationships, his needs & desires.

Hel's life began with a great handicap to obtaining this goal & that's what makes Hel at once both admirable & a selfish bastard. He's the hero & I was rooting for him, but he's never very likable, although certainly competent in this wonderfully cynical world. That's part of the fascination of the story, the cynical dislike that it embodies & gives free rein to. There are no straightforward or patriotic actions, everything is part of a vast conspiracy of expediency & greed. No one has any respect for anyone else, but it is often so artfully phrased that it's almost fun, especially since the insults fall on every nation.

Hel tells one American, "Generalization is flawed thinking only when applied to individuals. It is the most accurate way to describe the mass, the Wad. And yours is a democracy, a dictatorship of the Wad." A statement that is both true & thoroughly demeaning to the merchant country that Hel despises in light of this story.

The Mother Company is another cynical construct of such possibility that it is scary. Worse, this book from 1979 discusses a computer system that has so many facts about everyone that it takes an artistic touch to obtain a meaningful overview of a person. The danger lies not in too shallow a view, but in so many facts that it overwhelms the recipient with such trivia as grade school honors & toilet paper preference. Even back then it bred nightmares of conspiracy theories & now it just seems likely, especially given the interests they represent.

All very well done, but there were some flies in the ointment. As exacting as descriptions of the caves & mountains were, operations were barely sketched in their planning & execution, with the exception of the climaxes. Trevanian made his excuses early as I pointed out above, but it still casts them in as 'magical fixes'. Too many wheels turned too quickly & smoothly. Life was a bit too cheap, too.

Another is Hel's martial art skill. We never find out where or how he learned it, but he's legendary for killing people with whatever is at hand, including a drinking straw. We spend a good chunk of the book exploring Go, caves, even how he picked up his legendary skill at making love, but there is no mention of when, how, or where he picked up his deadliest skill. Again, it comes off as neat, but magical, so severely weakened the novel as a whole for me.

Still, if you can abide those few flaws, it's a hell of a story & Hel puts all other assassins to shame. He has more class than Bond & is apparently better in bed. On top of that, he has a deep philosophy & is a legend in the circles of power. Very cool.
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Update: My friend, Michael, just pointed out that Satori by Don Winslow is a homage to & another part of Hel's story. It's set back during the Korean War, so before "Shibumi". Both reviews that I read said they loved "Shibumi" & were worried that this book wouldn't meet the mark, but it did. I've read it & reviewed it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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Orginal review 2007 or so It's a good action/spy novel. The title word, 'Shibumi' is the main theme of the book & it's well done. I can't really explain without giving away too much of the book. I also can't give it higher marks because it's been too long since I've read it & I happen to philosophically disagree with the idea of 'Shibumi'. Your mileage could very well vary, though. As I recall, it was well written. If you like David Morrell's or Stephen Hunter's spy novels, you'll probably like this.

Για το Smassing Culture.

Μια αλληγορική διαμάχη μεταξύ Ανατολής και Δύσης

Όπως αναφέρθηκε στο κείμενο για τη Λεωφόρο (εκδόσεις Πόλις, 2018), ο Trevanian υπήρξε μια ιδιαίτερη συγγραφική προσωπικότητα, κρατώντας κρυφή την πραγματική του ταυτότητα για πολλά χρόνια, δημιουργώντας έτσι έναν μύθο γύρω από το όνομά του, με τα έργα να πουλάνε πολλά αντίτυπα ανά τις δεκαετίες, με το Σιμπούμι να αποτελεί κατά γενική ομολογία το magnum opus του. Το Σιμπούμι δημοσιεύθηκε αρχικά το 1979 και το 1981 κυκλοφορεί για πρώτη φορά στην ελληνική γλώσσα από τις εκδόσεις Πάντερ σε μορφή βιβλίου τσέπης. Μετά από πολλά χρόνια κυκλοφόρησε εκ νέου στα ελληνικά από τις εκδόσεις Πόλις τον Ιούνιο του 2019 σε μετάφραση Αποστόλη Πρίτσα.

Τι είναι το Σιμπούμι όμως; Δεν υπάρχει ακριβής ορισμός για το τι είναι το Σιμπούμι, αν και κατά λέξη στα ιαπωνικά σημαίνει ανεπιτήδευτη τελειότητα. Ο ορισμός που δίνει η Wikipedia είναι: Shibumi (渋 み) είναι ιαπωνικό ουσιαστικό που αναφέρεται σε μια ιδιαίτερη αισθητική απλής, λεπτή και διακριτικής ομορφιάς. Όπως και άλλοι ιαπωνικοί αισθητικοί όροι, όπως iki και wabi-sabi, το shibumi μπορεί να εφαρμοστεί σε μια ευρεία ποικιλία θεμάτων, όχι μόνο την τέχνη ή τη μόδα. Όπως γίνεται εύκολα αντιληπτό είναι ένας αρκετά γενικός όρος που στο έργο του Trevanian χρησιμοποιείται περισσότερο ως φιλοσοφικός όρος και ως τρόπος ζωής.

Πρωταγωνιστής και κύριος εκφραστής του ενός πόλου του βιβλίου, είναι ο Νικολάι «Νίκκο» Χέλ, με την ειδικότητα του πληρωμένου δολοφόνου. Γεννημένος από Γερμανό πατέρα και Ρωσίδα μητέρα, χωρίς όμως να λάβει ποτέ επίσημη υπηκοότητα, μεγάλωσε στην Σαγκάη, μέχρι την κατάληψή της από την Ιαπωνική Αυτοκρατορία και ύστερα στην Ιαπωνία ως προστατευόμενος ενός στρατηγού του Ιαπωνικού Στρατού και ενός φίλου του, δασκάλου του πνευματικού παιχνιδιού Γκο (Gô). Ο Χελ μεγάλωσε με την ανατολίτικη κουλτούρα και φιλοσοφία -κυρίως αυτήν της Ιαπωνίας- ζώντας όλη του τη ζωή ουσιαστικά ως ανατολίτης με δυτικά σωματικά χαρακτηριστικά, μετακομίζοντας ύστερα από χρόνια σε ένα απομακρυσμένο χωριό της Χώρας των Βάσκων.

Έτερος πόλος είναι η επονομαζόμενη Μητρική Εταιρεία η οποία ελέγχει την CIA και κατά συνέπεια σε μεγάλο βαθμό την Αμερικάνικη Κυβέρνηση. Σαφής υπαινιγμός για το ξεπούλημα των κυβερνήσεων προς όφελος των ιδιωτικών επιχειρήσεων, τις περισσότερος φορές εις βάρος των πολιτών. Ο Νικολάι Χελ χρόνιος πολέμιος της δυτικής κουλτούρας (δεν είναι λίγες οι φορές που κρίνει αρκετά σκληρά τη δύση και εκφράζει την απογοήτευση του για την δυτικοποίηση της ιαπωνικής κουλτούρας μετά τον Β’ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο) θα βρεθεί αντιμέτωπος με την Μητρική Εταιρεία και κυρίως με το υψηλόβαθμο στέλεχός της, τον Ντάιαμοντ, ύστερα από ένα τρομοκρατικό χτύπημα στο αεροδρόμιο της Ρώμης μεταξύ Ισραηλινών και Παλαιστινιακών οργανώσεων.

Ο Trevanian με το Σιμπούμι συνθέτει ένα πολυσέλιδο μυθιστόρημα, χρησιμοποιώντας μια φαινομενικά απλή υπόθεση ώστε να δημιουργήσει ένα βαθιά φιλοσοφικό πρωτίστως αλλά και ιστορικό δευτερευόντως έργο. Οι πνευματικές αναζητήσεις έχουν την μερίδα του λέοντος συγκριτικά με τη δράση, χωρίς ωστόσο να χάνεται ο χαρακτήρας του βιβλίου. Το Σιμπούμι είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα το οποίο έχοντας έντονα ψήγματα κατασκοπευτικής και αστυνομικής λογοτεχνίας παραμένει βαθιά noir στην αισθητική του, ξεπερνώντας όμως τα στενά όρια (αν θεωρήσουμε ότι μπορεί να υπάρχουν τέτοια) των εν λόγω ειδών λογοτεχνίας.

Η διαχρονικότητα του Σιμπούμι ως έργο μπορεί να φανεί στις αναφορές και στα cameo του σε άλλα είδη τεχνών όπως η μεγάλη οθόνη, με την παρουσία του μεταξύ άλλων στο John Wick (2014) και το The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) του Wes Anderson.

Εν κατακλείδι, όπως και με τη Λεωφόρο έτσι και με το Σιμπούμι ο Trevanian παρουσίασε ένα μυθιστόρημα όπου το βάθος των χαρακτήρων κερδίζει την άτυπη μάχη με τη δράση. Οι φιλοσοφικές και πνευματικές αναζητήσεις παρέα με το χιούμορ και τη συγκίνηση που προσφέρονται άπλετα, καθιστούν το Σιμπούμι ένα από τα σημαντικότερα έργα της noir αισθητικής στην αστυνομική, κατασκοπευτική αλλά και στη γενικότερη λογοτεχνία.

trevanian ile tanıştığım için inanılmaz derecede mutluyum.

bir müze, yazarın kitaplarından birinde müze soygununu detaylıca anlattıktan sonra aynı şekilde soyulmuş. bu yüzden o bölüm kitaptan çıkarılmış. yine başka kitaplarında ve şibumi'de bahsedilen ileri düzey cinsel teknikler ve hoda korosu yani "the art of improvised weaponry" tekniği ile alakalı da sansürlemeye gidilmiş. hoda "çıplak" anlamına geliyor, korosu da "öldürmek". etraftaki basit nesnelerle bir insanın hayati organlarına saldırmak üzerine kurulu bir teknik. joker'in sihirbazlık yaparak kalemi kaybettiği sahneyi hatırlattı bana.

"Bildiğin gibi Şibumi, sıradan, olağan görünümlerin altında yatan gizli üstünlükleri anlatır." ya da "Şibumi için bilgilerden geçip basitliğe varmak gerek." ibareleri şibumi felsefesinin o alçak gönüllülüğünün, mütevaziliğinin yanı sıra görünmeyen heybetini de anlatıyor.

kitapta bahsedilen go oyununu hiç merak etmedim bu arada. satranç tadında oyunlara pek kafam basmadığından muhtemelen. fakat ana karakterimiz nicholai hel'in mistik oluşu beni mistisizmi araştırmaya sevketti. ekstaz, trans ve bilumum üst bilinç durumlarıyla alakalı şeyleri okudukça he-man'in abisi çetindeki kaplan gibi zevkleniyorum..

7/10

İlginç bir karakterdi Nicholai Hel. Tanıştığıma memnunum ama.

Hoooly Christ what a masterpiece! Completely fascinating mixture of thriller, parody, comedy, action novel, intrigue, conspiracy... there's even complete package of everything that makes ninja novels what they are, except the larger than life character isn't a factual ninja. Still, he's deep into martial arts and spirituality, commands sixth sense very similar to haragei, is a master of Tantra whether he knows it or not, draws and polishes his wisdom in the ancient game of Go (oh delight, there's even something similar to chess in there!), and there's aways a female of sublime beauty around (one described as "part asian, part black, and part cock"). It's one wonder after another. In fact, in its basic premises it's very similar to Nicholas Linnear series by Eric Van Lustbader, which is one of my favorites. So yeah. One of the best books ever.

A novel I was introduced to when I was a kid, by my father. This novel was a great thriller about an assassin Nicholai Hel who is also into culture, languages, mathematics and sexual competition with his female lovers. It had some great social commentary. Trevanian shits on American cities like New York where he says people are full of fear and fury. He also castigates Arab males for hiding the females in burqas. There is a long passage which just goes on and on where Nicholai Hel and his sidekick Le Cabot do some cave climbing. I remember it irritated the hell out of me. The main villain is a CIA agent who goes by the name of Diamond. I remember the book had a lot of sex. I liked reading those. It is set across many continents. My father is a big fan of this novel. I remember he owned multiple copies of this novel. He would lend to people whom he met and they would never return it.

O grande foco aqui é contar a estória de Nicholai Hel, nascido em Xangai, filho de um alemão e de uma russa. Criado no Japão durante a 2ª Guerra Mundial, Hel desenvolve habilidades específicas, tornando-se no futuro uma espécie de James Bond forjado pela cultura oriental, com aguçado senso de justiça e austeridade. Com habilidades que fazem inveja ao McGuiver e ao Kid Bengala, ele se torna um assassino de aluguel e um amante irresistível.

Aposentado, vivendo recluso num castelo, ele tem sua paz interrompida pela chegada de uma visita inesperada, que o procura para vingar a morte dos atletas judeus na Olimpíadas, numa caça os responsáveis pelo ataque que planejam agora sequestrar um avião na Inglaterra. Essa visita acaba sendo monitorada pela Companhia-Mãe, uma espécie de agência de inteligência supragovernamental ligada a interesses dos países produtores de petróleo, que volta a colocar Hel no seu radar. Até então, já tinham se passado três quartos do livro, onde se contou como fora a infância e criação de Hel, a sobrevivência no Japão durante a Guerra e o desenvolvimento de seu hobby de explorar cavernas (em descrições desnecessariamente detalhistas). Daí, o livro finalmente parte para a ação, onde Hel se inspira em Liam Neeson e vai sozinho resolver seus problemas, contra tudo e contra todos.

Acho que esta resenha cumpre no fim um papel diferente das outras que já escrevi, tentando colocar um pouco de luz sobre o que se trata esse livro. A meu ver, a capa já traz uma incorreção ao informar que “TODOS” o que querem morto, uma vez que essa perseguição a Hel é feita na verdade somente por Diamond, funcionário do alto-escalão da Companhia-Mãe, que tem motivos pessoais para buscar uma vingança. Além disso, acho um exagero falar que o livro é do gênero espionagem, uma vez a ação nesse sentido acontece somente no quarto final da narrativa, e os fatos se sucedem meio que no atropelo, sem grande desenvolvimento. Trata-se, sobretudo, de um romance histórico, que detalha bem a vida e costumes no Japão durante o pós-Guerra.

Avaliação Final: 6,0/10
Leitura Concluída: 37º livro de 2022
Próxima Leitura: “Verity” (Colleen Hoover)

I grew up on novels of Robert Ludlum and Eric Van Lustbader as well as some pulp novels known only to those living in ex-Yugoslavia during the 1980s, little blue books less than 100 (maybe 130) pages each called simply „Ninja“. While Ludlum's novels were more action espionage thrillers oriented more to the Western world, Lustbader's The Ninja as well as its cheap knockoff, let’s call it blue Ninja, were oriented towards East, often including mysticism as a tool of the protagonist. Both of them had similar heroes, one had Nicholas Linnear, the other Leslie Aldridge, both white men that became ninjas, shadow warriors of old, with almost supernatural abilities and senses, capable of killing a man with any object they can get their hands on. Oh, yeah. They both have an exotic Oriental lover who is a dream girl and they're both lovers par excellence.
While blue Ninja is so obviously based on Linnear, we can say without a doubt that Lustbader was inspired by Trevanian's Nicholai Hel and his adventure in „Shibumi“. Dedication to Japanese culture, being the deadliest assassin in the world who grew up in the Far East, abilities that sound too good to be true, world's best lovers with exotic Oriental girlfriends. All things that connect them, however, Trevanian's novel is nothing like it's being advertised.
Reading the back cover blurb, one might think that Hel is a mix of Jason Bourne and Casanova, and one would be wrong. Sure, the book does open with an action sequence and it's brimming with clichés, but that's only because Trevanian is playing with the reader. „Shibumi“ plays out as an airport thriller, a satire of spy action novels of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as a critique of American society and their foreign policy. Strangely, even though the novel is almost 50 years old, most of the things from it can be applied in the world today.
The best part of the novel definitely is the part of Hel's growing up, where he goes from Shanghai to Japan. Trevanian was obviously enjoying writing that part and it's a damn shame the rest of the novel isn't the same. Not saying that the rest of it is bad, because it's not, especially when you realize how Trevanian is playing with the genre. However, some parts can be tedious. And the character of Le Cagot, who I'm convinced is mocking of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls due to swear words used (if one can call those expressions like that), is a bit over the top.
Nevertheless, „Shibumi“ is a great airport thriller. Or should I say, airport thriller with a bit of a brain.