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whatsshwereading 's review for:
The Bone Clocks
by David Mitchell
I am not quite sure how many stars I want to give this book. There were parts I loved, parts I got bored, and parts which left me confused (that'd be about 50% of the book!) In the words of Salim Pheku, this book was an "all mix fruit juice".
It seems like Mitchell couldn't decide whether he wanted to write a dystopian thriller, a political satire, or a good 0ld fashioned gangster-style tale with lots hocus-pocus thrown in.So he did them all. Additionally, he seemed to be more interested in showing off his remarkable style of narrative. For most part his prose is lyrical - beautifully structured sentences and words that he made up to suit the fantastical bit of the story, which in turn left me lost. Not boasting, but I read China Mieville faster than this one and that's saying something!
Part I introduces us to 'the' six of the book and I loved the six, for the lack of a better word, shorts about these interlinked characters (Especially Crispin Hershey who is purported to be a caricatured version of the author himself) Plus there is a hint of the mysterious Esther Little whom we don't get to know until we reach Part II. Mitchell's characters turn out to be deliciously unpredictable except for Holly, the protagonist, who for some weird reason is decidedly bland.
Part II is where the book begins to make sense and at the same time confuses the hell out of you. There is a lot of talk about immortality- how a few are chosen and have to fight the bad ones who snatch it by feeding on the innocent. And the actual war. Phew! It read out more like a malfunction in a laboratory than a battle. I don't know about others but the Chapel of the Dusk and The Blind Cather seemed eerily similar to Mordor and Sauron!!
Boom-Pow, blood, crash. And the battle's won. You'd think there'd be a nice epilogue? But, no! The book plods on for a hundred pages more, fast-forwarding twenty years in the future where the world's pretty much dead. No electricity, most animals extinct, China's the superpower (oh yea) and we read how Holly (now in her mid seventies) makes do with a granddaughter, an adopted grandson and a dog. The conclusion didn't even warrant the extra hundred pages post battle. Plus, I wanted to know what happens to the dog, which obviously I don't. So, not a happy ending for me.
On the whole, I am still undecided on whether I like the book or not. Read it if you have the patience of a saint and lots of time on hand.
It seems like Mitchell couldn't decide whether he wanted to write a dystopian thriller, a political satire, or a good 0ld fashioned gangster-style tale with lots hocus-pocus thrown in.So he did them all. Additionally, he seemed to be more interested in showing off his remarkable style of narrative. For most part his prose is lyrical - beautifully structured sentences and words that he made up to suit the fantastical bit of the story, which in turn left me lost. Not boasting, but I read China Mieville faster than this one and that's saying something!
Part I introduces us to 'the' six of the book and I loved the six, for the lack of a better word, shorts about these interlinked characters (Especially Crispin Hershey who is purported to be a caricatured version of the author himself) Plus there is a hint of the mysterious Esther Little whom we don't get to know until we reach Part II. Mitchell's characters turn out to be deliciously unpredictable except for Holly, the protagonist, who for some weird reason is decidedly bland.
Part II is where the book begins to make sense and at the same time confuses the hell out of you. There is a lot of talk about immortality- how a few are chosen and have to fight the bad ones who snatch it by feeding on the innocent. And the actual war. Phew! It read out more like a malfunction in a laboratory than a battle. I don't know about others but the Chapel of the Dusk and The Blind Cather seemed eerily similar to Mordor and Sauron!!
Boom-Pow, blood, crash. And the battle's won. You'd think there'd be a nice epilogue? But, no! The book plods on for a hundred pages more, fast-forwarding twenty years in the future where the world's pretty much dead. No electricity, most animals extinct, China's the superpower (oh yea) and we read how Holly (now in her mid seventies) makes do with a granddaughter, an adopted grandson and a dog. The conclusion didn't even warrant the extra hundred pages post battle. Plus, I wanted to know what happens to the dog, which obviously I don't. So, not a happy ending for me.
On the whole, I am still undecided on whether I like the book or not. Read it if you have the patience of a saint and lots of time on hand.