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Asian Saga: Chronological Order #6
Whirlwind
Iran, February 1979, a critical moment in history, a time of ferment and revolution when mobs become judges, executions replace trials, old friends become sudden enemies, wives turn against husbands, and Iranians and foreigners alike wait fearfully for the next dread ruling - this is the setting for James Clavell's breathtaking fifth novel in his world-famous Asian Saga.
Whirlwind takes place in a mesmerising period of twenty-four tumultuous days just after the Shah has left. The life-and-death struggle of rival factions to take control has resulted in a civil war in which few know who is on what side - or for how long. What is known is the fanatical hatred on all sides for foreigners - especially Americans and British.
For a British helicopter company, secretly controlled by the Noble House of Hong Kong, the overwhelming question is how long will its pilots - American, Canadian, British, French, German, Finnish - be able to operate at their bases throughout the land. The war grows ever closer to them, even in the remotest areas, isolating them and their women, endangering not only their equipment but their lives. On the ground, in the hills, and in their always hazardous flights, they are all increasingly at bay.
For the owners, to leave Iran is to be ruined both financially and in their power struggle for control of the Noble House itself. For the pilots, to leave is to lose a way of life they treasure in a country where two of them have beautiful Iranian wives and many of them exotic lovers. The allure of this seething, magical land of Omar Khayyam is strong for them all, but the whirlwind in which they are caught is even stronger and more perilous - forcing them out, yet preventing their escape.
Throughout this epic tale of war and peace, the compelling stories of these men and of the women who love them are interlaced with those of assassins, spies, Khans, commandos, KGBs, bazaaris, Kash'kai tribesmen, mullahs, and political and religious fanatics who relentlessly encroach upon their existence.
As intricately told and richly woven as the strands of a priceless Persian carpet, this brilliant novel sweeps the reader into a whirlwind of emotions: passionate, romantic, barbaric, heroic - James Claveel at his very best.
Whirlwind takes place in a mesmerising period of twenty-four tumultuous days just after the Shah has left. The life-and-death struggle of rival factions to take control has resulted in a civil war in which few know who is on what side - or for how long. What is known is the fanatical hatred on all sides for foreigners - especially Americans and British.
For a British helicopter company, secretly controlled by the Noble House of Hong Kong, the overwhelming question is how long will its pilots - American, Canadian, British, French, German, Finnish - be able to operate at their bases throughout the land. The war grows ever closer to them, even in the remotest areas, isolating them and their women, endangering not only their equipment but their lives. On the ground, in the hills, and in their always hazardous flights, they are all increasingly at bay.
For the owners, to leave Iran is to be ruined both financially and in their power struggle for control of the Noble House itself. For the pilots, to leave is to lose a way of life they treasure in a country where two of them have beautiful Iranian wives and many of them exotic lovers. The allure of this seething, magical land of Omar Khayyam is strong for them all, but the whirlwind in which they are caught is even stronger and more perilous - forcing them out, yet preventing their escape.
Throughout this epic tale of war and peace, the compelling stories of these men and of the women who love them are interlaced with those of assassins, spies, Khans, commandos, KGBs, bazaaris, Kash'kai tribesmen, mullahs, and political and religious fanatics who relentlessly encroach upon their existence.
As intricately told and richly woven as the strands of a priceless Persian carpet, this brilliant novel sweeps the reader into a whirlwind of emotions: passionate, romantic, barbaric, heroic - James Claveel at his very best.
1147 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
898 people are currently reading
10535 people want to read
About the author
James Clavell
160 books3,788 followersJames Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell was a British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and POW. Clavell is best known for his epic Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as The Great Escape, The Fly and To Sir, with Love.
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James Clavell. (2007, November 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:16, November 14, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
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James Clavell. (2007, November 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:16, November 14, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 345 reviews
January 3, 2012
Since I was in high school, James Clavell has loomed largely among my guiltier pleasures. Somewhere circa age sixteen I plowed through Shogun and Tai-Pan one summer, and came away from them heady with Orientalism: because these books are, really, Orientalism at its pulpy contemporary finest (if that isn't an oxymoron). In them, the European hero is thrown into an exotic, spice-scented eastern culture where, through a combination of courage, canny and luck, he is embroiled in conspiracies, admitted into the luxurious inner circles of power, beds beautiful women, and defeats his enemies.
Clavell isn't subtle, by a long shot. His villains are machiavellian pedophiles and sadists, his protagonists are manly and muscular, moral ambiguity never registers on his radar, and he's not one to hesitate at cheap gratification (for example, in at least three novels he goes out of his way to have women note the gigantic endowment of his hero). This is broad-strokes, primary-colors-only entertainment, but on that level it works fantastically. He has enough superficial understanding and genuine appreciation of Chinese and Japanese culture to make Shogun and Tai-Pan read like glossy action-movie tourist brochures to a compellingly different world, inhabited by (sort of) real people, that we'd like to leave behind our real lives to visit for awhile.
Unfortunately, this is far less the case for Whirlwind, Clavell's fictionalization of the 1979 Iranian Revolution led by Khomeini. The sprawling plot, which revolves around the various European and American employees of a charter helicopter company attempting to cope with, and later escape, the deadly upheaval caused by the Revolution, features Clavell's usual twists, turns, narrow escapes, tragic deaths, unexpected betrayals, irredeemable bad guys and unimpeachable good guys. But where his other novels depict the exotic settings of his stories, and the exotic characters who inhabit them, with a sensitivity that at least tries (in a limited kind of way) to shed light on the workings of another culture, here he has settled for caricature in the most unpleasant sense.
No genuine attempt is made here to understand, or empathize with, why the Revolution captured the hearts and minds of millions. By and large, Clavell's Iranians are illiterate brutes, rapists, and thugs. The only characters who have integrity are those who resist, or at least stand apart from, support for Khomeini, and the virtue of European values -- in particular, the heroic efforts of oil-company employees, who struggle to keep the black gold flowing at any cost -- are never questioned in the slightest.
True, on a paragraph-by-paragraph level, Whirlwind is a page-turner that dishes up sex, suspense and violence in heavy rotation. Take a step back though, and this novel emerges as a perfect example of the kind of insensitive, colonialist xenophobia that fueled the Revolution to begin with.
February 15, 2014
I'm not quick at giving books five stars, but I feel this one deserved the best rating I could give. From beginning to end it was a wonderful read. I couldn't find any part that was boring, too detailed or bungled.
To be honoust, although it really were a lot of pages, I still felt I wanted to have more. It isn't a quick read, but I liked that as well.
A lot of characters played a role in the book. That could be a problem but in this case all of them were worked out well and came to life. The same goes for the relations between the characters. It all came together nicely and neat.
This book is one of the showpieces of my Iran themed book collection.
Some day I will read it for a third time.
If you're a fervant reader and interested in a story that mostly took place in Iran you've got to give it a shot.
To be honoust, although it really were a lot of pages, I still felt I wanted to have more. It isn't a quick read, but I liked that as well.
A lot of characters played a role in the book. That could be a problem but in this case all of them were worked out well and came to life. The same goes for the relations between the characters. It all came together nicely and neat.
This book is one of the showpieces of my Iran themed book collection.
Some day I will read it for a third time.
If you're a fervant reader and interested in a story that mostly took place in Iran you've got to give it a shot.
March 2, 2021
*2020 UPDATE* — Have been thinking about this book lately for some reason, it's almost like a James Bond movie. Might have to revisit this one (and all of Clavell's books) at some point.
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I read this one last, and it took me a long time to really get into it. Set in Iran, I was a little put off ... until I caught on about the helicopters, lovers, spies, fanatics, revolutionaries, friends and betrayers — another carefully woven masterpiece.
____________
I read this one last, and it took me a long time to really get into it. Set in Iran, I was a little put off ... until I caught on about the helicopters, lovers, spies, fanatics, revolutionaries, friends and betrayers — another carefully woven masterpiece.
July 20, 2007
My least favorite of Clavell's novels, but still worth the read for fans of the Asia Saga. It is related but not, which bings up mixed feelings for me. It kind of feels like Clavell was using a familiar model to tell a modern tale, but that he had added it on after the story had already ended.
From the perspective that Shogun and Whirlwind are bookends on the story told in Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, and Noble House this fits the bill. I think I would have preferred that Clavell use a different framework to tell this story, but don't hold it against him. This is still a fun story on modern events (with particular appropriateness for the events of 2007).
From the perspective that Shogun and Whirlwind are bookends on the story told in Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, and Noble House this fits the bill. I think I would have preferred that Clavell use a different framework to tell this story, but don't hold it against him. This is still a fun story on modern events (with particular appropriateness for the events of 2007).
February 16, 2015
Four novels in James Clavell’s Asian Saga down, one (“Gai-Jin”) to go. I first started reading “Whirlwind” when it was newly released back in 1987 when I was a mere 12 years old (but at that point, already a firmly entrenched Clavell fan from having read “King Rat” and “Noble House” and watched the “Shogun” TV miniseries), but got lost in the shuffle and didn’t get around to finishing it. So, about 3 or 4 months ago, all these years later, I finally re-started it from scratch AND finally finished just now, whew!
Of all the Asian Saga books, it’s the one I can relate to most personally, as I was already alive as the events of “Whirlwind” took place—granted, I was only 4 years old in 1979, but by 1980 I was already paying attention to world events on the news, and by the time the book was published I was quite aware of the events in then Ayatollah Khomeini-ruled Iran, this awareness being gleamed not just from mainstream media sources but from my Dad’s travel experiences in Iran and that of schoolmates whose families had fled the tyranny of the Khomeini regime. What’s more, now that I’m older and wiser and more well-traveled (I haven’t been to Iran, but have been to several other Middle Eastern countries depicted in the novel, including Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, and the UAE), this novel resonates with me just that much more.
What a paradox: on the one hand, its length (1147 pages) notwithstanding, it’s the most action-packed and fastest-paced Clavell novel of the four I’ve read, but OTOH it’s also the slowest and most challenging read of the bunch (I can’t blame that on the length of the book, as I finished the equally voluminous “Shogun” and “Noble House” considerably quicker). This was a book that I read in fits & starts, i.e. I’d zip right along at some points and get frustratingly bogged down at other segments. I’d attribute the bogging down to confusion and having to re-read to grasp everything Clavell is trying to say, and I’d further attribute that confusion to:
(1) While every Asian Saga novel has its fair share of two-faced plotters, double agents, and double dealers, such characters and their accompanying complicated sub-plots seem to exist to an exponentially greater degree in “Whirlwind,” amongst Westerners, Soviets, and Iranians alike….it makes one’s head spin trying to keep track of who’s pro-Shah, pro-Khomeini, pro-Marxist, pro-Western, and so forth. A Cast of Characters or Dramatis Personae would’ve been tremendously helpful (it heartens me to see that Mr. Clavell—God rest his soul—finally did include such a list in “Gai-Jin”)
(2) Mr. Clavell (again, R.I.P.) has a somewhat maddening tendency to jump back-and-forth between present story and flashback within the space of a few sentences within the same paragraph (or within a few paragraphs of the same sub-segment of a chapter). If you’re trying to read this book with less than 100% energy level and alertness, you’re gonna have a few “WTF?” moments as you go back and re-read those segments for clarification.
That said, the book is still very much worth reading, as it gives fascinating insights into Persian culture of the late 1970s (and this culture’s interactions with Westerners, Soviets, other Middle Easterners, and Japanese alike). With 20-20 hindsight, one reads it with a sense of foreboding, knowing that as the action is taking place (again, 1979) that within a short space of time, the Ayatollah Khomeini will soon drag the once-great Iranian (or Persian, if you prefer) nation into the Dark Ages, especially when it comes to women’s rights (I couldn’t help but feel pity for female characters such as the lovely Sharazad and Azadeh as their efforts and those of their real-life female Iranian counterparts would prove to be for naught for the remainder of Khomeini’s reign of terror), and the mullahs’ fanatical religious fundamentalism, using “As God’s wants” as a convenient and constant excuse for stupid, ignorant, and barbaric behavior; the Japanese character Yoshi Kasigi (a direct descendant of the Kasigi Yabu character from “Shogun”) sums it up best on page 1108 when he muses “How can anyone deal with these lunatics who use their beliefs as a coverall and ‘God’ whenever they wish to close a legitimate line of logic. They’re all made, blinkered!”
And of course, it’s with 20-20 hindsight that the reader realizes that Iran is headed for even further disaster via the looming 1980s war with Iraq. (In retrospect, 25 years after the Ayatollah’s passing, things in Iran seem to have improved somewhat, but there is still a long way to go.) I
From a nostalgia standpoint, it’s enjoyable as a reader to be “reunited” (as it were) with several “Noble House” characters in various degrees of major and minor rolls, such as Andrew Gavallan, Robert Armstrong, Ian Dunross, “Profitable” Paul Choy, and Gregor Suslev, and well as backstory on other “Noble House” characters who don’t actually put in an appearance in “Whirlwind.”
A few technical nitpicks:
(1) On page 1106, the CIA agent Wesson says that “Japan’s our [the USA’s, that is] only ally in the Pacific…” Er, what’re South Korea and the Philippines, chopped liver?
(2) Clavell makes several references to characters openly ordering alcoholic beverages in Kuwait….er, if I’m not mistaken, hasn’t Kuwait always been a “dry” country….or were that country’s drinking laws more lax back in the 1970s? (Thanks in advance to any fellow reader out there who can enlighten me.)
(3) While the author correctly captures the resentment of Gulf Arabs at the “Persian Gulf” label, I’m not sure how accurate he is when one of his Kuwaiti characters refers to it as the “Islamic Gulf;” from my observations, Kuwaitis, Emiratis, Saudis, Bahrainis, and Qataris prefer to call it the “Arabian Gulf.”
(4) Though I don’t remember the page number(s), at least once in the book, Clavell refers to Abu Dhabi and “the Emirates” as if they were separate sovereignties, when in fact Abu Dhabi had been the capital of the independent UAE since 1971.
(5) On pp. 701-702, he uses the terms "revolvers" and "automatic(s)"interchangeably. I'd expect such ignorance from a civilian journalist, but not an ex-military officer like Clavell!
(6) On p. 675, he incorrectly dates the Rape of Nanking as taking place in 1931 (which was actually the invasion of Manchuria) rather than '37.
On a side note, not a nitpick, just an observation: without going into too much detail (for the sake of avoiding a spoiler) this is definitely not a storybook romance or Hollywood-ish “feel-good” story, as several key characters die rather abruptly and unceremoniously.
Last but not least, if “Whirlwind” had been made into either a theatrical motion picture or a TV miniseries back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I would’ve cast Sean Connery as Andy Gavallan, Dolph Lundgren as Erikki Yokkonen, Tommy Lee Jones as Conroe “Duke” Starke, John Rhys-Davies as “Rod” Rodrigues (as homage to his portrayal of Rodrigues’ Portuguese ancestor in “Shogun”), Gil Gerard as CIA officer Wesson, and Roger Moore as Roger Newbury.
That said, one more time. R.I.P. and God bless, James Clavell. You are missed.
Of all the Asian Saga books, it’s the one I can relate to most personally, as I was already alive as the events of “Whirlwind” took place—granted, I was only 4 years old in 1979, but by 1980 I was already paying attention to world events on the news, and by the time the book was published I was quite aware of the events in then Ayatollah Khomeini-ruled Iran, this awareness being gleamed not just from mainstream media sources but from my Dad’s travel experiences in Iran and that of schoolmates whose families had fled the tyranny of the Khomeini regime. What’s more, now that I’m older and wiser and more well-traveled (I haven’t been to Iran, but have been to several other Middle Eastern countries depicted in the novel, including Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, and the UAE), this novel resonates with me just that much more.
What a paradox: on the one hand, its length (1147 pages) notwithstanding, it’s the most action-packed and fastest-paced Clavell novel of the four I’ve read, but OTOH it’s also the slowest and most challenging read of the bunch (I can’t blame that on the length of the book, as I finished the equally voluminous “Shogun” and “Noble House” considerably quicker). This was a book that I read in fits & starts, i.e. I’d zip right along at some points and get frustratingly bogged down at other segments. I’d attribute the bogging down to confusion and having to re-read to grasp everything Clavell is trying to say, and I’d further attribute that confusion to:
(1) While every Asian Saga novel has its fair share of two-faced plotters, double agents, and double dealers, such characters and their accompanying complicated sub-plots seem to exist to an exponentially greater degree in “Whirlwind,” amongst Westerners, Soviets, and Iranians alike….it makes one’s head spin trying to keep track of who’s pro-Shah, pro-Khomeini, pro-Marxist, pro-Western, and so forth. A Cast of Characters or Dramatis Personae would’ve been tremendously helpful (it heartens me to see that Mr. Clavell—God rest his soul—finally did include such a list in “Gai-Jin”)
(2) Mr. Clavell (again, R.I.P.) has a somewhat maddening tendency to jump back-and-forth between present story and flashback within the space of a few sentences within the same paragraph (or within a few paragraphs of the same sub-segment of a chapter). If you’re trying to read this book with less than 100% energy level and alertness, you’re gonna have a few “WTF?” moments as you go back and re-read those segments for clarification.
That said, the book is still very much worth reading, as it gives fascinating insights into Persian culture of the late 1970s (and this culture’s interactions with Westerners, Soviets, other Middle Easterners, and Japanese alike). With 20-20 hindsight, one reads it with a sense of foreboding, knowing that as the action is taking place (again, 1979) that within a short space of time, the Ayatollah Khomeini will soon drag the once-great Iranian (or Persian, if you prefer) nation into the Dark Ages, especially when it comes to women’s rights (I couldn’t help but feel pity for female characters such as the lovely Sharazad and Azadeh as their efforts and those of their real-life female Iranian counterparts would prove to be for naught for the remainder of Khomeini’s reign of terror), and the mullahs’ fanatical religious fundamentalism, using “As God’s wants” as a convenient and constant excuse for stupid, ignorant, and barbaric behavior; the Japanese character Yoshi Kasigi (a direct descendant of the Kasigi Yabu character from “Shogun”) sums it up best on page 1108 when he muses “How can anyone deal with these lunatics who use their beliefs as a coverall and ‘God’ whenever they wish to close a legitimate line of logic. They’re all made, blinkered!”
And of course, it’s with 20-20 hindsight that the reader realizes that Iran is headed for even further disaster via the looming 1980s war with Iraq. (In retrospect, 25 years after the Ayatollah’s passing, things in Iran seem to have improved somewhat, but there is still a long way to go.) I
From a nostalgia standpoint, it’s enjoyable as a reader to be “reunited” (as it were) with several “Noble House” characters in various degrees of major and minor rolls, such as Andrew Gavallan, Robert Armstrong, Ian Dunross, “Profitable” Paul Choy, and Gregor Suslev, and well as backstory on other “Noble House” characters who don’t actually put in an appearance in “Whirlwind.”
A few technical nitpicks:
(1) On page 1106, the CIA agent Wesson says that “Japan’s our [the USA’s, that is] only ally in the Pacific…” Er, what’re South Korea and the Philippines, chopped liver?
(2) Clavell makes several references to characters openly ordering alcoholic beverages in Kuwait….er, if I’m not mistaken, hasn’t Kuwait always been a “dry” country….or were that country’s drinking laws more lax back in the 1970s? (Thanks in advance to any fellow reader out there who can enlighten me.)
(3) While the author correctly captures the resentment of Gulf Arabs at the “Persian Gulf” label, I’m not sure how accurate he is when one of his Kuwaiti characters refers to it as the “Islamic Gulf;” from my observations, Kuwaitis, Emiratis, Saudis, Bahrainis, and Qataris prefer to call it the “Arabian Gulf.”
(4) Though I don’t remember the page number(s), at least once in the book, Clavell refers to Abu Dhabi and “the Emirates” as if they were separate sovereignties, when in fact Abu Dhabi had been the capital of the independent UAE since 1971.
(5) On pp. 701-702, he uses the terms "revolvers" and "automatic(s)"interchangeably. I'd expect such ignorance from a civilian journalist, but not an ex-military officer like Clavell!
(6) On p. 675, he incorrectly dates the Rape of Nanking as taking place in 1931 (which was actually the invasion of Manchuria) rather than '37.
On a side note, not a nitpick, just an observation: without going into too much detail (for the sake of avoiding a spoiler) this is definitely not a storybook romance or Hollywood-ish “feel-good” story, as several key characters die rather abruptly and unceremoniously.
Last but not least, if “Whirlwind” had been made into either a theatrical motion picture or a TV miniseries back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I would’ve cast Sean Connery as Andy Gavallan, Dolph Lundgren as Erikki Yokkonen, Tommy Lee Jones as Conroe “Duke” Starke, John Rhys-Davies as “Rod” Rodrigues (as homage to his portrayal of Rodrigues’ Portuguese ancestor in “Shogun”), Gil Gerard as CIA officer Wesson, and Roger Moore as Roger Newbury.
That said, one more time. R.I.P. and God bless, James Clavell. You are missed.
April 22, 2014
Growing up, my father had a boxed set of James Clavell paperbacks on the shelf, consisting of Shogun, Tai-Pan, Noble House, and King Rat. Though I'd often read the books my father had after he had finished reading them (heavy on the Follett, Ludlum, Higgins, and Forsythe) I don’t remember giving the Clavell’s much thought or even picking them up, maybe just because they were so . . . big.
However, when I heard the much ballyhooed Shogun mini-series was coming to television, I thought I'd read the book before watching the movie and pulled Shogun from the box. I remember getting only a few paragraphs in when I put it down, for some reason not drawn in. I picked it up now and again over the next few weeks, until the time I picked it up and then couldn’t put it down.
After finishing that masterpiece, I remember smiling at myself for my initial inability to get into it, because in retrospect, it couldn’t have started out in a more exciting fashion. I mean, the very first page begins with a ship about to be torn apart on the rocks. Of course, the Dutch sailors on board that ship are about to begin a fascinating, lifelong journey into the heart of another culture, while the English captain of that ship would go on to start a dynasty later to be known as the Noble House.
At any rate, after finishing Shogun, I tore through the remainder of that box set and became lost in the adventures of the Tai-Pan, who was there for the birth of Hong King, and in the later corporate machinations of Ian Dunross and the Noble House more than a century later. King Rat was something of a diversion, taking place in a World War II prisoner of war camp, but at least one character in that one turns up later in Noble House.
After that, I'd run out of Clavell’s to read, until the day I walked into the bookstore and saw his new book, Whirlwind, on the shelf. I immediately purchased it and took it home and . . . just couldn’t get into it. I picked it up every now and then and tried again, until the day I picked it up and couldn’t put it down.
Taking place in the late seventies, it concerns a helicopter company subsidiary of the Noble House based in Iran, who are caught up in the whirlwind of the Iranian revolution. It’s about as exciting a book as you’re going to find, contains one of the greatest love stories I think I’ve ever read in fiction, and also provides a nice history lesson into what actually led the Iranians to revolt against the Shah in the first place.
For those looking to learn more about that episode, whose reverberations continue to this day in the headlines of our newspapers, you could do a lot worse than lose yourself in this book. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be glad you did.
However, when I heard the much ballyhooed Shogun mini-series was coming to television, I thought I'd read the book before watching the movie and pulled Shogun from the box. I remember getting only a few paragraphs in when I put it down, for some reason not drawn in. I picked it up now and again over the next few weeks, until the time I picked it up and then couldn’t put it down.
After finishing that masterpiece, I remember smiling at myself for my initial inability to get into it, because in retrospect, it couldn’t have started out in a more exciting fashion. I mean, the very first page begins with a ship about to be torn apart on the rocks. Of course, the Dutch sailors on board that ship are about to begin a fascinating, lifelong journey into the heart of another culture, while the English captain of that ship would go on to start a dynasty later to be known as the Noble House.
At any rate, after finishing Shogun, I tore through the remainder of that box set and became lost in the adventures of the Tai-Pan, who was there for the birth of Hong King, and in the later corporate machinations of Ian Dunross and the Noble House more than a century later. King Rat was something of a diversion, taking place in a World War II prisoner of war camp, but at least one character in that one turns up later in Noble House.
After that, I'd run out of Clavell’s to read, until the day I walked into the bookstore and saw his new book, Whirlwind, on the shelf. I immediately purchased it and took it home and . . . just couldn’t get into it. I picked it up every now and then and tried again, until the day I picked it up and couldn’t put it down.
Taking place in the late seventies, it concerns a helicopter company subsidiary of the Noble House based in Iran, who are caught up in the whirlwind of the Iranian revolution. It’s about as exciting a book as you’re going to find, contains one of the greatest love stories I think I’ve ever read in fiction, and also provides a nice history lesson into what actually led the Iranians to revolt against the Shah in the first place.
For those looking to learn more about that episode, whose reverberations continue to this day in the headlines of our newspapers, you could do a lot worse than lose yourself in this book. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be glad you did.
October 30, 2013
Clavell specialized in the epic and this book is epic in scale. Nevertheless, a good editor could have made all the difference with this book. Having said that, the book is largely successful in that it works as a thriller with great cliffhanger moments and tense action scenes. The moral universe is very black and white though. There could also have been a more realistic examination of the real reasons for the revolution. The right wing commentary on the British political scene was a bit pathetic as well.
December 24, 2019
Приключих с Азиатската сага. "Вихрушка" беше последната, издавана на български език, книга на Клавел, която не бях чел. Но едно и сигурно - някой ден ще започна да препрочитам наново тези безценни за мен романи. Едно от най-хубавите неща в книгите е това, че можем да се връщаме към тях, за да ги преосмисляме и съпреживяваме отново.
Признавам, че това е романът, който ми отне най-дълго време, но не заради обема си (над 1200 стр. поне моето издание). Причината е в мен, защото в тайнството на отношенията между книгите и хората, литературата никога няма вина, ако изобщо можем да говорим за такава. Много често това, което четем просто се разминава с настроението, в което сме и честотата, на които са настроени нашите усещания и възприятия в този момент. Затова много хора обявят даден роман или автор за безинтересни, без да си дават сметка, че проблемът всъщност е в тях самите.
Иначе това, което ми направи впечатление е изместеният фокус на Клавел в сравнение с другите части на Азиатската сага. Във "Вихрушка" корпоративните интереси, геополитическите проблеми и борсовите спекулации някак отстъпват назад и остават в сянка. За сметка на чисто човешки истории на героите, пречупени през призмата на едно от най-важните събития на XX в., което променя завинаги Близкия изток - Ислямската революция в Иран (1979 г.). Една история за политика, религия, любов, дълг, чест и още много неща. Една истинска житейска вихрушка.
Признавам, че това е романът, който ми отне най-дълго време, но не заради обема си (над 1200 стр. поне моето издание). Причината е в мен, защото в тайнството на отношенията между книгите и хората, литературата никога няма вина, ако изобщо можем да говорим за такава. Много често това, което четем просто се разминава с настроението, в което сме и честотата, на които са настроени нашите усещания и възприятия в този момент. Затова много хора обявят даден роман или автор за безинтересни, без да си дават сметка, че проблемът всъщност е в тях самите.
Иначе това, което ми направи впечатление е изместеният фокус на Клавел в сравнение с другите части на Азиатската сага. Във "Вихрушка" корпоративните интереси, геополитическите проблеми и борсовите спекулации някак отстъпват назад и остават в сянка. За сметка на чисто човешки истории на героите, пречупени през призмата на едно от най-важните събития на XX в., което променя завинаги Близкия изток - Ислямската революция в Иран (1979 г.). Една история за политика, религия, любов, дълг, чест и още много неща. Една истинска житейска вихрушка.
November 30, 2013
OUTSTANDING ... all his books. Historical and cultutal insight of Japan, China and Persia (Iran). Story lines that weave within weaves ... crisp personalities of swashbuckling adventures of man's struggle against overwhelming odds ... faith hanging on a hope and a prayer.
Anyone looking for a riveting series of books ... James Clavell is your man.
A great loss to historical fiction upon his death.
Note - Mr. Clavell was, himself, a Japanese POW in in WWII. After the war, stuck in a slump looking for a job, his wife encouaged him to write his experiences of a POW. He composed KING RAT in 45 days ... launching his literary career.
ENJOY
Enjoy!
Anyone looking for a riveting series of books ... James Clavell is your man.
A great loss to historical fiction upon his death.
Note - Mr. Clavell was, himself, a Japanese POW in in WWII. After the war, stuck in a slump looking for a job, his wife encouaged him to write his experiences of a POW. He composed KING RAT in 45 days ... launching his literary career.
ENJOY
Enjoy!
January 24, 2008
Whirlwind was absolutely horrid! Not only was the story out of focus; it was simply a complete mess of characters and settings. I thought this would be similar to his other fantastic stories, (Noble House, Tai-Pan), in quality of plot and character only to be sorely disappointed. I would not recommend this novel to an enemy!
April 9, 2017
The ending was too long, but this was a fascinating book -- well worth the time it took to read it. The extensive cast of characters were well-drawn and individualized, the discussion of events in Iran in 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini took power illuminating. One of Clavell's best books by far. Clavell writes whoppers. Epic whoppers. One James Clavell novel deforests major tracts of land, I'm sure. This one, which took me 31 days to read (!), was none the less worth it.
Whirwind takes place in Iran in February 1979 at the time of the revolution which ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini. I was in high school at the time, so I do vaguely remember the Iranian revolution, but the Middle East seemed so far away. Now it is central to every newspaper and new report -- in fact, as I read this, I was reading an article in The New Republic magazine by the author Ahmed Rashid on the current crisis in Pakistan.
Whirlwind's main characters are North American and European helicopter pilots working in the oil fields of Iran. The link to Clavell's other Asian novels is that their company is owned by the Struan Noble House which has featured in the earlier books. Like the other books, this one deals with the ideological and cultural clash between East and West as the characters try to negotiate life abroad during a revolution and attempt to get the company's helicopters out of Iran without a significant financial loss. Easier said than done in the walled-in climate in Iran, particularly when you have wily Soviet spies trying to do you in (a favourite Clavell motif), revolutionary komitehs run by fanatical mullahs who would as soon shoot you as talk to you, and an ever-changing political scene that means every day brings a new power group to the fore.
Clavell excels at action scenes, of which this novel has plenty. He himself apparently trained as a helicopter pilot in order to write realistically about their lives. The book is long -- so long that the publisher also released a pared down version called Escape composed of only the love story of one pair of characters, essentially boiling the story down to one plot strand. I don't regret reading this long book, however -- the story is intriguing, the look into a time which seems like a seed for the later disasters in this area of the globe is fascinating. I was gripped throughout, and if the ending seems a little forced the bulk of the book held my attention completely. I would even go so far as to suggest this is the best of his novels after Shogun.
Whirwind takes place in Iran in February 1979 at the time of the revolution which ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini. I was in high school at the time, so I do vaguely remember the Iranian revolution, but the Middle East seemed so far away. Now it is central to every newspaper and new report -- in fact, as I read this, I was reading an article in The New Republic magazine by the author Ahmed Rashid on the current crisis in Pakistan.
Whirlwind's main characters are North American and European helicopter pilots working in the oil fields of Iran. The link to Clavell's other Asian novels is that their company is owned by the Struan Noble House which has featured in the earlier books. Like the other books, this one deals with the ideological and cultural clash between East and West as the characters try to negotiate life abroad during a revolution and attempt to get the company's helicopters out of Iran without a significant financial loss. Easier said than done in the walled-in climate in Iran, particularly when you have wily Soviet spies trying to do you in (a favourite Clavell motif), revolutionary komitehs run by fanatical mullahs who would as soon shoot you as talk to you, and an ever-changing political scene that means every day brings a new power group to the fore.
Clavell excels at action scenes, of which this novel has plenty. He himself apparently trained as a helicopter pilot in order to write realistically about their lives. The book is long -- so long that the publisher also released a pared down version called Escape composed of only the love story of one pair of characters, essentially boiling the story down to one plot strand. I don't regret reading this long book, however -- the story is intriguing, the look into a time which seems like a seed for the later disasters in this area of the globe is fascinating. I was gripped throughout, and if the ending seems a little forced the bulk of the book held my attention completely. I would even go so far as to suggest this is the best of his novels after Shogun.
April 5, 2011
I was a little disappointed with "Whirlwind." While it's been years, I remember loving "Shogun," and thought I'd be wrapped up in this story as well.
This book was fine, simply OK, but it is hard to read a 1,000 plus page mediocre book.
Part of the problem for me was the characters. There were so many of them and and they all seemed so alike, it took several hundred pages before I could distinguish them. With so many characters we never really get to any of them that deeply and I never felt really connected with any of them.
The other problem is the way the Iranian, or really any non-white characters were portrayed. All the Iranian characters were double crossing, turning on so many people I never could figure out who was working for or with who. They were all dominating, violent people who cared first for their political status and power and then other people. It just didn't give a lot of depth to any of them.
The topic of the book, Iran's changing government and the impact on the oil business was interesting, but complex and I don't know that even after reading this book, I fully grasp it.
Again, this book was fine, but I would have rather spent my time reading something really great.
This book was fine, simply OK, but it is hard to read a 1,000 plus page mediocre book.
Part of the problem for me was the characters. There were so many of them and and they all seemed so alike, it took several hundred pages before I could distinguish them. With so many characters we never really get to any of them that deeply and I never felt really connected with any of them.
The other problem is the way the Iranian, or really any non-white characters were portrayed. All the Iranian characters were double crossing, turning on so many people I never could figure out who was working for or with who. They were all dominating, violent people who cared first for their political status and power and then other people. It just didn't give a lot of depth to any of them.
The topic of the book, Iran's changing government and the impact on the oil business was interesting, but complex and I don't know that even after reading this book, I fully grasp it.
Again, this book was fine, but I would have rather spent my time reading something really great.
April 21, 2010
King Rat and Shogun are two of my favorite books, so it's not as though I dislike James Clavell.
I couldn't finish this book. All of the male characters were so similar, it was difficult to distinguish one from the other. Every one them were ridiculously macho. I read well over 300 pages but felt no desire to return to the book. I donated it to Goodwill. I wouldn't pass it along to a friend. Dreadful book!
I couldn't finish this book. All of the male characters were so similar, it was difficult to distinguish one from the other. Every one them were ridiculously macho. I read well over 300 pages but felt no desire to return to the book. I donated it to Goodwill. I wouldn't pass it along to a friend. Dreadful book!
April 19, 2010
I was fortunate enough to be mentored and befriended by James Clavell, and value his work and opinions over many. Unfortunately, this was a departure for him, and my least favorite of his works.
March 5, 2015
It took me years to be able to read Whirlwind.
It’s not that I was putting it off. James Clavell’s Asian Saga is one of my favorite book series ever. I started with Noble House and made my way through all the other entries over the years. The late British author did an amazing job of dropping his Western characters into an exotic Eastern milieu. Yet he never romanticized that kind of European incursion into Asia. His Asian characters were as complex and fully realized as his European and American ones. He told long, intricate stories against the backdrop of some of the most exciting moments in world history.
I’d loved all the other entries in the series. Noble House and Gai-Jin were my favorites. There was something almost luxuriant about losing yourself in one of Clavell’s labyrinthine plots. Keeping track of his mammoth casts was an effort that was worth the effort.
For years, I’d wanted to read Whirlwind, the 1986 novel that proved to be the second-to-last that Clavell produced before his death in 1994. There was just one problem. I couldn’t get my hands on the bloody thing.
Whirlwind was a best seller. I recall seeing it on the shelves back when I was a kid. Back when book stores still existed. I didn’t start delving into The Asian Saga until I was in college. It was years before I got through all the other entries, so I hadn’t really looked for it.
When I’d finally read all the others and knew that no more books were coming, I was naturally eager to finish off the series and tackle Whirlwind. Whirlwind wasn’t an easy sell. It was set against the fall of Iran in 1979. Its plot focused on the incipient concept of radical Islam was controversial. It was also among the longest of Clavell’s books. Considering the others regularly exceeded the 1500 page mark in mass market paperback, that’s saying something.
I looked for Whirlwind for years. Book stores always carried all the other novels in The Asian Saga, but never Whirlwind. It wasn’t available online, at least not at cover price. I really had no interest in paying a much higher amount to get my hands on it. There were some used copies that were reasonably priced, but I don’t like buying used books sight unseen. You never know what you’re getting. All the other books in the series came out with new editions. Whirlwind was listed as part of the series, but didn’t get a new edition. Information on the book was scanty. No one seemed to know why it wasn’t available in the U.S., beyond its controversial themes.
I was in London a few years ago. As I always do when there, I stopped into Waterstones in Piccadilly Circus. I love Waterstones and have missed them ever since they abandoned the U.S. market several years ago. The Piccadilly location is like a massive temple to books. It’s amazing.
I don’t know what prompted me to think of Whirlwind while I was there. I’d wandered the floors and looked at lots of things. I was trying to figure out what I might want to buy. The flash came into my brain: see if they have Whirlwind.
I thought, it’s Europe, they’re not as hung up about some of this stuff as we Americans can be. They might have it. I went to the “C” shelves, I found Clavell’s section… and there it was. A trade paperback copy of Whirlwind.
I grabbed it immediately. I felt giddy. I may have chortled in delight. I don’t often chortle. It’s not pretty.
At checkout, I breathlessly explained to the clerk how I’d been looking for this book for years and couldn’t find it in the States. She was the opposite of interested. I didn’t care. I had Whirlwind.
I started it when I got home from London.
Talk about a letdown.
Well, maybe that’s harsh. It’s not a bad book. There are lots of things I liked about Whirlwind. Some of the characters were very engaging. A few plot threads from earlier books wound their way into the mix. And Clavell’s ability to construct word images that powerfully evoke a specific time and place was undiminished. There were a lot of plot fireworks and action sequences to keep a reader’s attention.
But a few of the characters were maddening. Some of that was historically accurate, some of it was that the characters were idiots who deserved to be killed off. Clavell at least obliged us there in a couple of cases. The escape mission couldn’t go flawlessly, of course, but after yet one more serious setback threatened to derail it, a certain sense of “oh, come on” set in. The individual parts seemed to struggle to cohere as seamlessly as Clavell had managed in his other books.
I’m not sorry I read Whirlwind. I can’t claim to love it the way I do the rest of The Asian Saga, but it was interesting in parts, even with its various frustrations. I’m glad I got to finish the series.
A version of this review originally appeared as “The Whirlwind Hunt” on www.thunderalleybcp.com
It’s not that I was putting it off. James Clavell’s Asian Saga is one of my favorite book series ever. I started with Noble House and made my way through all the other entries over the years. The late British author did an amazing job of dropping his Western characters into an exotic Eastern milieu. Yet he never romanticized that kind of European incursion into Asia. His Asian characters were as complex and fully realized as his European and American ones. He told long, intricate stories against the backdrop of some of the most exciting moments in world history.
I’d loved all the other entries in the series. Noble House and Gai-Jin were my favorites. There was something almost luxuriant about losing yourself in one of Clavell’s labyrinthine plots. Keeping track of his mammoth casts was an effort that was worth the effort.
For years, I’d wanted to read Whirlwind, the 1986 novel that proved to be the second-to-last that Clavell produced before his death in 1994. There was just one problem. I couldn’t get my hands on the bloody thing.
Whirlwind was a best seller. I recall seeing it on the shelves back when I was a kid. Back when book stores still existed. I didn’t start delving into The Asian Saga until I was in college. It was years before I got through all the other entries, so I hadn’t really looked for it.
When I’d finally read all the others and knew that no more books were coming, I was naturally eager to finish off the series and tackle Whirlwind. Whirlwind wasn’t an easy sell. It was set against the fall of Iran in 1979. Its plot focused on the incipient concept of radical Islam was controversial. It was also among the longest of Clavell’s books. Considering the others regularly exceeded the 1500 page mark in mass market paperback, that’s saying something.
I looked for Whirlwind for years. Book stores always carried all the other novels in The Asian Saga, but never Whirlwind. It wasn’t available online, at least not at cover price. I really had no interest in paying a much higher amount to get my hands on it. There were some used copies that were reasonably priced, but I don’t like buying used books sight unseen. You never know what you’re getting. All the other books in the series came out with new editions. Whirlwind was listed as part of the series, but didn’t get a new edition. Information on the book was scanty. No one seemed to know why it wasn’t available in the U.S., beyond its controversial themes.
I was in London a few years ago. As I always do when there, I stopped into Waterstones in Piccadilly Circus. I love Waterstones and have missed them ever since they abandoned the U.S. market several years ago. The Piccadilly location is like a massive temple to books. It’s amazing.
I don’t know what prompted me to think of Whirlwind while I was there. I’d wandered the floors and looked at lots of things. I was trying to figure out what I might want to buy. The flash came into my brain: see if they have Whirlwind.
I thought, it’s Europe, they’re not as hung up about some of this stuff as we Americans can be. They might have it. I went to the “C” shelves, I found Clavell’s section… and there it was. A trade paperback copy of Whirlwind.
I grabbed it immediately. I felt giddy. I may have chortled in delight. I don’t often chortle. It’s not pretty.
At checkout, I breathlessly explained to the clerk how I’d been looking for this book for years and couldn’t find it in the States. She was the opposite of interested. I didn’t care. I had Whirlwind.
I started it when I got home from London.
Talk about a letdown.
Well, maybe that’s harsh. It’s not a bad book. There are lots of things I liked about Whirlwind. Some of the characters were very engaging. A few plot threads from earlier books wound their way into the mix. And Clavell’s ability to construct word images that powerfully evoke a specific time and place was undiminished. There were a lot of plot fireworks and action sequences to keep a reader’s attention.
But a few of the characters were maddening. Some of that was historically accurate, some of it was that the characters were idiots who deserved to be killed off. Clavell at least obliged us there in a couple of cases. The escape mission couldn’t go flawlessly, of course, but after yet one more serious setback threatened to derail it, a certain sense of “oh, come on” set in. The individual parts seemed to struggle to cohere as seamlessly as Clavell had managed in his other books.
I’m not sorry I read Whirlwind. I can’t claim to love it the way I do the rest of The Asian Saga, but it was interesting in parts, even with its various frustrations. I’m glad I got to finish the series.
A version of this review originally appeared as “The Whirlwind Hunt” on www.thunderalleybcp.com
May 4, 2018
As with the other novels in the Asian Saga, Clavell definitely has a tv writer's flare for drama and character development, which makes for an engaging story. I do wish I knew more about the Iranian revolution, though, because I found it a bit confusing and hard to follow who was on what side (though possibly that's just faithfully recording what it was like to be on the ground at that time).
This book and Shogun seem like the oddballs in the series; the others all deal a lot more directly with the Struan family and its business dealings, while Shogun predates all that and Whirlwind mostly deals with a specific side business not even publically known to be part of the Struan family. At this point the Struan family members were a bit hard to keep track of, I'm not totally sure where Ross fits into the whole picture ().
I also thought it was very interesting to see another glimpse at the post-war hatred of Japanese people. So many years removed, that attitude is not even remotely present even in the survivors of World War II, but Clavell himself survived Changi and that sort of bitterness doesn't go away overnight.
Definitely worth reading.
This book and Shogun seem like the oddballs in the series; the others all deal a lot more directly with the Struan family and its business dealings, while Shogun predates all that and Whirlwind mostly deals with a specific side business not even publically known to be part of the Struan family. At this point the Struan family members were a bit hard to keep track of, I'm not totally sure where Ross fits into the whole picture ().
I also thought it was very interesting to see another glimpse at the post-war hatred of Japanese people. So many years removed, that attitude is not even remotely present even in the survivors of World War II, but Clavell himself survived Changi and that sort of bitterness doesn't go away overnight.
Definitely worth reading.
December 8, 2020
Fewwwwwwwwww.
It's over.
It was probably my longest read ever, and not only because of the book's length, as I read a few books with similar length, but it was a difficult read as well.
In order to understand better what I read, I had to come back from 23% mark, and start reading it again.
The story itself was pretty good, but what made it difficult for me to read, is the multiple scattered characters, with multiple scattered and confusing story lines. I just couldn't make a connection between those, and it made me difficult to understand what's going on.
Another problem that I had with this book, is that until approx. 60% mark I did not have no one to root for. I don't know what kept me going, maybe it's the story which I liked, and wanted to know what's next, but I did, and glad that I did.
So, the second half of the story went smoother than the first, and there were some very intense scenes that I liked very much.
I think that my proper rating would be 3.5 stars, but I rounding it up for 4.
I think that this book is very good, it's just very hard to read, and maybe there is a need to read it again (and maybe again afterwards) to understand it fully, and enjoy it more.
Reread:
Decreased it to 3 stars after reread.
Still better than "Nobel House", but not a very good read.
It's over.
It was probably my longest read ever, and not only because of the book's length, as I read a few books with similar length, but it was a difficult read as well.
In order to understand better what I read, I had to come back from 23% mark, and start reading it again.
The story itself was pretty good, but what made it difficult for me to read, is the multiple scattered characters, with multiple scattered and confusing story lines. I just couldn't make a connection between those, and it made me difficult to understand what's going on.
Another problem that I had with this book, is that until approx. 60% mark I did not have no one to root for. I don't know what kept me going, maybe it's the story which I liked, and wanted to know what's next, but I did, and glad that I did.
So, the second half of the story went smoother than the first, and there were some very intense scenes that I liked very much.
I think that my proper rating would be 3.5 stars, but I rounding it up for 4.
I think that this book is very good, it's just very hard to read, and maybe there is a need to read it again (and maybe again afterwards) to understand it fully, and enjoy it more.
Reread:
Decreased it to 3 stars after reread.
Still better than "Nobel House", but not a very good read.
September 21, 2015
Teheran 1979. Asia, yes, but the inclusion in the "Asian saga" is more due to the identity of the author than anything else. If "King Rat" is a bit of the odd one out, this is more of a sore thumb. But of course, that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the book. But the fact that it is by far the longest book I've ever finished even though it failed my "capture something of an interest at a hundred pages in"-rule does mean something. I put two stars, since I did finish it and, even though this one was far too unengaging to be this long and this crowded and (at times) this slow and boring, Clavell is a good writer. Now, it has been a while since I read it and might think differently now, but, for the reasons given, I'm extremely reluctant to pick it up for a re-read (and I would never dare recommend it to anyone).
Edit: just realized (while going though my shelf here) that I did re-read this (as I did all Clavell's). Second time in original language, which I found was an improvement, but my original review still stands true for me...
Edit: just realized (while going though my shelf here) that I did re-read this (as I did all Clavell's). Second time in original language, which I found was an improvement, but my original review still stands true for me...
June 8, 2014
Clavell was about 70 when he wrote this. I can just imagine him sat in front of his type writer, cracking his fingers thinking how he's going to spend his next book-related income on a trip to Margate, some gingerbread, and the pools. The story is fragmented, with different characters in different locations involved in each chapter, bound together in a rush (with some sticky tape) at the end.
Usually Clavell is pretty good at wrapping things up and leaving you with a strong feel-good factor. The web of this story is so loosely spun that even master Clavell cannot weave his magic this time around.
A bitter disappointment as the last in the Straun saga. Avoid this one, and remember - no cherish - the sweetness of Clavell at his finest with Noble House.
Usually Clavell is pretty good at wrapping things up and leaving you with a strong feel-good factor. The web of this story is so loosely spun that even master Clavell cannot weave his magic this time around.
A bitter disappointment as the last in the Straun saga. Avoid this one, and remember - no cherish - the sweetness of Clavell at his finest with Noble House.
April 3, 2008
James Clavell portrays Iranians much in the same way that he portrays Asians - secretly devious. They all have three levels of beliefs, their public beliefs, their private beliefs which they share with those closest to them, and their real beliefs which they only think in their most secret hearts. When they gain a position of power and influence they all turn out to be quite devious and recalcitrant, no matter how sweet-natured and friendly they seemed before. As always Clavell's heroes are the capitalistic Europeans who believe in free trade and honor. Still a very interesting read.
July 29, 2025
I finished re-reading the second of my four pillar books- favorite books that I re-read every 2 or 3 years. This was probably the 9th or 10th time I've read this one. It's amazing how you notice new things each time you read a book, even a book with which you're exceedingly familiar.
By the way, I highly recommend this novel to anyone- it's about a Scottish helicopter company in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and it's fascinating to see how foreigners survive in a country that has suddenly become hostile to them.
By the way, I highly recommend this novel to anyone- it's about a Scottish helicopter company in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and it's fascinating to see how foreigners survive in a country that has suddenly become hostile to them.
March 14, 2018
An absolute monster of a novel, over 1250 pages and 3 and a bit days of Beach reading. It tells the story of the Iranian revolution of 1979 using a fictional firm of helicopter services, based all over different parts of the country. Including two pilots with Iranian wives and two with their expat wives in country. A vast scope to cover over a period of 10 days or so, including a tumultuous end phase.
June 25, 2009
Too shattered, too many characters and settings. Very, very bad.
April 18, 2014
I have thoughly enjoyed every James Clavell book I have read. This too, but about Iran this time, not the Far East.
April 4, 2025
I did it! I finished the Asian Saga all in the same year. Heck, even more impressive because I started Shogun Part 1 in January. Now I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters within this series. As well as seeing all these places I've never been to. And yet, this wasn't my favorite book, and it's kind of hard to accept that this is the end. I will admit that I'm very intrigued to see how the show is going to handle these books. Hopefully it will make it to the very last book.
January 27, 2018
Шварцвалд и Блек Форест буквално означават едно и също, но за сведение на преводача принципно първото е общоприетото наименование.
August 20, 2011
While this novel didn't quite usurp Shogun as my favorite of the Asian Saga, it came pretty damn close by the end. The only reason it gets four stars is because of a very slow start and a few shaky points here and there. The entirety of Book Four was a great blend of intensity, suspense, heartbreak, and catharsis. If you've liked Clavell's other books, you'll like this one. If you've never read any of them but have an interest in historical fiction... read Shogun or King Rat first.
A major bit of enjoyment I derive from these novels is the historical/cultural learning I can glean from the setting. Obviously I'll need to go looking for some reputable history books to get a true account of what really happened, though Clavell does seem to pay attention to details and historical accuracy most of the time. This book, in particular, had a very different effect on me than the others, though, as its the only one set within my lifetime (albeit my infancy). To think that this revolution was occurring at the same time I was learning to walk and talk on the other side of the world adds a degree of sadness to the whole affair. I can't help but think about the luck I had, being born in a safe place, with chances to live and learn and grow, while others were being born into a powderkeg that finally ignited.
This line of thought spurred me to another thought I've had many times, one which I felt was conveyed quite well in the novel; the concept of 'heroes' and 'villains,' and 'good' and 'evil' are very mutable. I immediately viewed the pilots and other expats as the 'good guys,' not a surprise considering I'm a white male living in what is technically still a British Dominion. I still viewed most of them as such at the end - the pilots didn't ask for revolution nor intentionally oppress the people, they just wanted to live an adventurous life - though recongition of the relativity of 'good' and 'evil' tempered my emotional responses, and certainly helped me understand the melancholy that pervaded the main characters throughout the novel.
A major bit of enjoyment I derive from these novels is the historical/cultural learning I can glean from the setting. Obviously I'll need to go looking for some reputable history books to get a true account of what really happened, though Clavell does seem to pay attention to details and historical accuracy most of the time. This book, in particular, had a very different effect on me than the others, though, as its the only one set within my lifetime (albeit my infancy). To think that this revolution was occurring at the same time I was learning to walk and talk on the other side of the world adds a degree of sadness to the whole affair. I can't help but think about the luck I had, being born in a safe place, with chances to live and learn and grow, while others were being born into a powderkeg that finally ignited.
This line of thought spurred me to another thought I've had many times, one which I felt was conveyed quite well in the novel; the concept of 'heroes' and 'villains,' and 'good' and 'evil' are very mutable. I immediately viewed the pilots and other expats as the 'good guys,' not a surprise considering I'm a white male living in what is technically still a British Dominion. I still viewed most of them as such at the end - the pilots didn't ask for revolution nor intentionally oppress the people, they just wanted to live an adventurous life - though recongition of the relativity of 'good' and 'evil' tempered my emotional responses, and certainly helped me understand the melancholy that pervaded the main characters throughout the novel.
November 19, 2011
Of Clavell's books it has been my experience that this one is the hardest one to find in stores here in the US. Bad memories of the Iranian revolution maybe?
Whirlwind is classic Clavell, for all that means both good and bad. His hero's and villians were always incredibly macho, the action always intense, and the cast of characters enormous. As with his other books Clavell created an adventure story out of actual historical events, in this case the fall of the Shah and the rise of the Islamic Revolution.
Though Clavell often had a habit of replacing actual hitorical people with fictional characters of his own creation who then went through the same events, in this novel he leaves most historical names in place. Instead he embarks on a tale of the employees of company providing helicopter services to the Shah who get trapped in the middle of the revolution, and must find a way to escape the country. In good Clavell style most do, some don't, and the reader is left until almost the end to find out who.
This is one of Clavell's more action-rich books. Sadly, it can be faulted for letting the narative wander in the first half before finding direction. It's not his best book, that would be Shogun. It's not his worst, which might be Tai-Pan. It's worth the effort to find.
Whirlwind is classic Clavell, for all that means both good and bad. His hero's and villians were always incredibly macho, the action always intense, and the cast of characters enormous. As with his other books Clavell created an adventure story out of actual historical events, in this case the fall of the Shah and the rise of the Islamic Revolution.
Though Clavell often had a habit of replacing actual hitorical people with fictional characters of his own creation who then went through the same events, in this novel he leaves most historical names in place. Instead he embarks on a tale of the employees of company providing helicopter services to the Shah who get trapped in the middle of the revolution, and must find a way to escape the country. In good Clavell style most do, some don't, and the reader is left until almost the end to find out who.
This is one of Clavell's more action-rich books. Sadly, it can be faulted for letting the narative wander in the first half before finding direction. It's not his best book, that would be Shogun. It's not his worst, which might be Tai-Pan. It's worth the effort to find.
August 5, 2019
Джеймс Клавел е от онези отдавна умрели мъже, за които със сигурност щях да се омъжа, ако все още бяха живи. Изключителен писател, невероятен ум, страхотно въображение... Безкрайно любим мой автор, белязал ме за цял живот още преди повече от 15 години, когато за пръв път прочетох негов роман (а сега имам всичките).
March 4, 2009
This book seemed quite racist to me. I felt dirty reading it.
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