Freewheeling Andy Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Ghostwritten was David Mitchell's first novel, and showcases how he came to write wonderful books like Cloud Atlas. It is, like Cloud Atlas, a collection of apparently separated tales, although these ones run concurrently and eventually combined in the end in a most spectacular way. From Tokyo to Leningrad to London to New York, through Hong Kong and Mongolia, it's a spectacularly brave book. Arguably it's over-ambitious, but it's all the more wonderful for trying to achieve as much as it does. The basis is people, but there are real ghosts, and virtual ghosts, there are terrorists and wars, there's a feeling of apocalypse that appears at times and then disappears with the banality of normal peoples' lives. Mitchell plays around with his characters, and you'll find people from Ghostwritten cropping up in the later books. In Ghostwritten there's much more of the Japanese influence than there is later, as he uses a lot of Zen and Buddhist imagery. But also there's a stronger link to Murukami, as a lot of the incidental background is food and music. Sometimes the book is a little too showy, it's a bit too much of a first novel, where Mitchell feels he needs to prove himself. But it's a great first novel. Wonderful to read, all the little vignettes are great on their own, but even better as they merge. A really, really good book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Stein Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Yes Andy, I agree that this is (almost) up there with Cloud Atlas. Tell me (sorry if you've already mentioned this on the site), what did you make of number9dream? For me it's the weakest of his first three, too jumpy and contrived, even though jumpy and contrived is something he usually does so well. I haven't read Black Swan Green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted September 13, 2006 Author Share Posted September 13, 2006 Number9Dream is the one of his that I haven't read. It's in the pile by the bed at the moment. I've heard widely varying reviews, though. Black Swan Green is unlike Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas, and is much more a conventional novel, but is no less wonderful for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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