The 47th Samurai: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel (Bob Lee Swagger Novels)
by Stephen Hunter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen HunterEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2007-09-11
ISBN: 0743238095
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Accessories:
- Havana: An Earl Swagger Novel (Earl Swagger Novels)
- Pale Horse Coming
- Hot Springs (Earl Swagger Novels)
Book Reviews of The 47th Samurai: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel (Bob Lee Swagger Novels)
Book Review: good elements, but gaping holes
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine the next Swagger novel after The 47th Ronin, as this should perhaps have been titled. The evil villain has never held a gun, but after a week of training, is able to become a world-class sniper and beats Swagger on Swagger's own turf. The villain is in good shape, but is 80 years old. "Absurd!", you say, and rightly. It's not enough to learn about different rifles and loads, your mind and muscles need to develop instincts. The 80-year old newbie world-class sniper must face situations such as the following: for a particular rifle and load, the target is 850 yards away and 50 yards lower. He's at an altitude of 6500 feet. It's 33 degrees and snowing lightly, with a humidity of 85%. If the target is due north, the wind is blowing from the northwest at 10 mph. How much do you allow for windage? How much bullet drop? All of the factors mentioned here must be taken into account--learning these will take years, not a week. Could someone who has never played golf learn enough in a week to beat Tiger Woods in the US Open?
The major problem with the book is that it asks you to believe that Swagger, 60 years old with a gimpy leg, can become a world-class samurai swordsman in a week. Even Hunter has his characters suggest that you cannot learn enough in a week to become good. But Hunter has nonetheless locked himself into this theme. Swagger first beats the junior champion of all Japan, then takes on 6 veteran swordsmen who are 20 years younger all at once and beats them all, and then...well, it gets worse. You can argue that Swagger isn't really "world-class"--but if you're consistently beating world-class swordsmen, then what are you? There are reviewers who say that this seems to push belief a bit, but you can put that aside. But this is the central theme of the book--Hunter might just as well have given Swagger the ability to fly like Superman or make himself invisible.
So, as a story, the book gets a 2 star rating. I think also of Mifune's character in the movie Red Sun (with Charles Bronson, et al)--Mifune kills flying mosquitos with his sword. An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much. How can you learn enough in a week to do that?
If you ignore the story and forget about the problems of having Swagger become world-class in a week, you can concentrate on the good qualities of the book. There are lots of details about Japanese swords and sword-making, and there is a tribute to samurai culture and traditions. You'll learn a lot about samurai movies: Hunter gives a very good account of these--so one more star for this aspect of the book. A fourth star is awarded for Hunter's honoring Ivan Morris' excellent work The Nobility of Failure. There's a strange dichotomy: how can Hunter get so much right, and at the same time get so much wrong? For me, it is these tributes that made the book worthwhile and enjoyable--without them I would have donated it to my local library.
For further reading and viewing: The Seven Samurai is perhaps the greatest of the samurai movies, but it's not so much about the samurai traditions. For traditions and culture, the Samurai Trilogy, with Mifune in the title role portraying the life of Musashi, and Harakiri are excellent--Hunter repeatedly refers to these movies in the book. For books, Morris' The Nobility of Failure should not be missed: this book plays an important role in Hunter's book. Yoshikawa's Musashi should also be read. Also--John Allyn's book The 47 Ronin Story, and the movies Chushingura and The Loyal 47 Ronin. For a very well-written contrast on the years it takes to become a good swordsman, try Dave Lowry's excellent biography Autumn Lightning.
Summary of The 47th Samurai: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel (Bob Lee Swagger Novels)
In "The 47th Samurai, " Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels "Point of Impact" and "Time to Hunt, " returns in Hunter's most intense and exotic thriller to date.Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived.
More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest.
Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture.
Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai.
As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.
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