Book Review: Black Swan Green

#8 - Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Now this book has a weird history for me. Its not every day you read a book that was given to you by a girl you went home with after meeting randomly one night in a bar, so that near constant reminder adds a fun little twist to this book. Of course, given the fact that this is written by the (thee) David Mitchell, a man whom I am quickly becoming a borderline fan boy of after reading this and his superb Cloud Atlas, it does not need anything extra to make it instantly memorable.

While Cloud Atlas is regarded more highly I believe, this book works far greater for myself as a reader. It's a fairly straightforward tale of thirteen year old Jason Taylor, a kid from Worcestshire, England who is going through things that every kid goes through: dealing with bullies, arguing parents, growing interest in the opposite sex, and figuring out who you are as a person. The universality of the tale really works for it, as it makes every page remarkably interesting even given the fact for the most part the happenings are entirely unremarkable.

The greatest tool Mitchell has going for himself in this book is a sharply drawn and wholly believable narrator in young Taylor. If asked, I would be unsurprised if Mitchell put a lot of himself into the character. The young poet who is ashamed of his writing ("poetry is, y'know, kind of gay"), the outcast with aspirations, perhaps even the frustrated boy with the speech impediment. Who knows (Mitchell, natch) but ultimately all that matters is that the character is rich with emotion and truth behind everything he says.

As I shared in my previous review of Cloud Atlas, I am completely in love with Mitchell's grasp of the English language. He can turn a phrase like nobody's business and while the book itself is entertaining, the mere fact that he writes with such beauty and truth behind his words that it makes the whole venture a joyful one. It worked even greater in this novel, as Mitchell was able to focus on one narrative and not having to worry about tying 7 disparate ones together in the end. Every character feels entirely dynamic (and there are a lot of them) and the village of Black Swan Green reads as a place that everyone has been, but with a different name. It all ties back to one word I've said a few times in this review already: truth. The book reads like a retelling of the life experiences of a charming young man in rural England, and it is all the better for it.

Extra points to Mitchell for bringing Eva van Crommelynck back into this story after she appeared in Cloud Atlas, as it not only worked in giving the protagonist a person to be true with, but it also added further depth and intrigue to my favorite section of Cloud Atlas.

Black Swan Green: A

Cloud Atlas

#7 - Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

This has to be one of the most difficult books to review ever. It's pretty bizarre and is really six stories tied into one (a historical record of a man traveling home from Australia by ship, a seedy story told in letter form of a musician greedily becoming the apprentice to a master, a mystery set in 1970's California about a reporter and a morally depraved fortune 500 company, a psychological comedy about an aging book editor set in the future, a dystopian future in the vein of Blade Runner about a clone that becomes sentient, and a post-apocalyptic study of a primitive future), with each story existing in different times, being massively different genres, and incorporating incredibly disparate writing styles. Really, it's like six entirely different books weaved together by a common theme and one curious birth mark.

Honestly though, while the storylines are all very interesting and the theme becomes clearer and clearer throughout (essentially that if people cannot survive each other, how is the world supposed to survive - or as Mitchell says at the end in response to a characters father saying that his son's life is nothing but a drop in a limitless ocean, "yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"), it really is the language Mitchell uses that makes this book so special. The way Mitchell segues from era to era and adopts the syntax of that time, the way he genre jumps so effortlessly, it's just an unbelievable feat. There would be times I would be reading and immediately want to share even the most simple lines with people around me.

Example: "To the simple man, potato peels are haute cuisine."

That line is freaking fantastic. It is said by an editor referencing his acquisition of some trashy novels while stuck in a retirement home. The book is just full of gems like this, and they are what drives the book onwards.

The stories are written so the first half of the first five stories are told, with the sixth story told to completion, and then the latter half ot the first five stories, and the structure is as superb as the lingo. It's told in a way to keep driving you forward, as you not only want to get further in the current section of the story, but you want to get to the next half of the story you were just on. It is occasionally maddening though, because you'll get to the end of a section and become quite annoyed at the fact the book is temporarily robbing you of the completion of the story.

Really, I've tried to explain it a number of times before, but it really is an impossible book to sell. I can just say that it was one of the most unique books I've ever read, and linguistically speaking it has to be the best book I've ever come across. While it was hard to get this book finished (3 months!!!), it was worth all of the work I put in.

Check it out if you have the chance, regardless of my abstract and less than fantastic review.

Cloud Atlas: A-