Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsSome edits to the original text may annoy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024
I first read this book the year it came out, as I borrowed a copy from a friend while on holiday. I was moved to buy a copy partly because I heard of the new TV series, but also when flipping through some old photo albums I found photographs from that holiday. The coincidences made me buy a copy as although I’d remembered buying my own copy, after all it’s nearly half a century ago, and I couldn’t find it.
This book came through the post nicely packaged, delivered quickly and in prime condition, and so no complaints about the bookseller. It was when I came to read it that my disappointment started. That disappointment stems from several things, firstly because the margins are so small that it isn’t possible to open the book fully without breaking the spine and it’s particularly noticeable when reading the early and later chapters.
However, the major disappointment came when I started to discover American spellings in the work. They began to come around the middle of the book, being particularly noticeable around ‘Book 5’ (the work is divided into 6 ‘books’), but petering off in ‘Book 6’. Also in ‘Book 5’ one sentence is complete gibberish.
I can’t imagine that a British author would have used American spellings in the early 1970s, so it is obvious that the original text has been worked on by somebody, most probably to get it from the original version into an electronic version, and that somebody has done some editing. Whether or not the gibberish sentence represents a significant loss of text I cannot tell.
Now if Clavell was an American author, or if this was an edition targeted at Americans, or even (perhaps) if the American spellings were used throughout, then I might be more forgiving. As it stands, however, it shows a lack of caring attention at the publishing house.
As an aside, I was looking for certain passages that I remembered, but either my memory is faulty (quite possible) or some editing has been done.
I don’t think this edition of this book will go on my most favoured bookshelf, and instead, I will seek out an original. (The story is terrific!)