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The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell - 4 stars - My Review

“A writer flirts with schizophrenia, nurtures synesthesia, and embraces obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your art feeds on you, your soul, and, yes, to a degree, your sanity. Writing novels worth reading will bugger up your mind, jeopardize your relationships, and distend your life. You have been warned.”

This book consists of six sections told by five narrators in consecutive decades, two of which occur in the future. It is set mainly in the UK, with significant segments taking place in the US, Colombia, Ireland, and Iceland. It starts in the 1980s and covers a span of sixty years.

The plot revolves around Holly Sykes and her psychic abilities. We first meet Holly as a rebellious teen running away from home. She catches the attention of two warring groups of immortal mystics. I will not even try to summarize the plot. It combines fantasy, dystopian science fiction, and realism.

The author has a wonderful way with words. It feels clever and playful. The reader will need to do some “heavy lifting” to find all the interrelated threads in this book. Though it is hardly straight-forward, it flows well. The storylines are interwoven. As the story moves from one section to the next, missing elements are filled in. It is like a giant mental puzzle.

I do not think this book is for everyone, but it definitely engages the brain. It is also inventive, entertaining, and “out there.” The author has something to say about the ethics, choices, control, and interconnectedness. He also provides a dystopian vision on what our world could look like in the year 2043.

“Power is lost or won, never created or destroyed. Power is a visitor to, not a possession of, those it empowers. The mad tend to crave it, many of the sane crave it, but the wise worry about its long-term side effects. Power is crack cocaine for your ego and battery acid for your soul. Power’s comings and goings, from host to host, via war, marriage, ballot box, diktat, and accident of birth, are the plot of history. The empowered may serve justice, remodel the Earth, transform lush nations into smoking battlefields, and bring down skyscrapers, but power itself is amoral.”

I loved this book. I'm sure I didn't understand parts of it, and some of it was pretentious and some parts were boring. But as you say, my brain was engaged.

I'm sure I didn't "get" it all either, but it was a wild ride that I really enjoyed.