Customer Reviews

The 47th Samurai (Bob Lee Swagger Series)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I'm not sure what has happened to Stephen Hunter's work. I really enjoyed "Point of Impact" and "Dirty White Boys" is a great book.
But in this, Bob has changed completely.
He does his research on Japan by watching old samurai movies and seems to wish to fight much better trained individuals with a sword to prove a point. This is rationalised as being more sensible to use a sword than to carry a gun in Japan.

As Sam Vincent observed in "Point of Impact" the essence of Bob was his practicality,and we see none of this here. The most sensible thing for a world class sniper would be to find a rifle somewhere in Japan and shoot the bad guys from a 1000 yards out (take it from me, they have it coming).

Rather than letting Bob get cut to shreds, Hunter stretches reality enough that Bob learns swordfighting in a few days, enough to fight 4 trained swordsmen successfully, and to give somebody who was described as a kendo prodigy a very hard time. It is frankly ridiculous.

In addition Hunter's knowledge of unarmed combat is poor... I think he just making it up.

The dialogue and plot are risible. The characters are paper thin, and the observations about Japan and the Japanese are at best ignorant, at worst borderline racist.

But the most irritating thing for me is the fact that it is inconsistent with previous books and with itself. For example Bob's daughter is supposed to be 23. But he is supposed to have met her mother in 1993. This sort of sloppiness is just annoying.

Very disappointed.

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.

I see a disappointing trend in Stephen Hunter's writing. In Havana, Hunter was obviously very interested in 1950's Cuba and Castro at the time. It felt like he wanted to write a story about it but threw poor Earl Swagger in it just to please his fans. The results were bad, one of his worst books.

I'm sad to say the 47th Samurai is the same deal. Hunter even admits in his acknowledgments that he totally got into the whole Samurai thing and initially wanted to write a story set in ancient times involving rival clans or something. Instead he wrote a modern samurai story and threw poor Bob Lee in it to please his fans. Again, bad move.

I was really excited when the book opens with Earl's adventures on Iwo - it's what I've been waiting for all these years. It's only a very small portion of the book though.

Bob Lee just does NOT belong in this book. It never "felt" like the real Bob the Nailer. He doesn't even hold a gun once in this book!

Mr. Hunter - if you want to branch out and get away from gun heavy thrillers, that's fine. Just don't try to squeeze the Swaggers into a story that doesn't fit them.

I've been waiting for a page turner like Dirty White Boys for a long time. Unfortunately, the 47th Samurai isn't it.

As several recent reviewers noted, the book is just ridiculous. I really liked the earlier Swagger novels and thus was astonished at how bad this one is. It is one thing to suspend belief. It is another to have a novel based on impossible premises, such as that an old guy can become a samurai in a week of training.

In 47 Samurai, Hunter asks us to believe that 60-year-old Bob Lee Swagger can be trained in one week to defeat six highly accomplished samurai swordsmen at once at their own specialized style of swordsmanship AND that the CIA will call in Navy Seals, Korean special forces, and special forces of the Japanese home defense force for the purpose of destroying a violent entrepreneur whose chief objective is to keep American blondes out of Japanese porno films.

When an important Japanese character character remarks on the cold weather by saying "Yes, it's nippy out," I thought for one brief moment that the story was a parody. No such luck. I can't answer for the allusion to a Mutant Ninja Turtle, so I invoke the curtain of charity.

Please Mr Hunter: more cordite and leathernecks, but hold the sushi.

I loved all the other Swagger books Bob Lee and Earl, but this was just a big let down. I now know more about Japanese sword making and polishing and Samurai legend than I really want. Save yourself the pain and boredom read something else, like Chuck Logan's Vapor Trail, or anything that he has written you will be much happier and better entertained.

It was neat picturing Earl in battle and then seeing it from the eyes of his enemy. Bob Lee's problems with society and alcohol left a bad taste and the whole obsessive Japanese sword thing turned me off. I was left wishing I had read more about Earl and less about Bob Lee. I skimmed the final chapters which were predictable and donated the book to the local library.

I really hate it when a publisher fudges on the credentials of a writer, and I also hate it when people who don't know the first thing about Japan try to set a novel there. Unfortunately, The 47th Samurai suffers from both of these problems.

First, the copy along the top of the book reads, "Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Point of Impact and Hot Springs STEPHEN HUNTER". I think that it's fair to assume that a potential customer looking at the cover could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps Mr. Hunter won his Pulitzer for writing, if not one of the two novels listed, at least SOME novel. But no. He won it for his work as a newspaper film critic - laudable, to be sure, but if I wanted an expert on movies I'd go visit Roger Ebert's website.

As for the Japan stuff, Mr. Hunter has certainly done his homework on swords and samurai movies (of course). He throws so many Japanese sword parts into the text that it could actually serve as a sort of katana primer course. Unfortunately, he also throws in pretty much every silly stereotype that exists about Japan. We get the salaryman reading horrific porn comics on the train, people crossing streets to avoid having to walk directly past the gaijin, yada yada. It wasn't fresh (or particularly true) when Michael Crichton wrote Rising Sun back in 1992, and it's certainly not fresh now. Is it too much to ask that successful novelists, who presumably have the money to spend on research, actually try going to Japan and seeing if there are actual pervs reading bondage comics on the public transportation system, women who will actually cross the street to avoid them and so on? Apparently it is.

And what about the level of English that's spoken by virtually (it seems) everyone in Japan? Okay, fine, you need to have at least one Japanese character speak good English in order to explain difficult points, but come on. A guy serving coffee throws out slang that sounds like he's lived in the States for decades: "I can fire it up in the microwave if you like". Or this bit from a different character:

"Nakago is the rusted steel tang under the hilt. Even it is full of tantalizing communications from the past... It was as if the desecrator was paying homage to his superior... The cutting-edge side is at an acute angle to the bottom end of the shinogi line..."

Even native speakers don't talk like that, and I can tell you that after more than a decade and a half of dealing with Japanese learners of English at all levels, I've never met one who would use the word "desecrator" in a spoken sentence, much less that plus "tantalizing", plus "acute"... and all in the same paragraph. But stuff like this runs throughout.

And that's too bad, because Mr. Hunter has an engaging style and can plot a book pretty well. Sure, there's a little too much in the way of Hemingway envy (check out the photo on the back cover), and he doesn't do the whole honor thing as well as Robert Crais or John D. MacDonald, but still, it's certainly a readable book - at least those aspects that don't relate directly to Japan. I might well pick up another of his books next time, one that's set in the USA. As for this one, if you don't know anything about Japan and don't mind being served up a bunch of stale central-casting leftovers, have at it. You'll probably enjoy yourself.

Have been reading Hunter since Point of Impact....it was gifted to me while in the U.S. Navy by an LRRP Vietnam Veteran who found Hunter's attention to detail and storytelling ability to be vastly above the status quo for this genre, and I agreed.
Hunter knows guns, gun people, and how to write about the who, what, why, where, how and when.
However, when it comes to the Japanese people, culture and specifically, swords and swordsmanship, he just doesn't seem to feel the need to spin a yarn with the same attention to detail, or plausability.
There is no human being on the planet that could start cold, intensively study Japanese Sword Arts for a WEEK and beat the best living swordsman in Japan...and that is just for starters. This book is getting donated to the library.

While much of Hunter's work is superb, and he is a fine writer, 47th Samurai is utterly craptastic, and simply seems to be written for the paycheck.

I've read every Stephen Hunter novel. Probably I read the first three Bob Lee Swagger novels at least five or six times, the way one watches certain old movies: for the comfort of knowing you're going to enjoy them. Loved Dirty White Boys. I was lukewarm about the Pale Horse and Havanna books, but they weren't bad. This one was awful.

I didn't mind having to deal with Bob Lee's aging. I'm 60 myself, and how we age is fascinating. I've learned a lot from writers about how to do it as well as possible. I liked that Hunter brought Earl back into it, and attempted to give us a clearer picture of that war. I even thought it was an interesting plot idea: the two sons of dead soldiers brought together by a missing sword. After that it just fell apart. Like many other reviewers I didn't buy the fast-track martial arts training, the substitution of Japanese terms for real action . . . well, all of that. But Bob Lee himself has been done some violence by his creator. The Bob Lee I thought I knew would not go in for posturing, bragging, self-justification--none of that. He's done a disservice to Bob Lee's wife, as well. Even Nikki (improbably grown up too quickly) doesn't come off the way Bob Lee's daughter ought to.

Unlike some reviewers, I'm not advocating that Hunter retire Bob Lee. I think Hunter's a good enough writer to stay creative. He's done some fine work so far, and he's smart enough to adapt. But this was just plain ill-conceived and sloppy.

The reviews I've read so far about the book following this one convince me that he still isn't doing what he has proven he can do with a story. Will I buy it? Probably. Why? Because I do need to see for myself. Does Hunter actually care, then, when people like me will still spend the money, even though we mourn the fact that he's letting us down? I don't know. His commentary at the end of this novel, suggesting that negative feedback be sent to Hunterdoesn'tcare@aol.com or Hunterwon'trespond@aol.com is just plain arrogant. He speaks about "a morass of mediocrity," but this book contributes to that. It simply isn't worthy of Bob Lee. At some point a writer owes something to his creation. The Bob Lee we all grew to admire in the first three books deserves to be treated with dignity.