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December 31, 2006
"Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
I became a fan of David Mitchell last year when I read "Cloud Atlas" (my review) so it was fortunate that I ran into his 2006 book "Black Swan Green" at the library. Since I had seen it on several year end lists I picked it up and was not disappointed. It's very different from "Cloud Atlas" but does keep the style of having separate stories in different chapters. The major difference this time is that the stories are all about one year in the life of Jason Taylor, an ordinary 13-year-old boy in the UK in the 1980s. In various chapters the boy deals with bullying, popularity, girls, poetry, stammering and his parents divorce, amongst other things. As with "Cloud Atlas", the writing is engaging but this book is more satisfying because there is a resolution to every story and a sense of fulfillment after finishing the 13 chapters - a sense that Jason's story has been told well and fully. I'm excited that Mitchell has two other older novels out there that I haven't yet read.
Posted on December 31, 2006 at 1:05 AM
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