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m1nature's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
dromwald's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what a great read! Not easy and I won't pretend to be clever enough to try and disect what is essentially a coming of age story set in Japan but this book really took me in. Confusing, humourous, dark, moving and sad I really enjoyed this and will definitely look into other works by this author. Recommended to anyone who fancies a read that is a little 'different'.
categj's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, however, I find it difficult to compose a review.
The story is divided into 9 "dreams", and the number 9 appears constantly throughout the book, in various forms — the main character was born on September 9, it's been 9 years since a tragic event occurs, a room number is 333 on the 9th floor,9 vehicles arrive at the yakuza showdown, a deck of cards is shuffled "nine times for luck" and he thinks of Ai "ninety times per minute". There is even a reference to John Lennon's song, Number Nine Dream. As I was reading the book, I sometimes found it hard to discern whether I was reading a dream or was instead in the midst of the character's reality.
The novel begins as Eiji Miyake embarks upon a journey to find his father, who he has never met. Through episodes that jump from dream to reality and back again, Eiji confronts his inner most self and faces his "reality" to discover his own identity.
Three of my favourite characters, Goatwriter, a scholarly goat who writes incredible stories and loses them because he literally eats his words, his cook and housekeeper, Mrs. Comb,a hen and Pithecanthropus, their handyman. They live in a coach that moves around the land at its own whim. I also liked Eiji, Ai, and Buntaro.
There is a surrealistic feel to this book, as the reader is taken on a wild rollercoaster ride from the action packed first chapter and the reflections of the second chapter through crazy and dangerous yakuza wars and many dreamy sequences until the eighth chapter where Eiji finally comes to terms with his past.
This novel was dreamlike, surreal, funny and exciting. I would definitely recommend it.
The story is divided into 9 "dreams", and the number 9 appears constantly throughout the book, in various forms — the main character was born on September 9, it's been 9 years since a tragic event occurs, a room number is 333 on the 9th floor,9 vehicles arrive at the yakuza showdown, a deck of cards is shuffled "nine times for luck" and he thinks of Ai "ninety times per minute". There is even a reference to John Lennon's song, Number Nine Dream. As I was reading the book, I sometimes found it hard to discern whether I was reading a dream or was instead in the midst of the character's reality.
The novel begins as Eiji Miyake embarks upon a journey to find his father, who he has never met. Through episodes that jump from dream to reality and back again, Eiji confronts his inner most self and faces his "reality" to discover his own identity.
Three of my favourite characters, Goatwriter, a scholarly goat who writes incredible stories and loses them because he literally eats his words, his cook and housekeeper, Mrs. Comb,a hen and Pithecanthropus, their handyman. They live in a coach that moves around the land at its own whim. I also liked Eiji, Ai, and Buntaro.
There is a surrealistic feel to this book, as the reader is taken on a wild rollercoaster ride from the action packed first chapter and the reflections of the second chapter through crazy and dangerous yakuza wars and many dreamy sequences until the eighth chapter where Eiji finally comes to terms with his past.
This novel was dreamlike, surreal, funny and exciting. I would definitely recommend it.
nderiley's review against another edition
2.0
I powered through this book because I liked Bone Clocks so much, but number9dream did not deliver or me. It really needed an editor, there was too much content given to inconsequential story lines (goat writer anyone?) that make the book more of a chore than a delight
jemerevoltedoncnoussommes's review against another edition
3.0
Let's go, dive, fall, flee
Into retro cityscapes
Life is a dream, no?
Into retro cityscapes
Life is a dream, no?
tintinintibet's review against another edition
4.0
Somehow I managed to read the "uncorrected bound proof" -- and I grew suspicious at the end since there were about five typos over the last hundred pages. So I compared the closing chapter with the one that is in the library's copy, and definitely the "uncorrected bound proof" got refined for that final version. I'm not sure I liked the revised phrases better though. Mine were less lyrical and more direct. And maybe that's why David Mitchell gets criticized: too overwrought. Too fancy. Too fanciful. Too...much. And maybe that's why I tended not to be irritated by any over-editing. While I shy away from strange magic realism, I got through the alternate realities in this book just fine, without getting exhausted or exasperated trying to figure out what was going on.
rbreade's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
This tale of Eiji Miyake's search through Tokyo for the father who walked out on him, his sister, and their mother years ago was not quite as compelling for me as some of Mitchell's other novels, but his prose still delivers, and I'll always show up for a writer who can spark fireworks in my brain. Where other writers would simply give a solid description of a not-very-good busker, Mitchell gives us, "A street musician sings so off-key that passersby have a civic duty to smash his guitar on his head and relieve him of his coins." Or when Eiki describes a member of the soccer team he played on as a boy, someone by the name of Mitsui who was the favorite of their awful coach, Mitchell gives us this: "Mitsui chews gum, enjoying the taste of despotic favor. He is a gifted and aggressive goalkeeper--it is lucky he lacks the imagination to diversify into playground bullying." And in the lyrical column there is this passage from near the end of the novel, when Eiji reconciles to the fact that his twin sister Anju is long dead and therefore cannot be found: "I dream of a girl, drowning, resigned to her fate now that she knows there is no possibility of being saved by her brother. Her willowy body is passed from current to current, tide to tide, until it has dissolved into pure blue, and I am sorry, but she knows I am sorry, and she wants me to let her go because she does not want me to drown too, which I will if I spend the rest of my life looking for her."
jacksontibet's review against another edition
3.0
Having now read all of David Mitchell's novels, number9dream is definitely not my favorite, perhaps my least favorite (although I really liked the first part of Thousand Autumns, the second half was boring and got me out of it) of his books. This isn't to say it's a bad book but it doesn't come close to reaching the heights of Cloud Atlas or Black Swan Green, itself another coming of age tale, but done masterfully and succinctly. number9dream weaves and bobs through a serious of vaguely unbelievable coincidental scenarios, our protagonist rushed through a series of antiquated plot devices to keep the story moving, that is, when we aren't thrown without warning into a dream sequence, a fantasy, a journal entry, or a piece of a short story written by a character who doesn't even appear in the novel. That being said, those short stories were my favorite part of the whole book and I wish they had simply been collected and allowed to play as a piece rather than chopped up piecemeal throughout the fifth (?) section. The whole time, it just feels like Eiji is a character who things happen to, rather than a dynamic sort who makes things happen. It's only at the very end that he actually does something himself, although this may be part of the point given the coming-of-age storyline.
Now, the ending of the story was incredibly abrupt, confusing, and peculiar. If you haven't read the book and you want to then you may not want to keep reading...
By all accounts, the earthquake is not a dream. The parts leading up to it, as Eiji stumbles through his journey from Tokyo to his island home, are told in a sleep-deprived back-and-forth delirium that seems to differentiate reality from dream but by the time the typhoon hits and he's in the little garden shelter house and he's getting a blowjob while the witch lady watches (and this is supposed to not be a dream) I began second-guessing my assumptions. The basic fault I find here is that there isn't enough evidence to know what's real and what isn't, which would provide a satisfying ending. I'm all for ambiguous endings, sure, but to have him make this voyage only to wake up to a devastating news report and (as the book ends) cause him to race back to Tokyo is not very satisfying at all and seems to only indicate that Mitchell couldn't come up with a way to finish the story, so it keeps going, just off the page.
Now, the ending of the story was incredibly abrupt, confusing, and peculiar. If you haven't read the book and you want to then you may not want to keep reading...
By all accounts, the earthquake is not a dream. The parts leading up to it, as Eiji stumbles through his journey from Tokyo to his island home, are told in a sleep-deprived back-and-forth delirium that seems to differentiate reality from dream but by the time the typhoon hits and he's in the little garden shelter house and he's getting a blowjob while the witch lady watches (and this is supposed to not be a dream) I began second-guessing my assumptions. The basic fault I find here is that there isn't enough evidence to know what's real and what isn't, which would provide a satisfying ending. I'm all for ambiguous endings, sure, but to have him make this voyage only to wake up to a devastating news report and (as the book ends) cause him to race back to Tokyo is not very satisfying at all and seems to only indicate that Mitchell couldn't come up with a way to finish the story, so it keeps going, just off the page.
dutchcrunch's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
This is my second Michell novel after reading his debut novel “Ghostwritten” earlier this year. (I am reading all of his works chronologically). I am reading them this way knowing that his first two may not be his strongest but, I want to get a strong feel for how his writing developed. I did enjoy this more than Ghostwritten and some passages left me in sheer confusion (the good kind). I feel as though it could’ve been MUCH shorter but, I appreciate Mitchell’s style nonetheless.
Number9Dream—much like Ghostwritten and many Mitchell novels I assume feel like interconnected stories. It worked here since he followed a single character.
It felt dreamlike—as the title suggests—it bustled with actual energy, depth, and zero realistic elements. It felt, as one chapter is titled, like a video game....
So, in the end I liked it and I very much look forward to the rest of his works as I have heard they tower over these first two.
This is my second Michell novel after reading his debut novel “Ghostwritten” earlier this year. (I am reading all of his works chronologically). I am reading them this way knowing that his first two may not be his strongest but, I want to get a strong feel for how his writing developed. I did enjoy this more than Ghostwritten and some passages left me in sheer confusion (the good kind). I feel as though it could’ve been MUCH shorter but, I appreciate Mitchell’s style nonetheless.
Number9Dream—much like Ghostwritten and many Mitchell novels I assume feel like interconnected stories. It worked here since he followed a single character.
It felt dreamlike—as the title suggests—it bustled with actual energy, depth, and zero realistic elements. It felt, as one chapter is titled, like a video game....
So, in the end I liked it and I very much look forward to the rest of his works as I have heard they tower over these first two.
elllljayyyy's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25