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The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet (2010)

by David Mitchell(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1400065453 (ISBN13: 9781400065455)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Random House

review 1: We listened to this one on Audible (two excellent readers) while commuting. My wife is a fan of David Mitchell's work, and I enjoyed this lengthy novel. It all takes place around 1800 in a Dutch trading settlement off Nagasaki (mainland Japan is off limits to non-natives). As well as convincingly researched period details, character portraits, history, and a tragic love story (or two), there's the pleasure of the author's poetic (in a good way) prose to savour. I like his boldness, too, and willingness to experiment. My wife described Mitchell as a generous writer, or a writer of generous imagination, and that makes sense to me. Almost all of life is here, and the many and varied characters nicely fleshed out. That generosity, which is to Mitchell's credit, can also be a w... moreeakness, I think. In places (Part One) the plot is rather heavily freighted with detail. The author rarely meets a detour he doesn't want to explore; it's almost as if he's showing off his vivid imagination. For example, we're given a detailed oral account of how almost every Dutch character ended up in Japan. Each one is engaging, but I'm not convinced that we needed them all. After Part One the pacing improves. Another element that felt a little uneven was the point of view. Mitchell shifts around at times (to excellent effect) but mostly the point of view in the first section is Jacob's. Thereafter, however, we part company with Jacob for a long while, following the (more exciting) stories of two Japanese characters. Only to return to Jacob again, by which time you're wondering has the author forgotten him. Another point of view feature that I noticed, though I'm not sure what to make of it. Where a European and a Japanese character are together in a scene, the point of view is typically (invariably?) the former's. A Japanese point of view is reserved for all-Japanese scenes. At least that's how it seemed to me.I feel like I'm quibbling here. The pace of the novel might have been tighter but its rewards are rich: plotting, characterization and setting. As a writer, I particularly admired Mitchell's precise, imaginative use of language.
review 2: This book is about a week long, and that's when I'm not working. Mitchell's writing is dazzling and he's clearly a genius with narrative. Themes deal with power and manipulation and, as Bogey reminded his sweetie, our problems don't amount to a hill of beans in this world -- it's the bigger picture, baby. Orito the midwife tells Jacob this at the end of the book, and it was satisfying to have a realistic ending serving a larger purpose. Hey, man, that's why I read literary fiction and can't get my kicks slummin' in the genres. Anyway, the only quibble I have with Mitchell is that with his sense of authorial democracy -- EVERY character is important and EVERY character has a story to tell -- well, things do get a bit boggy from time to time. But, anyway, the ride is worth all 479 pages because the writing is so damn fine. less

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