Just finished this book -- it was one of my longest reads -- and I agree with most of what you said. The characterization was absolutely brilliant -- definitely the work's strongest aspect! Kojiro especially will go down as one of my all-time favorite villains, but the rest of the cast was very strong too (in Matahachi's story I found my own reflected -- in a way, at least -- which was quite touching). Ironically, my main gripe with the work is that there are perhaps too many characters doing too many things simultaneously, which was a bit hard to keep up with; but I did enjoy seeing how they grew and changed overtime, even if a few of them felt somewhat superfluous. And I definitely agree with what you said about the prose being conversational. It could have perhaps trimmed down some of the excessive worldbuilding though, but overall it was unpretentious and straight-to-the-point. That's good for a long novel -- it just gets on with the narrative without being to elaborate. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to read them.
Kojiro is such a great antagonist. I too struggled remembering a character’s details from time to time. I can only guess the characters and the subplots are related to how the story was originally published. I intend to reread it at some point so maybe those issues fall way on a reread. Anyhow, I’m very glad to hear you enjoyed “Musashi”.
I'm keen to get hold of this now! I think you'd enjoy To Live by the Chinese author Yu Hua. The long story (though not an overly long novel) of an ordinary man and what he and his family suffer and how it develops his character. Beautiful and poignant.
This book has been staring at me from my bookshelf for too long. Thanks for the push to take it down.
That previous version of yourself left you an awesome gift!
Just finished this book -- it was one of my longest reads -- and I agree with most of what you said. The characterization was absolutely brilliant -- definitely the work's strongest aspect! Kojiro especially will go down as one of my all-time favorite villains, but the rest of the cast was very strong too (in Matahachi's story I found my own reflected -- in a way, at least -- which was quite touching). Ironically, my main gripe with the work is that there are perhaps too many characters doing too many things simultaneously, which was a bit hard to keep up with; but I did enjoy seeing how they grew and changed overtime, even if a few of them felt somewhat superfluous. And I definitely agree with what you said about the prose being conversational. It could have perhaps trimmed down some of the excessive worldbuilding though, but overall it was unpretentious and straight-to-the-point. That's good for a long novel -- it just gets on with the narrative without being to elaborate. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to read them.
Kojiro is such a great antagonist. I too struggled remembering a character’s details from time to time. I can only guess the characters and the subplots are related to how the story was originally published. I intend to reread it at some point so maybe those issues fall way on a reread. Anyhow, I’m very glad to hear you enjoyed “Musashi”.
Taiko is also a masterpiece
Yes. Taiko looks amazing. Considering Musashi devoured an entire month I have to plan for something similar with Taiko. Thank you!
I'm keen to get hold of this now! I think you'd enjoy To Live by the Chinese author Yu Hua. The long story (though not an overly long novel) of an ordinary man and what he and his family suffer and how it develops his character. Beautiful and poignant.
Musashi was such a good book. Enjoyable and inspiring. And thank you, “To live” looks very good!