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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Brīnišķīgs kaleidoskops no liela zaudējuma, tēva meklēšanas, pirmās mīlestības, otrā kara laika japāņu pašnāvniekiem, jakudzām, Tokio raibās dzīves, sapņiem un fantāzijām. Un tam pa visu galvenais varonis - panaivs jaunēklis no laukiem, kam vēl tikai nāksies pieaugt. Bet arī iegūstot labus draugus un nenovērtējamu dzīves pieredzi. Labi uzrakstīts.
Another gripping and enrapturing book by David Mitchell. So well written and I was immersed into each of the stories running throughout the novel from the beginning. Highly recommend.
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
I love the character of nineteen-year-old Eiji Miyake, searching for his father as though something outside himself will fix him. Mitchell does an expert job of conveying the weight of this young man's daydreams, and how they reflect themselves in the life he's actually living—or trying to avoid living, or almost being prevented from living, as the real world starts to become as strange as any dream. There are some things about this novel that are almost too easy—who we find the father to be, the love interest—but Mitchell does such a great job of painting this character at his particular time of mind that it doesn't matter; Eiji sees things in as much depth as he possibly can at that moment. This is not necessarily a coming-of-age novel, but because the news that comes to us in pre-adulthood is in many ways provisional, there is a way in which novels of youth can feel slight. This novel doesn't escape that, but it's great to see how well Mitchell handles it. Recommend.
Blurring the line between dream and waking, Number 9 Dream is a whirlwind story that takes us through Tokyo to the normal mundanity of ordinary lives, working, living, shopping. To the brothels and Yakuza owned backstreets. Through it all Eiji Miyake is a young man trying to find his absentee father whilst coping with the loss of his twin sister, for which he blames himself. Eiji frequently switches between real life and his increasingly imaginative day dreams in this epic story.
Well, shit... This was problematic. I would consider myself a Mitchellite (I've now read all of his novels and think he's a genius), but this was a mess. Mitchell's prose is as great as ever and this seems so authentic that you would be forgiven for thinking this was written by an actual Japanese writer. However, this happens to be problem #1: this reads so much like Murakami that it's less of an homage and feels more like a copy. I kept forgetting as I read that Mitchell even wrote this.
My #2 problem is that there's just too much plot. Yes, even more than Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten. Maybe even more than both of those combined. The plot is broken into nine sections, but then each of those have two or three tangents within each one. After awhile, it's just too much. You can only care about so many yakuza, kamikazes and pimply geeks.
Not surprisingly, there were several points during this that I figured I would give it two stars, but, by the end, even with all of the problems, I still liked it enough to do three. It's my second least favorite Mitchell (after Slade House), but he's such a damn good writer that I guess I just couldn't resist.
My #2 problem is that there's just too much plot. Yes, even more than Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten. Maybe even more than both of those combined. The plot is broken into nine sections, but then each of those have two or three tangents within each one. After awhile, it's just too much. You can only care about so many yakuza, kamikazes and pimply geeks.
Not surprisingly, there were several points during this that I figured I would give it two stars, but, by the end, even with all of the problems, I still liked it enough to do three. It's my second least favorite Mitchell (after Slade House), but he's such a damn good writer that I guess I just couldn't resist.
what a weird, and yet, wonderful book. would recommend it to every dreamers out there who never seems to grow up and never want to. and also would recommend it to people who hates it when a book ends.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I supremely enjoyed this book. I feel the main character has a lot of depth and his struggle to discover meaning and overcome his past through his alternate realities really intrigued me. This is the first book I've read by Mitchell, so I'll limit myself to giving it four stars for now. However, it definitely was an opener to more interest in his writing.