Shibumi

by Trevanian

Book Overview

A classic spy novel from the bestselling author, Trevanian, about a westerner raised in Japan who becomes one of the world's most accomplished assassins.

Nicholai Hel is the world's most wanted man. Born in Shanghai during the chaos of World War I, he is the son of an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father and is the prot g of a Japanese Go master. Hel survived the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400098033
• ISBN13: 9781400098033
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Shibumi

Can't wait to start reading!!

Stands the test of time

Looking through a few of the reviews here, I felt compelled to make a few comments. On the subject of Shibumi, it is not portrayed as a "spaced out" state of mind as some have alluded (that was reserved for the portrayal of "mysticism"). It is an intangible quality which someone of a certain way of life possesses. I believe that while certain parts of the book appear to lean toward bigotry, they are valuable in that they both reflect common attitudes at the time of writing and in many cases cleverly parody these. The lack of focus, the abstractness the constant metaphors and reflections are precisely what the book is about to me, charging full on down a track of "building satisfying plot" would miss part of (my perceived) point of the book. The opening chapter reads like a crappy spy novel. Don't be put off by it. I returned to the book recently having not read it for many years and almost put it back down, assuming my fondness for it must have developed when my reading habits were less refined. I'm glad I persevered. This book definitely makes my top 5 :)

How to be a Man in a Craven Age

Nicolai Hel: Master Assassin, Philosopher, modern day Samurai, spelunker, expert Lover, Warrior. Man. Let me repeat that: Man. I discovered Trevanian and "Shibumi" in high school, and I must confess that it completely changed my life. I vowed to live my life as Nicolai Hel would have, had he been a teen-ager in Utah in the 1980's. Happily, it worked out. Trevanian concocted this wildly wicked, politically pungent, nastily anti-PC rattling tale of assassination, global conspiracy, New World Order, CIA incompetence, and global capitalist corruption in the 1980's, but it remains a masterwork of espionage fiction and a blueprint for Samurai living even in these dark and mediocre times. Frankly, it is a road-map for becoming a Man. Protagonist Hannah Stern, a Jewish American activist nearly slaughtered by Arab terrorists in an assassination strike in the Rome airport, seeks aid and comfort from the reclusive Nicolai Hel, now rusticating with his exquisite Oriental lover in a chateau high the Pyrenees, secluded among his Basque supporters, stolid in his Japanese Shinto meditation. Hel hates the mindless activity of squalid bourgeois society, batters his Volvo with rocks, enjoys the philosophical freedom of his Japanese garden and meditational lodge---and is nonetheless pulled into a war of wits, blood, and steel with the CIA and the amorphous but all-consuming "Mother Company". "Shibumi" is rebellious, cynical, heroic, delicious. Hel, son of a doomed Russian countess, learns quickly from his mentor, a Japanese General presiding over the rape of Nanking. He becomes a Master Assassin, making his fortune from the misery he deservedly inflicts on others that would make the world of Man a galactic Hell. Hel now retreats, like a Brown Recluse, in his sumptuous castle in the land of the Basque, cloaked in anonymity and fortified by his exotic Oriental lover. But perfection can last only so long. "Shibumi" is Trevanian at his best, and as such is espionage fiction at is best. It is cynical, wicked, brutal, and nasty: as a result it introduces you, the reader, to a world---not of black and white---but of grey, a world in which killing is merely a means by which one preserves the status quo. Or honor. Or anonymity. "Shibumi", I think, is about self-awareness. It is unflinchingly politically incorrect, so be warned before you start your descent. It is expertly stocked with unforgettable characters, and depending on your level of unabashed romanticism, will probably make you cry. For all of these reasons, "Shibumi"---if you're adventurous in spirit, anyway---is a book you have to read before you die. And in the happiest compliment I can pay to Trevanian, it may change the manner by which you die. Good luck. JSG

Be prepared to be changed

This is a spy novel/thriller which transcends all others of the genre. The book contains the most skillful pacing, the most extraordinary, painstakingly wrought, eccentric characters (impossible to forget!) and all the attraction and drama of Myth. The storyline woven by Trevanian reflects the myth-like narrative: intertwined with the actual plot playing in modern times, telling of the efforts of the Mother Company and its minions in the U.S. Government secret services to hunt down the main character Nicholai Hel, are a series of explanatory recounts of the hero's past. This careful and seemingly effortless storytelling mirrors the main character's lofty goal of achieving shibumi, "authority without domination." Trevanian has created one of the most detailed and fascinating character studies I have ever read -- even though, as one poster complained, Hel may be rather too close in character to a superhero to be believable. However, in the context of the plot such a grievance seems irrelevant.. The arrogant Soigné, the cultivated mystic, the frighteningly disciplined Go champion, the calculating murderer, the dedicated speleologist, the practitioner of esoteric sexual techniques, Hel is a paradoxical man who lives by ancient patrician codes of conduct, yet kills his fellow kind for money. Reading of Hel's unorthodox, noble origins, his unusual upbringing and cultivated schooling, and later his humbling privations, loss and even torture, one can forgive his pragmatic decision to earn a living as a paid assassin. Through Hel, Trevanian tries to teach (or is it preach?) to the reader the distinction between pseudo-class, and true style, the synthetic and authentic, discriminating and trend-following, genuine friendship and crass exploitation, the nobility of honor and tradition and the cheezy, superficial trappings of a deteriorating, consumerist culture. Most editors nowadays would probably balk at some of Hel's lengthy, caustic rants against the greedy oil monopolies, America's cultural decline and the corruption of our government. Hel may very well be a mouthpiece for Trevanian's personal doctrine, but I don't much mind if he is. Then there is the writing: rich, superlative; Trevanian seizes the senses and masterfully manipulates them. He is an accomplished veteran of the craft, and Shibumi is his finest and certainly most well known work. This novel abounds with exquisite phrasing and evocative place description. Broad in narrative scope, the emotional tone is alternately snide, then humorous, then terrifying, then poignant, then riveting. I have visited the real village Etchebar, in the Basque mountains, the fictional home of Nicholai Hel. As a sort of spiritual endeavor I re-trod the character Hannah's steps and read again Shibumi's opening chapter. I asked several locals about Trevanian, inquired as to the location of Hel's exquisite Chateau. I received friendly, although cryptic denial of such knowledge. It is said that Trevania

Shibumi is definately in my top 10.

I'm not a book reviewer so you won't get a professional text here and this is my first online review. I've just finished "Shibumi" for the third time in ten years and it's still as devastating a read as the first time. I highly recommend this novel for all thriller lovers (and I swear by the doubting balls of St. Thomas you'll not be disappointed.)

WONDERFULL

Ýtis very good novel but What is the meaning of trevanian?Ýt's his nick name but who are that mans?Nicholai Hel,Paul Montjean and Johnathan Hemloc...