David Mitchell Appreciation discussion

Anything about this book: thoughts, discussions, ideas, frustrations.

Ok, I'll start off this thread. This is probably my least favourite of Mitchell's books so far, though I think I need to re-read it before I make any final statements.

I loved certain parts of it (the opening scene is just great), and Eiji is a very winning character, but I think the goatwriter elements kind of threw me off (even bored me at some points). Was this a case of Mitchell trying to be too much of a Murakami clone?

Terry wrote: "Ok, I'll start off this thread. This is probably my least favourite of Mitchell's books so far, though I think I need to re-read it before I make any final statements.

I loved certain parts of i..."

I can see that, while reading this book I had points where I loved it, and a few points where I was a bit tired of it. I think it was a bit overlong for what is was.

To be honest, I think Goatwriter was one of my favorite parts. I liked the way it was Mitchell imposing his voice on the novel and more or less explaining the thought process behind it (I highlighted some examples in my review), but I can see why that section would be a turn off for some. It is a dramatic jump into left field and doesn't quite flow with the book, but i guess I just love the metafictional aspects of Mitchell.

Scott: my list has changed a few times. Much like with Radiohead albums ha! Hail to the Theif is my current favorite again.

I understand the reservations on this one. But this is probably my favorite right now and I'm not sure exactly why.

Some say this is "Mitchell showing off". But where I am right now as a reader and a person, I can't get enough of the kind of writing going on in this book.

Ian also helped spark my feelings around this one: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I don't mind Mitchell showing off. He's a virtuoso, so I'm happy to see him doing it, and doing it well. He often gets accused of being gimmicky (which I think people confuse as the same as showing off), but I'd say his elements are never gimicks, they're whatever he felt would best convey the story he wanted to tell.

That being said I just think some of the disparate elements of N9D didn't all gel for me.

Believe it or not, Amnesiac is sitting at the top right now.

Or more just "Life in a Glass House". Simply stunning.

"That being said I just think some of the disparate elements of N9D didn't all gel for me."

That's fair. I think that N9D especially takes on a huge swath of issues. Or maybe since he focuses on one character, yet still attempts to take on the same range of issues that the other ones do, that it renders all of its elements too disparate. We have all the Murakami-esque elements of dreams and sorting through dreams, each individual section which includes Yakuza, video games, corporate intrigue; I'm still puzzling over the Foucault reference at the beginning and Benthem's Panopticon. Then there's all the goatwriter sections. It's pretty scattered. But on my first read, there was a way that I drifted over all those individual themes, and simply reveled in the writing style, the mood and the sheer fun of it. Plus Ai, who is still my favorite female protagonist in a novel. I wonder if a second, more inquisitive read would change my opinion at all.

I knew a while ago that you were sweet on Ai. Are you, by chance, a neck man, Stephen?

Wouldn't it be great if she somehow showed up again? Maybe in his next one. In Cork. Doesn't seem likely, though, does it?

No, doesn't seem likely. If she is, it's most likely as a much older person or through some relation of hers, mother, father, etc.

I'm not sure if there are many DM characters that appear as exactly the same age or situation from book to book.

Good point, Stephen. I'm trying to think of any exceptions. Was Suhbataar roughly the same age in Ghostwritten and N9D?

That may be true. The age of Timothy Cavendish was ambiguous is Ghostwritten, but it could be the same Cavendish in Cloud Atlas.