First time reading this classic in the Asia series by James Clavell. It took me a very long nine months to really get into the book. I'd start and restart - mostly pausing because of the vast number of characters. A white board is needed to keep track of them all. Over (a long) time however, the story becomes engrossing. Clavell packs a life-time of events into a ten-day period - which is the period of which this book takes place. I've never been to Hong Kong, but this seemed a reasonable description of the mix of Chinese and British cultures (at least in 1963). Good, enjoyable read overall. ( )

Every few years, I pull out my copy of Noble House and sit down for a reread of one of my favorite books. The story takes place during one week in 1963 in Hong Kong when it was still run by the British. It is essentially a Chinese city, and the British living there understand that, while it's also a hub in Asia for other great powers like the United States, Russia, and China.
The main protagonist is Ian Dunross, tai-pan of the Noble House (the commercial side of Struan's). Ian is a descendant of Dirk Struan, the pirate and founder of the Noble House, and there are many references back to the previous books in the Asian Saga. It's probably not necessary to read them to understand this book, but knowing them does lead to better enjoyment here. I like all the Easter eggs for Shogun and stories about the Hag, Dirk, and Tyler Brock.
The central premise of the plot is the American company Par-Con that comes to make a deal with either Struan's or their main rival, Rothwell-Gornt (the descendants of Tyler Brock). Linc Bartlett and his CFO Casey Tcholok are raiders, determined to get into the Asian market with whoever profits them most. Events are hampered by gun-running, fires, kidnappings, drug-running, spies, and more characters than I can name. The action moves quickly and there is a lot packed into every day. I've read this book several times, and I was still on the edge of my seat with all the villains, the plotting and the politics, all mixed in with actual events of the time. There's still resentment and scars from World War II, the US is gradually getting into the Viet Nam war, and spy scandals like Profumo rock Britain. At the center of it all is Hong Kong, the hub of commerce in Asia and a focus of the great powers of the time.
As I stated, there are a lot of characters. Mr. Clavell does a wonderful job of differentiating them by personality and culture. I find that some of the most interesting parts of the story. Women are just getting into the business world though not treated equally, and even less so by cultures. It's a long book and covers so much, but is never boring or slow. I'll pick it up again in a few years, but right now I highly recommend a read. ( )

What a great read. Still remember how I enjoyed reading it and even some of the characters. Here's what I wrote after reading in 1984: "Hong Kong in 1960. One week filled with British, the Chinese, the Americans, and Russians. Millionaires, smugglers, spies, lovers. Who will taipan of Nable House at week's end? Linc? Casey? Duness? Gornt?" The American businesswoman, Casey, was inspirational (not because of how she was but that she was a successful, global traveling, business woman). Turns out that the novel mirrors many real life people, organizations, and occurences (names changed, though). ( )

DNF. Hate to say that about a book, but I'm being realistic. I will never finish this. Just didn't interest me enough. What I did read was decent though, I guess. ( )

Written in 1981 but set in 1963, Noble House is the flip side view of Hong Kong from another novel set in the colony during the late 1950s, The World of Suzie Wong. Whereas Suzie Wong was a sympathetic portrait of cheongsam clad prostitutes desperate to survive in the muck and poverty of Hong Kong, Noble House is a lengthy soap opera detailing cheongsam clad dragon ladies and their wealthy husbands and boyfriends.

This is not meant to disparage Noble House, where once again James Clavell demonstrates his skill and talent at composing a strong narrative that weaves in and out of one side story after another. But it is a soap opera and clearly departs from the historical fiction and autobiographical fiction it is based upon from earlier works--Tai-Pan, Shogun, and King Rat. Those earlier works stand apart from Noble House, I believe, as works of literature, and in the case of King Rat, serious literature.

Noble House, in addition to being good soap opera, is a clear product of its time. Although set in 1963, its tone and emphasis is not too dissimilar from the 1980s' obsessions with wealth, glitter, and fame. As such, the novel seems right at home with the likes of television series such as Dallas, Dynasty, or even Robin Leach's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Clavell was mining gold with this book. It fit right in to its decade, which probably explains why, when Noble House was made into a mini-series, it was updated to the time of its airing, 1988.

Otherwise, the novel is filled with annoying and dislikable characters--again typical of the 1980s' tele-soaps. Linc Bartlett is a beer-sipping amoral sleaze who deserves his fate. The Tai-Pan, the hero of the novel, Ian Dunross, is a ruthless narcissist whose superficial charm leaves him at the end also pictured appropriately--alone, overlooking Hong Kong, and jubilant in his destruction of his foes. And Quillan Gornt, Dunross' nemesis? He is someone who slips from being amoral to immoral, a sexual predator. Casy Tcholok, Dunross' executive vice president, takes her place among the roster of strong, calculating women who fill Clavell's work. But even she disappoints at the end, exiting HK with lots of money but mostly tears and regrets.

About the only sympathetic character is Peter Marlowe, the erstwhile POW from Clavell's earlier novel, King Rat. Marlowe, of course, is based on Clavell himself. Working on a novel about HK, Marlowe notes the attraction and the disgrace that is HK. In fact, the reader cannot help but remember the rat farm at the end of King Rat and how HK itself might be seen as one overpopulated rat farm, with Darwinian rules for survival. The end of the novel, with its devastating mud and landslides only reinforces this feeling. How different from the similar ending of Suzie Wong, where the death and destruction of the mudslides serves to reveal the inherent humanity and perseverance of the people on the other end of the scale of those depicted in Noble House. ( )