TWIB-III 4: 11/3-11/9
Nov. 11th, 2008 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanAnnnnd now we're back on schedule.
1) Inventing Japan – Ian Buruma
Man, I’ve read a string of turkeys these past few weeks. Although Buruma’s apparently had decades of experience as a writer, the fact that he couldn’t be bothered to alphabetize his glossary (itself highly inadequate) speaks volumes about his authorial “skills,” to say nothing of the poorly-worded sentences which abound throughout the book. Likewise, he seems to understand precious little about Japan for all the years he's spent in the country; judging by the books mentioned in Inventing Japan’s jumble of a Works Consulted appendix, I doubt he even speaks the language.
I’m not sure to whom I would recommend this book: serious students of Japanese history and culture will find its tone juvenile and its treatment of its subject shallow (if not inaccurate), and this, along with its frequent chronological jumps, and brusque or non-existent explanations of individuals, customs, and historical trends, will render it overly confusing to the lay reader. Readers with an interest in modern Japanese history would be better off looking to other volumes for enlightenment concerning the subject.
That will be all.
1) Inventing Japan – Ian Buruma
Man, I’ve read a string of turkeys these past few weeks. Although Buruma’s apparently had decades of experience as a writer, the fact that he couldn’t be bothered to alphabetize his glossary (itself highly inadequate) speaks volumes about his authorial “skills,” to say nothing of the poorly-worded sentences which abound throughout the book. Likewise, he seems to understand precious little about Japan for all the years he's spent in the country; judging by the books mentioned in Inventing Japan’s jumble of a Works Consulted appendix, I doubt he even speaks the language.
I’m not sure to whom I would recommend this book: serious students of Japanese history and culture will find its tone juvenile and its treatment of its subject shallow (if not inaccurate), and this, along with its frequent chronological jumps, and brusque or non-existent explanations of individuals, customs, and historical trends, will render it overly confusing to the lay reader. Readers with an interest in modern Japanese history would be better off looking to other volumes for enlightenment concerning the subject.
That will be all.