Freewheeling Andy Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 I know I've prattled on about Cloud Atlas more than enough on here for you people to imagine that I must have immediately gone and bought the rest of Mitchell's ouevre. But I haven't, I've been reading other stuff. But the other day I found a paperback copy of the new novel, Black Swan Green, in the airport. I've been reading it for the last few days and it's utterly wonderful. Completely different to Cloud Atlas, without the structural pyrotechnics. But the subject matter is different, and it doesn't need to be showy. I just thought it was wonderful, and I'm now at the point where I'm having to seriously restrain myself from pelting down to Waterstones and buying Number9Dream and Ghostwritten tonight. I love his ease with style, I love the way he creates fascinating and grim characters, I love the wry humour that comes from so many lines. I love the fact that huge sweeping themes are so subtlely covered. In Cloud Atlas about loss and death and transience; in Black Swan Green there's the obvious stuff about adolescence, but also again about transience, about prejudice, about failed relationships. Wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Thanks Andy, I'll have to pick this one up when it comes out in normal paperback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Welcome back Philip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted July 26, 2006 Author Share Posted July 26, 2006 Well, I managed to pick up the other two, and will probably read them on my hols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 I thought Cloud Atlas was brilliant, so innovative and cleverly thought out. Listened to Black Swan Green on Book at Bedtime and not as impressed. Will look out for the others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted July 27, 2006 Author Share Posted July 27, 2006 I dind't know Black Swan Green was a Book at Bedtime. I'm not sure anything works very well in that format, condensed down to 5 half hour slots. For one thing, in terms of the structure BSG has to be 13 chapters long. To an extent it only really makes sense that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Never occurred to me, may try again, when I've read the 50 or so that I'm reading before I buy another book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 I'm not sure he knows how to write a bad sentence. Just finished Number9Dream and I'm mostly sad that I've now read all of his books so far. It's magnificent. I think people who said it was really just rehashed Murukami are really desperately underplaying how wonderful it is (that's nothing against Murukami, by the way). So far: 4 novels, all of them spectacularly brilliant, and properly ambitious. Best writer currently writing in English that I can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Glad to hear the recommendation, because I enjoyed Cloud Atlas immensely. I thought some of the less spectacular parts were, well, less than spectacular. But the spectacular parts . . . . woo-eee! I would reread the book for them alone! Also especially glad to hear that he stands on his own with respect to Murakami. Now I can look forward to reading and enjoying both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted December 17, 2006 Author Share Posted December 17, 2006 If your thing is the spectacular, adventurous, really, really pushing it, ambitious stuff, then you'd love both Ghostwritten and Number9Dream, although probably appreciate Black Swan Green less. Anyway, I'm still buzzing after finishing Number9Dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Now it won't take me long at all to get hold of them! I thought Cloud Atlas had the most incredible end-of-the-world scene I have ever read. Ever! I was completely pole-axed and felt like I was staggering around for days after reading it. Could not get it out of my head, so I know what you mean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~V~ Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 looks like i may be visiting the airport bookshop on friday then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Cloud Atlas just moved up in the stacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Cloud Atlas is fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~V~ Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 Cloud Atlas is fantastic it is. but i think we all have our favourite and least favourite characters/sections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 it is. but i think we all have our favourite and least favourite characters/sections Oh yes but it all came together for me at the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyRich Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Another huge fan of Cloud Atlas here too. I got Black Swan Green for Christmas as greatly desired and will read it next - got it in hardback and am going away for a day or two so can't carry it otherwise I would take it with me. (how come it was available in pbk at the airport?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 (how come it was available in pbk at the airport?) Because they always are, its like Duty Free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyRich Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Finally got around to reading Black swan Green and it is an excellent book. You really get to feel for the main character, Jason in the dilemas he faces, both those typical of many a teenager but also those individual to him in his circumstances. For those of us growing up in that era there are so many, 'I remember that!' moments although after a while they get a little bit irritating as he proceeds to mention his Casio again and again rather than his watch. Knowing the area I can tell you he is absolutly accurate in his descriptions of the landscape of Malvern and Worcestershire right down to the presence of a garden centre in the Woolworths in Malvern where rumour has it , in the book, that there is a secret tunnel! Mitchell is excellent in his descriptions and his story telling and even manages to drop in a little reference to one of the character from Cloud Atlas. The book is in a completly different format to Cloud Atlas and is a bit like a boy half relating his story in a narrative form out loud to an audience and half in a journal at the same time. My other thought as I finished it was that it concluded in a most satisfactory way with the main character coming out on top without any huge act of bravado or heroics. Which I appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 I agree completely about that, Tammy. The only thing that dragged about BSG were the slightly clunky 80s references, either to the digital watch, or to the use of "slang". I loved the fact that he drops a couple of references from previous books across his novels - you'd discover at least one link to Ghostwritten in BSG, too. And the cleverness of the structure is another lovely thing - there are 13 almost independent chapters, each set in 13 months in the life of a 13 year old boy, but the themes about desire for acceptance, of redemption, are often kind of similar in each. And yes, the non-heroic end is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsecorset Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 I imagine this thread will evoke various emotions as David is an unconventional writer. I read Number 9 Dream first and although I enjoyed it wasn't quite sure what to make of it, it didn't go the way I thought it would (silly having expectations). Cloud Atlas was next and I loved this one -the narrative was so different and the story so unconventional. I wasn't sure what I thought when I reached the last page but I knew I loved it and I look forward to reading more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 My favourite modern author. Amongst many things I think, he really makes a strong, strong point against much modern British literary fiction. So much of it lacks ambition and scope, and you read Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten and find yourself realising that you can write serious books that aren't just about a posh couple in the 1930s having a problem with romance, or about an author having difficulty writing. There's so many things to say, too. I love the way he uses structure as well as plot, so the nested but interlinked stories in Cloud Atlas, or the multiple narratives in Ghostwritten. Even Black Swan Green works with it, where each chapter is effectively a short story. And there are 13 chapters, each one set in one of 13 consecutive months, in the 13th year of the narrator. Black Swan Green, of course, is not as overtly ambitious, although I loved it, too, because I think Mitchell could write anything and it would be great to read. Number9Dream, from what people I know tell me, is his least popular, perhaps because it is so Japanese, and has a more obvious debt to Murukami. But I find it very exciting and sufficiently innovative to still dwarf most modern British fiction. Anyway, I absolutely love David Mitchell's books (and get a bit depressed when I hear that David Mitchell is on TV or Radio and find it's the bloke from Mitchell & Webb). I love that he's genuinely ambitious. I love that he's completely capable of so many styles, from Riddly Walker style post-apocalypse to sedate Worcestershire 13 year old to Murukami derived Japanese fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 This is an author I am interested in trying out. To those of you who have read his books (particularly you, Andy...you seem like a big fan!), with which book should I start? What do you suggest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 I guess it depends on your tastes. I started with Cloud Atlas and think it's magnificent, and is possibly the place to begin. If you're more of a fan of conventional linear fiction, start with Black Swan Green, which is great but much less challenging in terms of the structure. You might think you need to start at the beginning because, as people will tell you, characters appear appear from book to book. But they only fleetingly cross-exist, so it's not actually a problem, it's just another playful entertainment that you get from reading, to discover that Mme Crommelynk crops up in two different books, say. If it were up to me, I'd say read them in this order: Cloud Atlas Number9Dream Black Swan Green Ghostwritten Because I think Cloud Atlas is the best, and you should separate it a bit from Ghostwritten as they have similarities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Thanks, Andy! I'll probably either start with Cloud Atlas or Black Swan Green, depending on my reading mood at the time. Sometimes I really want something unusual (I just read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...I've had my fill of LSD hallucinations for awhile...), and sometimes I want something that's easier to get into. I'll pop by my used bookstore to see if they have copies of both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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