Black Swan Green
Ratings28
Average rating4
15
Ratings28
Average rating4
'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' Independent Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize 'Gorgeous' Daily Mail 'Uproariously funny' Evening Standard 'Spellbinding' Tatler 'Brilliant' New York Times Book Review 'Luminously beautiful' The Times The Sunday Times bestselling fourth novel from the critically acclaimed author of Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas January, 1982. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor - covert stammerer and reluctant poet - anticipates a stultifying year in his backwater English village. But he hasn't reckoned with bullies, simmering family discord, the Falklands War, a threatened gypsy invasion and those mysterious entities known as girls. Charting thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, this is a captivating novel, wry, painful and vibrant with the stuff of life. PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL 'A thrilling and gifted writer' Financial Times 'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good' Daily Mail 'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius' New York Times Book Review 'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill' Independent on Sunday 'A superb storyteller' The New Yorker
Reviews with the most likes.
A British coming of age story. The protagonist, a stammerer, is harassed by other kids at school because of his stammer. His well-kept secret is that he is a published poet, writing under a pseudonym. He meets many interesting people, while coping with the questionable ethics of the boys at school.
I am surprised that this book appealed to me, but the protagonist is likable, and his experiences are believable.
I don't like books, in general, with male protagonists. I just can't identify with what goes on in their lives. (Female brain/male brain differences provide a clear understanding of this) But this book had me from page one. I read it slowly, over about a month or more, and loved our main character, hated those other awful bullying boys. I know nothing about the growing up years of boys. My own two sons were reticent to talk about anything during their junior high and high school years. I can only hope my sons had help like Madame Eva and a teacher or two. The ending is wonderful.
