Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Ghostwritten

 These days, I am reading , finishing and enjoying many books ,that I have bought over last few years. I am also getting rid of books, that I don’t intend to read again. I can say that ,my reading is going rather well.....

I have read some very good books,but I find that, if I don’t write about them during my reading, the thoughts on the book simply evaporate , when I start the next book. Hence this series. Hopefully it will be a series.

Yesterday, I started ‘Ghostwritten ‘,by David Mitchell. I have heard a lot of good things about it , especially on book-tube. One of the book-tubers positively raved about it. But I have never liked the books that she loves. I find them too difficult to understand, too much literary and too less a story.

So,I don't expect to like this book very much. Or finish the book even.

David Mitchell is a genre defying author. His novels are supposedly beautiful and unique . It is recommended that you read David Mitchell books in the order that they are published. That is because his characters jump across his novels. Probably the space he provides for them in one book is not sufficient for them , they have to say a lot more than that was allowed in that particular book.

As a part of my research , I also listened to two videos on David Mitchell. One was an author spotlight video done by the booktuber mentioned in first paragraph . The other was interview of DM. Loved the way he spoke about his books.

I will say this- The first chapter of this book surprised me. It was easy to read and went really fast. Not at all what I expected. I still don't know where the book is going but that is expected.

This is a novel in 9 parts , each of the part is like a novella. The last chapter will bring all the narratives together.(supposedly)

The first story is narrated by a crackpot, a sort of Japanese jihadi , who is responsible for a terrorist attack in the underground tube. He runs away and hides while the terrorist organization has started crumbling. The first chapter ends without really ending. Though the chapter ended , the story continued , just beyond our vision. There was no conclusion.Just like our life.

The second story seems to be about a record seller, though I am not sure whether it’s a male or female. The reason I keep on going through the novel which isn’t making any sense , is the curiosity about how author is going to link all these together.

And yes , it is well written and not too literary for my taste ,( Literary meaning 40 pages full of descriptions of a man walking on the road.), There are things happening ,albeit very very slowly and there are dialogues , which always makes novels easy to read.

This makes me hope that I might like to read his other books one day,my library has a beautiful hardcover edition ‘Thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet’. It is not only beautiful but also a big,fat one and it appears to be my favourite genre of historical fiction.

But first , I have to finish this one. And like it.

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