The Bone Clocks

This requires patience - it's in the vein of the other Mitchell I've read, which means it's really a single short story seeded among a group of other short stories. This frustrates me sometimes because I'll want to know what happens next in the psychosoteric war, but I'll run up against the introduction of a new story that pauses the overarching plot for a good long while. Each story is perfectly lovely and interesting, with plenty of great turns of phrase, but they can take their time meandering back to the main theme.

Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.

I think most of David Mitchell's books are similar in that they are quite confusing and you really need to read them more than once to fully understand what is going on. Fortunately The Bone Clocks is not as confusing as his other books, though I do feel like I need to give this another read before I can properly comment on it.

It just wasn't as good as I had expected. Now this could be down to the fact that it simply isn't as good as his other books. Or it could be the fact that I've waited so long to read this book that in my head I've built it up to be some amazing work of fiction. Or maybe like I already said, it could be that I need to read it again to fully understand all the foreshadowing and everything else that's going on. Either way it just wasn't as good as I though it would be.

But that's not to say it wasn't good, its just not 5 stars. Because I did enjoy it. The first chapter is a wonderful introduction to out protagonist. You really feel like you're in the 80s in south England with her, going on her adventure. The fifth chapter was a fantastic mix of science-fiction and fantasy. Exactly what I've come to expect from David Mitchell. The final chapter was heartbreaking and nearly made me put the book down.

I also really liked the fact that the basis for this book is very similar to Cloud Atlas, both are about souls and reincarnation. However David Mitchell has managed to create two entirely different books that are both based on the same idea. Another little thing, and this is not unique to The Bone Clocks but David Mitchell has a habit of inserting characters from his other books. It's really just a fun little nod to his other works and doesn't detract from the overall story if you don't get the references.

Basically even though it didn't live up to my expectations, it was still a good book.

The wait is over. David Mitchell is back! Please don't let me spoil it for you, however — I try to be as vague as I can in all that I do but sometimes it's just not enough. Consider this a friendly warning from your friendly neighborhood Anchorite.

Let's start with where I stand. I've read Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and while I respect the two earlier works, it is the last mentioned that ticked all the right boxes for me.

My expectations were, naturally, very high. And, now that I've listened to and read the whole thing, I can attest that for me it's a mixed bag. Closer to Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas than The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, on one hand it's an exuberant and hyperactive narrative ride, a flamboyant explosion of modern cultural reference, a tapestry of metaphysical mystery and larger-than-life climax; on the other, I feel it never achieves the level of the strong gravitational pull The Thousand Autumns has in terms of characterization and actual, pulsating human drama — all this despite the book being actually two books, a story of Holly Sykes' life told from different angles, the extraordinary in the ordinary, and a fantasy novel with a metaphysical war raging behind the scenes, the ordinary in the extraordinary.

What the book turns out to be is an incalculable tease for the first 400 pages, where the fantasy plot, which does take precedence in ”An Horologist's Labyrinth,” is merely referred to and glimpsed at once in every fifty pages or so, just enough to make me remember it's there in the periphery, and wondering why it is. I assume Mitchell's goals might be elsewhere this time, but I found The Thousand Autumns to be perfectly woven, deeply identifiable story, an intimate portrait, also full of mystery, whereas The Bone Clocks and its apparent siblings are harder to care for, rather inviting from me detached admiration.

Where I found the first four parts hard to get into, but it's the aforementioned fifth part that's such a high-intensity display of literary fireworks that it was addictive, finally shifting gear and pushing for the exposition only vaguely hinted at so far.

I wrote of The Thousand Autumns how ”it's a joy to see a contemporary writer most certainly not only improving but showcasing such understanding of narrative and language that his work becomes transcendental in how it transports and rewards.” While it will always take time for first impressions to fully sink in, it feels like I'm going to reserve for The Bone Clocks detached admiration: not that it isn't complex, not that there aren't remarkably beautifully written passages (The Ásbyrgi episodes are bliss, as well as the Koskov backstory), but I just felt like an outsider gazing in, most of the time. Perhaps you'll be able to enjoy it more.

24 October,
2014

4.5 out of 5 stars – see this review and others here.

This has been sitting on my TBR shelf for quite some time. I had it in my head that it was a generic time-travel novel, but I was pleasantly surprised to find David Mitchell's signature interwoven narratives, beautiful prose, and a time-travel undercurrent that slowly unraveled as the book came to a head.

David Mitchell's use of language to immerse the reader in a setting is unlike any other author I've read. He deftly moves between genres, narrators, and time periods, while always presenting something that feels simultaneously literary and engrossing. The sextet story structure would translate extremely well to a 6-episode limited television series on Netflix or HBO.

The plot moves forward at such a slow pace, but then the conclusion in the penultimate chapter ends up feeling rushed and gratuitous. Fortunately, Mitchell brings the novel to an end in a quiet, satisfying way that is both hopeful and bittersweet.

★★★★½ out of 5

Other David Mitchell ratings:
Cloud Atlas (2004) – 5 stars
The Bone Clocks (2014) – 4.5 stars
Black Swan Green (2006) – 4 stars
Ghostwritten (1999) – 3 stars
Slade House (2015) – 2 stars

I am so glad many say this is not Mitchell's best as I think it was a great read and I am looking forward to his others. Mitchell is a superior writer, and I am very comfortable with the Novella format so I was not put off by the format. In fact it helped in the reading of the whole as, judging by this book, Mitchell is great at building and defining characters, and maybe a bit less so at the “esoteric” action sections. I loved many of the characters, Crispin's boorishness, and I swear I shared a house in Oxford with a young Hugo Lamb. Even the last chapter which, halfway through, I thought was totally surplus to requirements, ended up being just perfect.

Much like everything I have read so far by David Mitchell, I loved this.

The last part of the book, “Sheep's Head, 2043”, is one of the darkest, bleakest, and yet most plausible descriptions of a post-oil post-civilization near-future I have ever read, and its ending is surprisingly emotional - I suppose because by then we have spent over 600 pages and 60 years with Holly Sykes, from teenage runaway in Kent in 1982 to grandmother in a dystopian Ireland in 2043, via many other parts of the world (or should I say “worlds” - this is a fantasy novel in many parts).

Ik dacht: ik ga eens iets uit de hitparade lezen. The Bone Clocks stond in allerlei boekentoptiens over de hele wereld, en meer had ik niet nodig. Geen korte inhoud gelezen, geen reviews, gewoon kopen, open doen en lezen.

Het begint met een verhaal van Holly Sykes, een meisje dat wegloopt van huis, in 1984. 't Is al direct prijs, want zij is zowat even oud als mij, wat het allemaal veel dichter bracht dan ik gedacht had. Niet dat ik meegemaakt heb wat zij meemaakt, maar het had toch net iets meer een zekere “het had mij kunnen zijn” dan anders.

Shenanigans ensue, met vreemde personages die opduiken en vreemde dingen zeggen en doen — en hey! het is niet zomaar een fictieboek, het is zowaar iets met fantasy-achtige aspecten, of magie, of in alle geval iets anders dan realisme.

Einde van het 1984-verhaal, en we zitten in een heel andere context, een paar jaar later: Cambridge-rijkeluiszoontjes waaronder één particullier vicieus ventje. Holly komt terug, als dienster in een ski-resort. Leest als een trein, en heeft eigenlijk pas helemaal op het einde weer iets met dat fantasy-achtige te maken.

Weer flash forward naar 2004, Holly is getrouwd met oorlogsjournalist Ed Brubeck. Ze zijn op een huwelijksfeest, en gedoe over hoe Brubeck zou moeten kiezen tussen gezin en werk, en hoe hij niet kan vertellen wat hem overkomt in het buitenland. Ik vond het derde deel opnieuw erg goed geschreven, erg relateerbaar, en de fantasy komt er iéts vroeger dan het einde ter sprake, maar het las nog altijd als twee soorten boek, min of meer op elkaar geplakt.

Het gaat dan nog naar 2015, waar een schrijver-karakter op de proppen komt, en hoe verder in het boek, hoe meer de twee kanten van het verhaal in elkaar haken, hoe duidelijker alles dat onduidelijk was wordt, en hoe meer fantasy het wordt. Het boek zou kunnen opgehouden zijn met een groot gevecht en apotheose in 2025, maar er komt een zeer uitgebreid soort coda in 2048 bij. Dat het hele verhaal een beetje op losse schroeven zet, maar tegelijkertijd ook niet echt.

Ik weet het niet goed, eigenlijk. Ik heb het boek op twee nachten en een paar uur uitgelezen, mij geen moment verveeld, en ik dénk dat ik het wel een goed boek vond. Wat te zelfreferentieel bij momenten, soms voelde het wat truuk-achtig aan, maar al met al: content dat ik het gelezen heb. En dat ik misschien wel eens een paar van 's mans andere boeken zou opzoeken.

Much of this book is disjointed. The reader frequently doesn't know who is narrating the story from one paragraph to the next. To make matters worse, characters sometimes refer to themselves in the third person - and then switch to first person in the same paragraph. Many times, a story line is suddenly stopped, and the next chapter occurs years later, with a different set of characters. Nevertheless, there were some memorable scenes and even one line that I had to copy into my list of memorable quotations. I won't include the quote here, because it might offend somebody. However, it speaks of the futility of reasoning with certain types of people.

Precise rating: 3.5 ⭐

Phew, this book was quite an adventure ...

Looking back at all the different plot lines and characters, this story feels like several books in one. At the same time, it was surprisingly easy to remember all the characters. Although I'm not sure if every character needed the amount of pages they got – I think some of them would've done fine with less. It didn't happen often, but sometimes it felt a little bit drawn out because of that. But nevertheless, the characters were superb! Such a lovable protagonist!

All in all, I liked Cloud Atlas better, but if you loved Cloud Atlas, you probably wanna read this book as well!

At first I wasn't sure how this had not made as big a splash as Cloud Atlas. Mitchell is a very skilled writer, and in this spiraling series of interconnected narratives, he does an incredible job crafting voices and characters, and enjoyed it so much. However, I think the further the timeline stretched into the future, the less I enjoyed it. It's dangerous writing a novel in 2015 and making predictions for 2025. The ending too was a little too hand wavy, and I found it pretty hard to believe Hugo Lamb's motivations. That said, the writing is so good, I still enjoyed this one and am glad that I finally got around to it.

Totally superlative. I loved every bit of this, as much or maybe more than “Cloud Atlas”
There are his usual hints and references to his previous books but here is a suggestion that they are all included in one overall meta-fiction or indeed all organically grown from one central idea— The reincarnation or transmigration of souls.

Short Review: I enjoyed, but didn't love this book. I have had it highly recommended to me so I may have fallen prey to over-hype. This is six interconnected novellas strung together as a book. Not as connected as some, more connected than others. Several of the characters were a bit off putting and some of the story lines were familiar from other books. I also thought that the climate change dystopia was a bit over used as a literary device.

But Mitchell can write. I enjoyed it enough that I will pick up future books.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/bone-clocks/