Reading Epics (Partial Reveiew of Shogun)

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that the reason I haven’t written any book reviews lately is that I’m knee deep into Shogun by James Clavell, a book I read following several mentions by Donald Maass in his book Writing the Breakout Novel. Shogun is a long sucker. Ranks right up there with Les Miserables and Lonesome Dove in terms of length. There is one thing that I’m discovering regarding epics, and it brings to mind something else I’ve read about the mechanics of writing, namely that there should be conflict on every page.

I recall several times while reading Lonesome Dove that I got a bit beaten down by the story. There were times when I felt it dragged, particularly when a secondary story line, one that pulled the reader away from the cattle drive, came along. Having read Shogun, I appreciate to a greater degree what McMurtry pulled off in Lonesome Dove. I find his ability to weave stories back and forth along a central story of the cattle drive to be far more ground-breaking than I originally thought. While the cowboys drive the cattle, Gus and Call are on a walk down memory lane, Jake Spoon is camping out with Laurie, and then getting into trouble, Gus is out saving Laurie. Later, Jake is off being hung by his old friends, the buffalo skinners are trekking to Kansas with Elmira and July Johnson is chasing them. Roscoe is chasing July, Gus is meeting Clara, Newt is trying to figure out if Call is his dad and all of this as the cattle drive continues. In and out, in and out, almost all of the stories touching the cattle drive as it moves North. Along with this is the constant conflict that each character faces. Les Miserables in similar. Many, many stories all touching on Jean Val Jean’s central journey toward redemption. Conflict abounds.

Shogun lacks this type of narrative but certainly hits the same levels of conflict. Shogun is about political positioning and how a Westerner deals with the cultural differences and survives as a prisoner of war. One aspect I’m finding I don’t care for, and this is minor to say the least, is that in both Lonesome Dove and Les Miserables, the chapters delineate the changes in point of view (POV). Not so in Shogun. Clavell doesn’t hesitate to change POV in mid-chapter, sometimes with no warning. Just something to remember when I write my own epic.