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A review by cody240fc
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
4.0
I'm kicking myself for not jumping on the Mitchell bandwagon sooner. I loved the focus on interconnectedness and the debate of fate vs. free will. "We're all ghostwritters, my boy. And it's not just our memories. Our actions, too. We all think we're in control of our own lives, but really they're pre-ghostwritten by forces around us." And this: "The human world is made of stories, not people. The people the stories use to tell themselves are not to be blamed."
Mitchell utilizes a wide array of characters for each of the stories within this novel, and it was cool to see how he tied all of those unique stories together. Characters re-emerge several stories later, or there are subtle hints at the connectedness between different stories. It became a game of sorts to jot down notes on how this story related to that story and piece together the web that makes 'Ghostwritten' a unified novel. I also appreciated the diverse lenses with which individuals view the world. No characters share the exact same mindset, which I think a lot of authors will tell you is harder to accomplish than one might think.
This is a wholly original work. Mitchell's prose is clean but the story is complex. The language is diverse and the tones for one chapter can differ greatly from the next. The Night Train chapter is funny and terrifying at the same time. The Mongolia story is creepy and uplifting. It's just a lot of fun to read. Four to five star range, I'll go with a high four for now.
Mitchell utilizes a wide array of characters for each of the stories within this novel, and it was cool to see how he tied all of those unique stories together. Characters re-emerge several stories later, or there are subtle hints at the connectedness between different stories. It became a game of sorts to jot down notes on how this story related to that story and piece together the web that makes 'Ghostwritten' a unified novel. I also appreciated the diverse lenses with which individuals view the world. No characters share the exact same mindset, which I think a lot of authors will tell you is harder to accomplish than one might think.
This is a wholly original work. Mitchell's prose is clean but the story is complex. The language is diverse and the tones for one chapter can differ greatly from the next. The Night Train chapter is funny and terrifying at the same time. The Mongolia story is creepy and uplifting. It's just a lot of fun to read. Four to five star range, I'll go with a high four for now.