Customer Reviews

Ghostwritten

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Few people can successfully balance and interweave so many varied perspectives, but Mitchell does so with grace and beauty. His prose is rich but not overwrought, his characters are fully realized, and his story says something important about an ever shrinking world. This is the kind of book Americans need to read more often to remind them that we are not alone on this planet, and that human dignity and foibles are universal. Check out his other book Number9dream as well.

Very intriguing, very original, very fresh ideas. I was totally taken by surprise by this firstnovelwriter. He seems to be so familiar with so many different realities and , what is stranger, he makes us feel at home in a ger in Mongolia or as a cult-controlled terrorist, or a transmigrating spirit or a guide at the Hermitage... I am looking forward for his next book. I wonder where he will take me.

I'm absolutely jealous that Mitchell can write so well. He has written a book that I will not forget. Each chapter is more or less a short story centering on one character. However, each character seems to be connected in one way or another. Now, critics have said that this novel is very much the same as writings of a famous Japanese writer (a role model, evidently, to Mitchell), however, unless you are a graduate in World lit. or from Japan, I don't think you would know any different.

I originally got this book, years ago, at the library and was bowled over by it.

I decided to re-read it and opted for the Kindle edition. (I don't own a Kindle yet, but use Kindle for Mac and iPod.) It was a good idea. In digital format you can do searches and easily follow up the many cross-connections in the text. And there are tons of these. Ghostwritten is a true reader's book: it begs to be read over and over, to reveal its complexity. In that way it's a lot like a Nabokov (who Mitchell mentions a few times, obviously with deep respect).

I also like the way on Kindle you can make provisional highlights and notes, deleting or editing them as you want. Nice.

But still love to mark up a real book. And the way paper feels and smells. Oh to have it both ways.

David Mitchell's "Ghostwritten" is a dazzling debut by an exciting new writer. "Number 9 Dream" may have garnered alot more attention for its Booker Prize nomination but after leafing through them, "Ghostwritten" seemed the more accessible of the two, so I went for it and wow....what an amazing read it was. I loved nearly every moment of it. Mitchell takes us on a magical mystery tour through major cities and other exotic locations in Asia (Okinawa, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Mongolia) and Europe (St Petersburg, London, Ireland) and uses the short story medium to showcase current phenomena and burning issues of the day, from the horrors of terrorism, nuclear war risks, fraud and corporate greed, to eastern mysticism, political blackmail, and love and infidelity. The individual stories are presented as a series of self contained vignettes which are bound together by a common sensibility running through them. Occasionally, a familiar character may resurface without warning only to vanish just as suddenly. The fleeting reappearance of characters from past episodes makes them feel like passing ghosts in the night. The stories are multi-genreal and though different as chalk and cheese, share a sense of the unexpected. My own personal favourites are the ones set in St Petersburg, Hong Kong and Ireland. Only the last story disappoints. It's bizarre and difficult to follow and a downbeat ending to an otherwise spectacular collage of scenes from our modern age. David Mitchell is such a talented contemporary writer I reckon we will hear alot more from him in the future. For a first effort, "Ghostwritten" is an incredibly mature, assured and imaginative piece of work. One of my best reads this season.

I really liked this book. It was hard to put down for a variety of reasons and it is hard to believe that this was Mitchell's first novel. By the time I reached the middle I was already keen on reading every book this author has and will publish.

What I liked most about this book was that it defied definition. It was easy to read but wasn't a book that you can breeze through passively. You have to pay attention. If you don't you miss out on a lot. This story is shaped ike nine short stories set in various locations around the world. Each location tells the story of one character unrelated to the other characters in the stories, but yet somehow overlapping. It is this overlapping that holds the story together and makes it so fun to read. Two of my favorite were "London" and "Night Train", possibly because I "sensed" more of the author in the words.

Of course this might also be things that turn some readers off, especially those that can't tolerate ambiguity. Ghostwritten doesn't try to be something more than it isn't. It maintains a modest and enduring tone throughout the novel, unveiling here and there little bits and pieces about the overall big picture.

I am impressed by Mitchell's style and vision. This was not an easy book to pull-off. That he did so as his first book inspires me and fills me with awe. The characters were well-crafted. Although he has a large cast of characters, none of them feel canned. All of them were distinct, and you really feel as if they were real characters living the full lives that is told in the stories.

Why has there been so little hype about this amazing book? Where are all the prizes and fanfare? It's just stunning in its evocation of the modern world, and seems to me very prescient about the nature of terrorism; the covert power struggles over use of technology (explored in chapter eight); the individual floundering against unwieldy hegemonic forces and the ever present and affirming power of love.

The title is brilliant and I loved the literal and post modern playful use of the free-ranging consciousness or "ghost" writer to draw us into the theme of human interconnectedness. Some of the plots are very Hollywood pitch and facile, but this playfulness is part of a post modern relationship with readers. The plots are extraordinary and beautifully evoked in Mitchell's easy use of language that mimics, lives and proselytises. Some reviewers have found the 'six degrees' theme rather pointless in the text - the links don't seem to take us anywhere engaging past idle recognition of intersections of fate. I feel that these intersections produce different kinds of meanings to the 'six degrees' theme. To me they draw attention to the timeless themes of human connection and that individualism is greatly flawed as a Western aspiration etc and I think the book is deeply political in its offering of these snapshots of human identity. The chapters add up to an intelligent, heavily freighted and mesmerising tome.
The most exciting thing for me reading the book is that Mitchell respects his readers. I like where he is taking us and can't wait for the next book.

This book is Mitchell's first novel. That said it is cohesive & tightly written. The book is a series of linked first person narratives told by nine characters. The nine characters range from a terrorist cult member (my favorite)to a late night deejay.In between are various nationalities from various stages of life.In short they & we inhabit the global village.All the characters are remarkably rendered & intertwined. Their experiences are unique, yet interrelated. The final chapter brings about a shared fate.It is a challenging work. Obviosly the book is not for every reader. Reviewers compare the author favorably to DeLillo & Murakami. I struggle w/Delillo & love Murakami. I don't see the connection, especially to Murakami, but as reference points in a global literary village the comparisons are helpful. I look forward to his next effort.

I did something with this book that I have never done before. I finished reading the last line of the book, closed it, took a long breath, and opened it right back up again to page one and began rereading. The only difference was for the second reading, I took copious notes to accurately map the story and the layers of people and places which make this book so wonderful. It was the only way to really absorb the minutiae of detail that collectively makes up the whole book.

I imagine many readers were turned off by the intensity and layering of the detail, but I thrived on it. For me, the denser, more intricate the storyline, the happier I am, and I must say this book made me happier than any other book that I have read in some time for that specific reason.

Each chapter is a story unto itself, and yet each story is tied to the others by layers of small detail. It was a stroke of genius on Mitchell's part to structure the book as he did. Chapter ten, the last chapter, detailed Quasar's act of terrorism in the Tokyo underground, but the action actually took place before the opening of chapter one. Quasar, the mentally unbalanced cult follower, experiences in his final moments on the train all the clues to the stories of the lives depicted in the previous chapters. This construction allowed Mitchell to tie together, in just a few paragraphs, all the loose ends that plagued each separate story. Very effective.

I could go one at length about the richness of the layered stories and how one life is unknowingly built on the basis of another, and how Mitchell helps the reader through constructive symbolism to understand the basis of human interaction and interdependence. Bat Segundo (ch. 9) plays Satoru's (ch. 2) tenor sax piece on his radio show, how both Neal Brose (ch. 3) and Roy (ch. 7) make a mess in the kitchen by using two coffee filters in their machines, Quasar (ch. 1) and Mo Muntervary (ch. 8) both describe the world as a sick zoo, and everyone felt the breath on the nape of their necks. It is the clever layering of such detail that propels the story forward, and occasionally backward. The introduction of the noncarpum (ch. 5) seemed initially to be the element to tie the stories, but it wasn't. It was the human interaction that kept the story active, not unlike real life.

I loved the six-degrees-of-separation complexity of this book! It's amazing the ground it covers. And you know you're missing stuff. One of those rare books I'll reread, and was tempted to pick right back up immediately on finishing it.