marcusgipps (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} marcusgipps) wrote,@ 2006-01-20 20:12:00 |
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Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell
Lots to catch up on, so I'm going to blast through these fairly quickly.
No sign of the UK cover for this yet, and the American one isn't very good, so I'm not going to bother.
I really like David Mitchell. I even went into a bookies and placed the only bet I've ever placed on Cloud Atlas to win the Booker. It didn't win, of course, but I still think it is one of the best books of the past few years. Hugely ambitious, quite unlike anything else, and genre-hopping to a quite staggering degree. The only problem is that it is a little like his other two novels - a collection of linked short stories, effectively. That isn't to say that his writing hadn't advanced, because Cloud Atlas was a huge step forward, but I just felt that he needed to do something entirely different, or risk becoming a one-note writer. That seems hugely unfair, because his novels prove that he can write a variety of styles and voices, but I just wanted something new. Black Swan Green, thankfully, is that.
Mitchell has moved away from the (often tenuously) linked story format, and has tightened his focus to one person, in one town, in one year. If you've read any of his novels, you'll realise how much of a departure that is. In fairness the book is still divided into short-story length chapters, each of which could just about stand on their own, but as a whole the book actually feels like a 'proper' novel. Set in a small village in England during the eighties, we follow Jason Taylor, a thirteen year old boy with a stammer and a sense of awareness of his social standing that is quite astoundingly precise and, therefore, rather saddening. He hasn't a happy boy - he doesn't have many friends, his stutter means he gets picked on at school, and he is very aware that if anyone ever finds out that he writes poetry, things will only get worse. Plus there are the perennial problems of girls, parents and sibling.
In a funny way, the book that I was reminded most of was The Rotter's Club, by Jonathan Coe. That was set in the seventies, but the concept was the same - life at the time through the eyes of a boy just beginning to mature, with a healthy smattering of iconic references and real life events. Where Mitchell succeeds most of all is, like The Rotter's Club, in his characterisation of Jason (and, to a lesser extent, in the other people of the village. For the first time he has decided to stay with a single character throughout a novel - although we do get healthy backstories for many of the other residents of Black Swan Green - and the result is a person we know intimately. We follow Jason as he grows and changes, and it is a very believable process. The ending is almost a happy one, albeit tinged with sadness as Jason's parents get divorced and a new part of his life begins.
I wanted to spend more time in the village of Black Swan Green. I want to know more about Jason, and many of the other residents. If the book has a failing, it is in the occasional moment where something or someone interesting is introduced and then not followed up (although that is also part of the charm of the book - the sense that lives are going on all around our protagonist). The last line of the book is "'That's because it's not the end'" - I don't know if Mitchell is hinting at the possibility of a sequel, but I hope so. I am sure, however, that this book is going to make a huge difference to his profile. Far more accessible than anything else he has written, I'm sure it will be nominated for many many prizes (and almost certainly will be a Richard & Judy book). I think it might be time for another Booker bet....
I read this at home, work and on the train, 18/12/05 to 23/12/05. I read a proof copy - the book is published in Hardback in May, ISBN: 0340822791.
Lots to catch up on, so I'm going to blast through these fairly quickly.
No sign of the UK cover for this yet, and the American one isn't very good, so I'm not going to bother.
I really like David Mitchell. I even went into a bookies and placed the only bet I've ever placed on Cloud Atlas to win the Booker. It didn't win, of course, but I still think it is one of the best books of the past few years. Hugely ambitious, quite unlike anything else, and genre-hopping to a quite staggering degree. The only problem is that it is a little like his other two novels - a collection of linked short stories, effectively. That isn't to say that his writing hadn't advanced, because Cloud Atlas was a huge step forward, but I just felt that he needed to do something entirely different, or risk becoming a one-note writer. That seems hugely unfair, because his novels prove that he can write a variety of styles and voices, but I just wanted something new. Black Swan Green, thankfully, is that.
Mitchell has moved away from the (often tenuously) linked story format, and has tightened his focus to one person, in one town, in one year. If you've read any of his novels, you'll realise how much of a departure that is. In fairness the book is still divided into short-story length chapters, each of which could just about stand on their own, but as a whole the book actually feels like a 'proper' novel. Set in a small village in England during the eighties, we follow Jason Taylor, a thirteen year old boy with a stammer and a sense of awareness of his social standing that is quite astoundingly precise and, therefore, rather saddening. He hasn't a happy boy - he doesn't have many friends, his stutter means he gets picked on at school, and he is very aware that if anyone ever finds out that he writes poetry, things will only get worse. Plus there are the perennial problems of girls, parents and sibling.
In a funny way, the book that I was reminded most of was The Rotter's Club, by Jonathan Coe. That was set in the seventies, but the concept was the same - life at the time through the eyes of a boy just beginning to mature, with a healthy smattering of iconic references and real life events. Where Mitchell succeeds most of all is, like The Rotter's Club, in his characterisation of Jason (and, to a lesser extent, in the other people of the village. For the first time he has decided to stay with a single character throughout a novel - although we do get healthy backstories for many of the other residents of Black Swan Green - and the result is a person we know intimately. We follow Jason as he grows and changes, and it is a very believable process. The ending is almost a happy one, albeit tinged with sadness as Jason's parents get divorced and a new part of his life begins.
I wanted to spend more time in the village of Black Swan Green. I want to know more about Jason, and many of the other residents. If the book has a failing, it is in the occasional moment where something or someone interesting is introduced and then not followed up (although that is also part of the charm of the book - the sense that lives are going on all around our protagonist). The last line of the book is "'That's because it's not the end'" - I don't know if Mitchell is hinting at the possibility of a sequel, but I hope so. I am sure, however, that this book is going to make a huge difference to his profile. Far more accessible than anything else he has written, I'm sure it will be nominated for many many prizes (and almost certainly will be a Richard & Judy book). I think it might be time for another Booker bet....
I read this at home, work and on the train, 18/12/05 to 23/12/05. I read a proof copy - the book is published in Hardback in May, ISBN: 0340822791.
