Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Uff. Das war... Uff.
Ich hatte mit manchen Geschichten so meine Probleme, was entweder am Charakter (Cavendish) oder an der Sprache (Zachary) lag :'D Auch fehlte mir manchmal ein runderer Abschluss für die Geschichten? I don't know.
Dafür mochte ich die Machart sehr und den Grundgedanken des ganzen Buches, und David Mitchells Schreibstil ist sehr woah!
Habe mich trotzdem etwas durchgeschleppt (Bone Clocks ging besser!), aber wer weiß, mag auch am Wetter liegen :')
Ich hatte mit manchen Geschichten so meine Probleme, was entweder am Charakter (Cavendish) oder an der Sprache (Zachary) lag :'D Auch fehlte mir manchmal ein runderer Abschluss für die Geschichten? I don't know.
Dafür mochte ich die Machart sehr und den Grundgedanken des ganzen Buches, und David Mitchells Schreibstil ist sehr woah!
Habe mich trotzdem etwas durchgeschleppt (Bone Clocks ging besser!), aber wer weiß, mag auch am Wetter liegen :')
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The ideas are really cool, but I did feel like it was too long. And the connected stories didn’t always feel connected. I was very pulled in though and really loved the format and the voice acting. Might read it in the future to get a different experience.
In the pages that follow the end of my copy of this book, the author wrote his feelings about the process of adapting this book for film. He rightly mused that the structure had to change, because were an audience to be introduced to a 6th new film in minute 100, popcorn would fly. Ah yes indeed, but that was my feeling as a reader as well. I thought each short story was moderately well told, and each voice clear and unique, but I strongly disliked them being abruptly stopped and being required to figure out how to read a brand new, sometimes challenging voice. It took quite a few pages to get into the unique language of each story, and I was profoundly annoyed at needing to start again and again. I read a third of this book, hundreds of pages, before finally Googling for an explanation out of desperation. Only when I was assured of eventual resolution could I bring myself to continue.
So the structure of this book was misery for me as a reader. Some of the stories had interesting themes and characters I thought about when I wasn't with them. All in all, it was decent and well written, and I was anxious to keep reading to find out what happened in at least most of the stories. I'd have preferred it as a collection of 6 short stories, one after the other.
A few favorites:
As someone who has read 14 books in 2 months, this made me laugh:
"Why have you given yourself to books, TC? Dull, dull, dull! The memoirs are bad enough, but all that ruddy fiction! Hero goes on a journey, stranger comes to town, somebody wants something, they get it or they don't, will is pitted against will. 'Admire me, for I am a metaphor.' ".
The book being self reflective: "Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished, and by then it'll be too late..."
A hopeful thought in these times: "...no state of tyranny reigns forever." and a less hopeful one: "...one fine day, a purely predatory world *shall* consume itself...In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction."
So the structure of this book was misery for me as a reader. Some of the stories had interesting themes and characters I thought about when I wasn't with them. All in all, it was decent and well written, and I was anxious to keep reading to find out what happened in at least most of the stories. I'd have preferred it as a collection of 6 short stories, one after the other.
A few favorites:
As someone who has read 14 books in 2 months, this made me laugh:
"Why have you given yourself to books, TC? Dull, dull, dull! The memoirs are bad enough, but all that ruddy fiction! Hero goes on a journey, stranger comes to town, somebody wants something, they get it or they don't, will is pitted against will. 'Admire me, for I am a metaphor.' ".
The book being self reflective: "Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished, and by then it'll be too late..."
A hopeful thought in these times: "...no state of tyranny reigns forever." and a less hopeful one: "...one fine day, a purely predatory world *shall* consume itself...In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction."
By the author's own description, Mitchell presents a set of stories that fit together like a set of nesting Russian dolls. At first blush, they seem to have very little to do with each other. There are six novellas bound together: 1) a Victorian travel narrative 2) a set of letters about a corrupt and exploited young musician 3) an airport thriller about corporate greed 4) a farce about a publisher being held captive in a nursing home, 5) a dystopia about totalitarian government exploiting a race of subhuman clones and 6) a post-apocalyptic adventure story about society returning to hunter/gatherer conditions.
But read together, Mitchell tells the story of the human race struggling between the desire to exploit other and the desire to nurture others. Most of the conflict in each narrative occurs because one person or a whole element of society strives to "eat or be eaten" as Dr. Henry Goose of the first and last chapter describes it. In each narrative, there is one person or a lonely band of people trying instead to nurture, liberate and support others.
But Mitchell fractures these stories by relaying only half of the first five narratives, leaving us in suspense. Splitting the stories have another effect: it invites us to see the foreshadowing of future action in each "present," and it invites us to see the influence of the past on the future. Mitchell does this most overtly by having a textual object from each former narrative occur in the subsequent one. Whether a journal, a set of letters, a novel, a LP record, a movie or a recorded interview -- the story of an earlier protagonist is considered by a subsequent one. And how they story is interpreted often slips beyond the intention of the author.
This is not just a book about the history of humanity, it's a book about the power of the written word and the power of narratives. Yes, Mitchell does much to mimic the voices of others, but he is obviously in control of the master narrative that he weaves in the telling of six stories that connect in the deep structure of commentary they make on what motivates people at their very core.
But read together, Mitchell tells the story of the human race struggling between the desire to exploit other and the desire to nurture others. Most of the conflict in each narrative occurs because one person or a whole element of society strives to "eat or be eaten" as Dr. Henry Goose of the first and last chapter describes it. In each narrative, there is one person or a lonely band of people trying instead to nurture, liberate and support others.
But Mitchell fractures these stories by relaying only half of the first five narratives, leaving us in suspense. Splitting the stories have another effect: it invites us to see the foreshadowing of future action in each "present," and it invites us to see the influence of the past on the future. Mitchell does this most overtly by having a textual object from each former narrative occur in the subsequent one. Whether a journal, a set of letters, a novel, a LP record, a movie or a recorded interview -- the story of an earlier protagonist is considered by a subsequent one. And how they story is interpreted often slips beyond the intention of the author.
This is not just a book about the history of humanity, it's a book about the power of the written word and the power of narratives. Yes, Mitchell does much to mimic the voices of others, but he is obviously in control of the master narrative that he weaves in the telling of six stories that connect in the deep structure of commentary they make on what motivates people at their very core.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I bought this book well over a decade ago, and I think it’s time to let it go. This was my second attempt and it just isn’t grabbing me. If I want to try again in the future I think it’ll be easy enough to borrow from the library.