Right. Where to begin on this book? I will start with a general recommendation - if you havent read a David Mitchell book yet, go find one and read it. The man is a genius. The fact that there are seminars held to discuss his writing does not surprise me. This book is a love story. A historical fiction. A thriller. All combined together with the slightest undercurrent of something mystical. He takes you into the early 18th Century, in Japan, in a trading post of the Dutch, and it is all utterly believable and totally surreal. What I love most about his writing is that in the middle of his stories (and there are many combined and interwoven) he throws in some beautiful, almost off hand, observations that really stick with you. For example, Orito pictures the human mind as a loom that weaves disparate threads of belief, memory and narrative into an entity whose common name is Self, and which sometimes calls itself Perception. This book takes a while to read, but it is worth the time. Savour every moment, it ends too soon.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:57:17 +0000