Rating: 5 out of 5
In many ways, Tai-pan is one of the most memorable books I have read. This was my third time at it, and I thoroughly enjoyed every part with some chapters not ending up as cringeworthy as my memory had made it. The sentence that I remembered where Aristotle recognises the free will of Dirk Struan remained the same apex as it was in my memory, but this time round I was able to appreciate in much greater detail the skill of the author in crafting his characters.
Who do we have? Dirk Struan, the mighty magnate, undone in despair who yet rises like s phoenix. Culum Struan, a young cad, thrust into a difficult situation that he makes work for himself as best he can. Aristotle Quance, a crafty artist trying to live his life as he likes it. Tyler Brock, crafty and skilled mariner who isn’t quite as lucky as Dirk. May-May, trying to justify the position of Supreme Wife with her actions. And we can go on and on… The glimpses afforded into the minds of the lesser characters, Mary, Horatio, Glessing, all add to the variety of emotions at play in any personal interaction.
The only truly unlikeable character is Gorth Brock, but perhaps even he deserves his place in the sun. After all, we see his emotions, fears, and hopes of supplanting his father, and these make for an understanding of the course of action that we see him undertake. Yet, he is clearly more outward, more pointless in his cruelty than the other people the reader comes across that Gorth becomes the antagonist we want to see fail.
In comparison, the others act. Some act for the same day, others for the next day or the next month or year. The Chinese characters stand out in this by having planned and continuing to plan not for the next year but the next decade and century. The temporal profit that comes their way in doing this is only a minor benefit on the way to their long term goals. Beyond May-May, the reader isn’t really introduced to any of them in great detail and that is perhaps the biggest loss as indeed it’s them who do the real work behind the scenes.
Even Scragger and his kids, as little as they participate in the flow of the story, make for superb characters whose hopes and dreams we can understand very well. And if an author can make a minor character who joins us for a few pages out of many hundreds stand out, what more can we want?
Overall, this remains one of my favourite books of all time.
