Shibumi Unknown Binding – January 1, 2011

As a HUGE fan of Don Winslow, I was brought to Shibumi via his novel Satori which takes the central character of Nicholai Hel, created by Trevanian in this book, and starts to fill in the gap that Shibumi establishes, between Hel's first acts that lead him to become the greatest assassin in the world and his retirement. It would be literary suicide today to miss out the "action" years but must have seemed revolutionary when this book was first published. I have to say I prefer Winslow's Hel to Trevanian's even though they are effectively the same person. There are familiar themes here with the baddies being "Mother" a super-corporation that runs even the CIA, and the retired assassin reluctantly reactivated for one last mission. You can see elements of Hel in just about every modern spy thriller hero from Bourne to Bauer but I'm afraid the pupils have overtaken the master and there are passages where this book plods not least in a cave exploration that last too long for my taste. Would it have been different if I'd read this first and Satori second? Perhaps. Tastes change and what must have seemed super-cool in 1979 seems a little pretentious and self-indulgent 40-odd years later. But Trevanian created a compelling hero in Hel and Winslow's re-imagining of his 'missing' years could be a source of many great thrillers to come. For all my misgivings, I feel strangely connected to both books; I was reading Satori when I was in Saigon last year, leaving the city as Hel was arriving, albeit 50 years earlier as the Vietnam War was about to erupt. This year I went to the Paradise Caves near Dong Hoi and began to understand Trevanian's fascination with caving. Three stars is probably too few but I would read Satori first, if only to see what a great hero Hel could have been. Then read this. Then wait for The Don to give us another taste of Hel.

I read this book when it was first published in 1979 and over the past forty years have recommended it many, many times; as recently as two months ago.Most people would be familiar with the author for his well known book The Eiger Sanction, which was made into a movie.This book would be great reading anytime, but really a wonderful read on a long airplane ride or lounging on a beach or poolside while on vacation.

I owe this passionate reading experience to a friend who knows my Wahlverwandschaften: French, German, Russian, Japanese, and Basque.How incredible it seems that this was published in 1979 -- and presumably written several years earlier, in (mostly American) English. "Zahar hitzak, zuhur hitzak." (Old words, wise words.) We are the world, but our world is still victim of the same enemies.I still have the same Weltanschauung after reading Shibumi, but now I have a stronger sense of sharing awareness of injustices with millions of others, readers and writers and potential activists. This is a novel not about an overendowed assassin but about a hypersensitive activist.sic semper tyrannis.

This has been an all time favorite of mine for 30 years.

One of the best novels I have read. First read it when it was originally published in paperback so many years ago. Great character development, and a lot of background which somehow fits. Ill be reading it again should I still be here in another 10 years.

It's strange, but I first read this book almost 30 years ago, before the internet, rise of assassinations, hijackings and Arab fundamentalists. Re-reading it, it could almost have been written today. Of particular note is the use of technology, with a supercomputer "Fatboy" able to access and collate information from a range of other sources. To write about this long before the rise of the internet shows a remarkable, and accurate, grasp of the uses to which technology would be used.Thoroughly recommended read.

not only is the story good although somewhat implausible . . . but the writing is phenomenal. The vocabulary, the sentence structure . . . all truly great and artistic. A classic and not to be missed if you want a really unforgettable read.

In my humble opinion there would be very few readers and even fewer Western people who could ever approach understanding the depth of this essay. I will not degrade it by calling it a story as it defies mere review.

The first 250 pages of this book are outstanding. The book introduces 'The Mother Company' which is an alliance between oil companies and oil producing nations which seeks to exert control over the world. (The book is set during the oil crisis of the 1970s). This organisation is all that a conspiracy theorist could imagine. The narrative is engrossing and also very funny.Parallel to this the background of the character of Hel is introduced. He is rather like a cross between James Bond, a Samurai warrior, and Hannibal Lector. He has nearly supernatural ability to control his physiological responses, he has ESP-like perceptual abilities, he is very sophisticated and although he is not Japanese that is the culture he adheres to.The back story of Hel is wonderfully written, and it makes a fine counterpoint to the satirical presentation of 'The Mother Company'.The second half of the book - a mere 200 pages! - is very poor and indulges the author's whims. It is largely set in the Basque country and has a long digression on caving (something in which Hel excels). There are various cardboard characters (a Basque Falstaff figure is ludicrous) and none of them are interesting. The author was an American who became very negative in his attitude toward his country and the Western world in general. Large portions of the text come across as a diatribe against the West circa 1979. The tone is one of arrogance unrelieved with wit or, indeed, compassion and one cannot help feeling it was just an excuse for the author to trot out his contempt for a world that he feels has gone awry. His opinions may be right - one may agree with them - but they are out of place in a piece of fiction that is, by and large, a thriller. Oswald Spengler 'The Decline Of The West' and Ian Fleming simply do not make interesting or entertaining companions.....The last part of the book (perhaps 50 pages) tries to marry up the Basque digressions to the machinations of the conspiracy with Hel saving the world a la James Bond. The conclusion is pat and - given the astringent tone of the earlier parts of the book - oddly (indeed overly) sentimental.

My favorite book of all time.I originally bought this book back in the '70s but dig it out to read whenever I need reminding on what a good book is like.Tevanian (real name Rod Whitaker) was a professor of film studies and, indeed wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of one of his first novels 'The Eiger Sanction'.Shibumi is undoubtedly his best work and contains everything that should be in a good man's book: intrigue, spiritualism, sex, violence and history.I recommend this to everybody.

First read Shibumi when it was published in 1979 and the re-read it again sometime in late 80s. So this was my 3rd reading and even after 41 years it remains poignant and current

Ok, the first few hundred pages are stellar, the development of story, plot and character history are great.But without giving too much away, I feel like certain characters fell off the map and lost development, as well as that, far too much time was spent talking about Go.The last 20 or so pages are good. So read the start, scan the middle and read the end. Apart from that, I felt as though films like John Wick have over hyped the book.

I read this book many years ago so reading it again I new what to expect. But still a brilliantly written book.