Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Epic historical novel that truly sweeps you off of your feet and takes you to a far away land. Engaging, riveting, gripping, enthralling, powerful, exciting ... and all the other words that fit! I've read and purchased multiple times. So much has already been written here and so many other reviews already -- suffice to say, I love it, will always love it. Instead of detailing more about the story or writing, I'm going to share some of my favorite passages so you can get an idea of how brilliantly this is written. The first quote is one of my all-time most cherished. “Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you're here and nothing you do will change that. Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune. Look at this suset, it's beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.” “How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now.” “Isn’t it only through laughter that we become one with the gods and thus can endure life and can overcome all the horror and waste and suffering here on earth? …Isn’t it only through laughter we can stay human?” “Always remember, child... that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one onf the things that discipline - training - is about.” “It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.” I highly recommend all of the other novels in James Clavell's Asian Saga, especially Whirlwind and Tai Pan. The entire Saga spans from 1600 to 1970's and is truly an experience to behold.