About this title: This novel takes place during one week in 1963 Hong Kong--a brief period which encompasses murder, kidnapping, fire, flood, the opium trade, and a brutal power struggle.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780440064565ISBN:0440064562
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 1206 p. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780440064565ISBN:0440064562
Description: Very good. No dust jacket. This is volume 2 only. I have volume 1 listed as well. No rips or tears in book. SMOKEFREE. No writing. 2 volume set. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 1206 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780440064565ISBN:0440064562
Description: Very good. No dust jacket. No rips or tears in book. SMOKEFREE. No writing. The DJ is missing. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 1206 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: [Book club ed.].
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press, New York
Date Published: 1981
Description: Good in fair dust jacket. Signed by previous owner. Nice hard cover, lightly read, some wear/tear/aging to dust jacket, volume 2 only, stk #1153sl8. 2 v. (1141 p. ); 22 cm. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Date Published: 4/1/1981
ISBN-13:9780440064565ISBN:0440064562
Description: Collectible-Acceptable. 1st printing--Ex-library copy with the usual stamps/stickers. TIGHT copy. --Buy with confidence-Satisfaction guaranteed! read more
Edition: Book Club Edition. [Book club ed.].
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte Press, New York
Date Published: 1981
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. DJ has 2 small tears on binding shows medium wear, pages are intact but detached from the binding. 2 v. (1141 p. ); 22 cm. read more
"One of the best books I've ever read. I only dropped a star because of a few rather graphic sex scenes, but honestly, they helped to tell the story. The book is about Hong Kong during the 1960's, a freewheeling, money-grabbing, insane period in that city's history perfectly captured in this book. Tense, thrilling, extremely intricate, with some very bold characters and masterful, fearless storytelling. Clavell deserves to be a lot more famous than he is."
"I loved this book. In fact I have read it twice. I learned more about Hong Kong than I ever knew before. I also learned how businesses were formed and run. It has everything; an exotic location, a love story or two or three, mystery. It held my interest from the front cover to the back cover with no slow spots."
"Noble house has become one of my favorite novels. This historical novel that is part of Clavell's "Asian Saga" contains large quantities of the Seven Deadly Sins, with avarice and lust leading the way. The story is set in mysterious Hong Kong in 1963, with its beautiful women, wealthy men, cultural clashes, and fascinating intrigue. A longtime feud between two of the largest financial houses revolves about Struan's - the Noble House - and its battle for economic survival. The plot is further complicated by the arrival of an interloping American power broker and his voluptuous assistant who plan to use the bad blood for their own financial gain. In the background the disenfranchised Chinese watch with great interest and hope to reap huge profits as the Europeans try to outwit each other.
The story is among its many competitors. It combines a good amount of fiction, legend and big business and produces a great novel. The struggle between the two great houses sets up the conflict that any great piece of fiction requires. The reader is placed into a world that no longer exists - doubly so since Hong Kong has been returned to Chinese control. It is a world where Tai-Pans - heads of large companies battle each other for money, power and survival. This is international gamesmanship at its highest level with no holds barred. Add gunrunning, opium smuggling, political intrigue, natural disasters, and riots, and the story keeps rolling along. Hong Kong itself sets the backdrop for the novel and in the end its Hong Kong the affects the outcome of the struggle. The book is as fast-paced as any I have ever read and reminds me of the sort of Romantic swash-buckling adventures of Dumas and Sabatini.
If you haven't read a James Clavell novel start with this one or Shogun."
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