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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
jennyedwall's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
travisclau's review against another edition
3.0
Like with Black Swan Green, the novel wasn't my favorite of Mitchell's work. You see all of Mitchell's usual go-to's: intertextual references, metafiction, split narration, plot twists, masterful dialogue. As an homage to Murakami, the book seems like a series of false starts. Ideas that could have made their own books, concepts that didn't have the space or time to develop. The philosophical musings on identity, selfhood, and meaning feel trite here alongside the self-consciously over-the-top scenes taken straight out of conventional action plots and yakuza films that Mitchell is commenting upon in our postmodern moment. A reviewer described it as Joycean, and I think it only gets there superficially with its constant blurring of the line between reality and fiction.
What captured me most was his vivid representation of Tokyo and Japan at large. The cityscape itself has its own development, a characterization that merits revisiting. This, alongside Mitchell's intriguing exploration of Japan's discomfort with both its mytho-historical and wartime pasts, really brings Japan into focus for Western readers. By far the most provocative move for this novel -- even if Mitchell sometimes feels the need to oversaturate the prose with his research of and familiarity with Japan.
What captured me most was his vivid representation of Tokyo and Japan at large. The cityscape itself has its own development, a characterization that merits revisiting. This, alongside Mitchell's intriguing exploration of Japan's discomfort with both its mytho-historical and wartime pasts, really brings Japan into focus for Western readers. By far the most provocative move for this novel -- even if Mitchell sometimes feels the need to oversaturate the prose with his research of and familiarity with Japan.
nuscheda's review against another edition
4.0
Very well done. It took some getting used to at the beginning, but it's well worth the investment. Mitchell is incredibly talented.
stevemozza's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? Yes
3.75
rexsavior's review against another edition
4.0
David Mitchell as Haruki Murakami? Not as good as his later stuff, but still worth reading. I liked the Goatwriter stuff; not sure why so many folks here hated it.