Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Event Calendar
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • The CBR Team
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • How You Can Donate
    • Book Sale
    • CBR Merchandise
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Follow Us
> FAQ Home
> Genre: Fiction > And everything is rocking out of control/When we hit Japan

And everything is rocking out of control/When we hit Japan

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

January 23, 2021 by dsbs42 Leave a Comment

I don’t even know where to start with this one. Historical fiction tends to be a pretty dense read, and David Mitchell tends to write pretty dense books, and my mind is swirling after finishing The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

First, let me say that this book could have really used a good Cast of Characters page or two. Broken into three main sections (followed by two more epilogue-y sections), each is full of secondary and tertiary characters who are introduced once, disappear for thirty pages or so of small font, and then referenced again with no gentle reminders of who they might be — Mitchell doesn’t hold your hand.*

Second, let me hedge that it’s a slow read. It takes a while to grow on you. You’re thrust into the world of 18th Century Japan through the trading port of Dejima and the eyes of young Dutch clerk Jacob who has just arrived there in the hopes of making his fortune, and you know what he knows. Less, really, unless you’re well-versed in the history of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (and kudos if you are). And I didn’t find Mr. de Zoet particularly likable, at least not at first. The second part of the novel abruptly shifts perspectives to a different character just when I was thawing towards de Zoet, and involves some fairly awful things happening to several innocent people.

But if you have the time, and the patience, the book really grows on you. Mitchell’s writing is superb, the depth of research is astonishing (like any good piece, you feel completely immersed in the world), and you find people to root for (my favourites were Dr. Marinus and the midwife Orito Aibagawa). By part three (another abrupt shift, and the addition of an entirely new ship, yes ship, full of characters) I was invested, and by parts four and five (a chapter each), I felt like I was under a spell.

Special mention goes to the first section of the reader’s guide at the end, where Mitchell gives us a little inside baseball on what it’s like to write historical fiction. Learning about “bygonese” (his name for dialogue that aims more for feeling authentic then actually being authentic, or “inaccurate but plausible”, which could be difficult to read for long periods, or even understand, depending how far back in time we’re going).

So four stars, with some points lost for clumsy transitioning between sections, needlessly overcomplicating the cast of characters, and not nearly enough Dr. Marinus.

 

*Which, as an aside, makes me think of a problem I’ve noticed recently: when I’m reading an ebook, all I want is to hold the Real Book in my hands and turn the pages and smell it and feel where I am in the book and know whether I’m further in or out by the weight of its pages. But when I’m reading a Real Book, I keep wanting to drag and highlight passages I like, and put my finger on the word that I don’t quite understand and hold waiting for the little popup dictionary, or make a quick review note, and if I forget who a character is I can highlight their name and look it up on the X-ray. So either way, now, I can’t win. I blame technology.

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: David Mitchell, historical fiction, Japan

dsbs42's CBR13 Review No:3 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: David Mitchell, historical fiction, Japan ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

About dsbs42

CBR13 participantCBR 5CBR 4CBR 3

Sporadic cannonball participant. Looking for reading motivation and inspiration this year. View dsbs42's reviews»

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Recent Comments

  • MsWas on Holy MolyCongratulations on your first review! Love the review and the Waterhouse painting you included, just perfect. Well done!
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?I also have that problem (or maybe it's a solution?)... I remembered the plot of the first movie, but the second and third I completely...
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?Oh! I can't remember how it ends at all. I'm in for a fun re-read of book 3 :)
  • postcardsandbooks on Do your favourites hold up on re-reads?Oh I just finished my re-read of book 2 and I think it gets 4 stars too. Technically 3.5, but I will probably round it...
  • postcardsandbooks on I need to read more queer YA contemporariesOh, have you read any yet? I have a couple more of her novels in my TBR for this year. :)
See More Recent Comments »

Want to Help Out?

CBR has a great crew of volunteers, and we're always looking for more people to help out. If you have a specialty or are willing to learn, drop MsWas a line.

  • How You Can Donate
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay
© 2021 Cannonball Read | Log in