It's either Ghostwritten or Cloud Atlas to me but my heart is going with Ghostwritten. Strangely, I'd put Black Swan Green in second place regardless of which of the aforementioned two I went for.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 September 2012 11:33 (twelve years ago) link
Ashamed to say Jacob de Zoet is the only one I've read (am reading), but it is a beautifully constructed book. I look forward to the poll telling me what to read next.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Friday, 7 September 2012 11:33 (twelve years ago) link
Alfred is correct re: Chinese sections of Ghostwritten, esp. the woman and the talking tree, wow.
Number9Dream is the one I was most uh 'moved' by, and has the best ending, but the Yakuza stuff put me off.
I like JDZ followed by Black Swan Green and I'm ashamed to say so but if Mitchell wrote a few more lazy reads like BSG I'd have some very happy train rides
― nedless summer (Ówen P.), Friday, 7 September 2012 11:56 (twelve years ago) link
OTM. Black Swan Green is brilliant but underrated just because it doesn't have the usual narrative fireworks. Got put off JDZ by the title - it sounds like a bitchy parody of a literary novel that you'd find in an actual literary novel - but I'm sure that's dumb of me.
He's such a gifted ventriloquist that I kind of want him to do a Chabon and knock off some fun genre excursions. I felt guilty about how much I loved the pastiche 70s thriller story in Cloud Atlas. Two of the strands in that novel were a real slog though - Ghostwritten sustains the multi-story idea much more satisfyingly.
― Get wolves (DL), Friday, 7 September 2012 12:38 (twelve years ago) link
ghostwritten > cloud atlas > black swan green > number9dream > jacob de zoet
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 September 2012 14:20 (twelve years ago) link
Black Swan Green, but clearly I need to read Ghostwritten based on everyone's responses. BSG shouldn't be as great as it is. I mean it's a straight-up coming of age story ffs, but it took over my headspace much more thoroughly than JDZ or Cloud Atlas. In that sense it might be the lack of "narrative fireworks" that makes it so good.
― rob, Friday, 7 September 2012 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
Ghostwritten was the first one i read and is still probably my favorite, but i feel like i should vote for Jacob de Zoet because i think he's getting better and better as a writer. as if he were reading this thread and needed encouragement...i mean, i wouldn't want to give him the idea that it was all downhill after book #1.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 7 September 2012 15:20 (twelve years ago) link
ha ha. i like all of his books. i don't think he's going downhill. i do worry he's straining too much for respectability by writing a straight historical novel after an almost-straight coming-of-age novel, but he's still an amazing writer no matter what. i'd just like him to get weird again.
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 September 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
jacob de zoet is pretty weird
― mizzell, Friday, 7 September 2012 15:28 (twelve years ago) link
Number9dream is the only one I found obtuse and haven't finished.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 September 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
No way is Jacob De Zoet a straight historical, I kind of read it as a cinematic pastiche actually. Of all his books it'd make the best film. Actually, Black Swan Green would be pretty good in the right director's hands.
Number9dream has the fucking Goatwriter section in the middle which is more annoying than any Yakuza subplot.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 September 2012 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
I kind of read it as a cinematic pastiche actually
yes, totally
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 7 September 2012 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
i thought ghostwritten was pretty terrible -- not terribly written, but a bit lazily plotted. I enjoyed much of it until the 'reveal' toward the end which seemed like a straight PKD rip?I don't know, should I make time for any of this guy's other books?
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
you thought it was "pretty terrible" but "enjoyed much of it"?
― Number None, Friday, 7 September 2012 16:21 (twelve years ago) link
in much the way you can enjoy a plate of food until you discover a big ugly worm in it.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
let me rephrase that i guess -- overall i thought the book failed. some of the individual vignettes were fine and i remember being engaged by them.
The last section is definitely the weakest part but I supposed I enjoyed the ride as a collection of short stories as much as anything.
The others are a lot more cohesive.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 September 2012 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
what's the "reveal" in gw?
― max, Friday, 7 September 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
the reveal that it's a sci-fi novel masquerading as realism?
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
spoiler
The cult leader who seems to be a fraud in the first chapter inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events that results in his apocalypse predictions coming true; comet strikes earth, scene.
― nedless summer (Ówen P.), Friday, 7 September 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
looking at wiki i don't reven remember the 'noncorpum' bit but that's cuz i read this five years ago and i was probably drunk at the time.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 16:58 (twelve years ago) link
i was gonna say, it was already past realism with all the noncorpum stuff. that said i had no idea what to expect when i first read GW and was pretty much overjoyed when skynet showed up.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:05 (twelve years ago) link
maybe i should re-read it just to experience my disappointment all over again and properly articulate it, with examples.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link
second thought... nah.
ian i think you would enjoy his most recent two books.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
really?what makes you think that? i mostly read quick n easy detective novels these days.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
(not trying to be a dick, just curious -- i am open to ideas cuz i love to read, i read a lot, but i think a lot of ppl who read 'srs literature is srs' type stuff would think my tastes are pedestrian or perhaps, shudder, lowbrow.)
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
Dunno though, I don't really think of David Mitchell as 'srs literature is srs' writer, more a guy who likes playing around with genre fiction. Black Swan Green is a classic child-coming-to-terms-with-the-world narrative with some weird magical bits in the middle. Jacob De Zoet is just a great adventure story.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 September 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
black swan green is quick & easy but also really evocative, i've recommended it to a few hs english teacher friends (and one buddy of mine always uses it in his college freshman writing class).
jacob de zoet is really fun without the big narrative tricks of ghostwritten or cloud atlas. i can't think of anyone else writing today whose books are as pleasurable to read, but i never get the sense that mitchell is pandering to the reader or sacrificing depth.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
okay, maybe i will check out jacob de zoet -- i will surely be able to find a used copy soon enough.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
Didn't really enjoy JdZ as much as I was hoping to - found it slightly toiling, tho there are good set pieces. I'm probably going to vote Black Swan Green, but enjoyed Cloud Atlas very much as well.
― Fizzles, Friday, 7 September 2012 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
cmon man dont come on my board and insult one of my favorite books that you read while drunk
― max, Friday, 7 September 2012 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
max,lighten up. and like better-constructed books.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 7 September 2012 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
He hasn't topped Ghostwritten (though I haven't read Thousand Autumns...).
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 13:55 (twelve years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 13 September 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
too bad about Black Swan Green, but it seems like it was almost everyone's #2. otherwise i feel good about this.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 14 September 2012 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
reading De Zoet now and while I enjoy it I um miss the narrative tricks tbh
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 September 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
they might not be back for a while
Mitchell's sixth novel, as yet untitled, will be about a young girl growing up in an Irish family
― Number None, Friday, 14 September 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
It compensates with a strong narrative and a perfect simulation of 18th century and 19th century bureaucratic prose.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 14 September 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
also ninjas
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 14 September 2012 16:54 (twelve years ago) link
sort of
in that Paris Review interview he talked about a book that switches between 1980 and 2040, but i guess that was awhile ago.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 14 September 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
think the thing about Mitchell that some people miss (although it's usually people who haven't read him) is the sense of play in his work. The reason he messes around with the multiple storylines etc is simply because it's fun. The guy is basically a bit of a geek. Hell, his books even have a comic book style shared universe
― Number None, Friday, 14 September 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
the shared universe angle seems like it could get a bit restricting ("oop better put in a comet birthmark reference here!")
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 September 2012 16:59 (twelve years ago) link
but then other writers (Moorcock lol) have done amazingly well with it so maybe not
this guy is insanely good at pastiche, seems to really be his forte
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 14 September 2012 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
think there's only one pretty obscure reference in Jacob De Zoet
― Number None, Friday, 14 September 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
i thought i read somewhere that the next two books were going to be semi-sequels to JDZ that expanded the story and took it back in a sci-fi direction
― max, Friday, 14 September 2012 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
i do remember hearing that ages ago but this seems to be the most up to date info. I'm excited to read him writing about Ireland tho
― Number None, Friday, 14 September 2012 17:15 (twelve years ago) link
finished De Zoet. pretty good - altho the deus ex machina bit with Penhaligon was irritating, among other minor narrative missteps.
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 20:48 (twelve years ago) link