bookmarks_and_backbeats 's review for:

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

3.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I’m not entirely sure what to make of this book. I loved the first section of Holly’s narrative and Crispin Hershey’s Lonely Planet, but the rest was long and boring and didn’t connect well for me. I wish there had been more of the Horologist / Anchorite story because that was the real draw for me, but we only got a few glimpses here and there and they were all very disconnected to the long and drawn out stories other characters were weaving.

I think Hugo and Ed’s stories could have been left out in almost their entirety, and Holly’s 2nd narrative was confusing as there’s no real context for how the world got to its current state and it didn’t connect with any of the rest of the plot.

I’m left wondering what the point of it all was while simultaneously wishing for more. I guess that sounds a lot like real life, though, doesn’t it?