David Mitchell
Paperback | Pages: 296 pages Rating: 3.99 | 34700 Users | 3228 Reviews
List Books Concering Black Swan Green
| Original Title: | Black Swan Green |
| ISBN: | 0812974018 (ISBN13: 9780812974010) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, Hugo Lamb, Jason Taylor, Mark Badbury |
| Setting: | Worcestershire, England,1982(United Kingdom) |
| Literary Awards: | Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2006), Costa Book Award Nominee for Novel (2006), ALA Alex Award (2007) |
Interpretation Toward Books Black Swan Green
From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new.Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons.
Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s most subtlest and effective achievement to date.
Describe Appertaining To Books Black Swan Green
| Title | : | Black Swan Green |
| Author | : | David Mitchell |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 296 pages |
| Published | : | February 27th 2007 by Random House (first published April 11th 2006) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Young Adult. Coming Of Age. Contemporary. Literary Fiction. European Literature. British Literature. Novels |
Rating Appertaining To Books Black Swan Green
Ratings: 3.99 From 34700 Users | 3228 ReviewsPiece Appertaining To Books Black Swan Green
There is little narrative drive, but Mitchell is pretty much my age and this is heavily autobiographical, so I enjoyed being transported to a fairly accurate version of a world I remember. I could imagine knowing someone like Jason, maybe even being him some of the time. The narration by a stuttering 13 year old boy is slightly reminiscent of Mark Haddon's Curious Incident, but not as convincing or interesting. It mentions specific 70s brands and products too deliberately - as if he's trying toThis is a children's book written for the adult mind. All of the horrors and torments of the regular youth, the fighting parents, the schoolyard bullies, the secrets, the shame, are written in such a way that memories of your own childhood will be conjured up, emotions fresh as if it were yesterday. Throughout the story, the main character has insights that are a mix of childhood imagination and innate wisdom, as he goes through the motions of the daily life and all of its consequences. It is a
1) A novel written from the perspective, or in the voice, of an adolescent boy is nothing new. 2) A novel concentrating on the development of character through formative experiences, some of which are representative of the time he or she lives in, is nothing new. It is called a Bildungsroman.3) A novel that highlights, or hints at, the fragility of family, or the frailty of marriage, is nothing new.Mitchell trods on these, and other, well-beaten paths, striving all the time to deliver us
What I noticed while reading this book spanning a year in the life of Jason Taylor, our main character and narrator, is how real it felt. Real enough to be biographical. Turns out that it is semi-biographical. One year that strictly followed David Mitchell's actual life at 13? No, probably not. Like most books written of memories plucked out of the past, I believe that much here is fiction, but who could say exactly, excepting Mitchell himself. I do know that pieces, whole sections even, were so
Black Swan Green surfed out of David Mitchell after the literary ocean had swept up Cloud Atlas and smashed it repeatedly against the shore marked "greatness", where it burst open and loads of critical acclaim and literary awards came gushing out. I read Cloud Atlas first and managed to protect myself against the gushing geyser of praise by having a suitably large umbrella. Sadly my umbrella is mostly made of a thin but impermeable layer of cynicism so I didn't have as many lovely things to say
Just as I opened the cover of the book, I was hit by a barrage of praise for the book comments. May be I should have stopped right there. But I didn't. Hence this review.When I watch a Hollywood movie or a TV show involving American schools, I see schoolkids overly concerned with social status and pecking order. There are these popular and cool kids, then there are nerds and other such stereotypes. They have to constantly worry about whose parties they get invited to, who they are seen talking
I remember describing this book to a coworker:Me: "It's about this little stuttering English kid who lives out in some little village during the Thatcher era, and sort of like, his coming of age kind of experiences?"Coworker: "Oh God, that sounds awful."Me: "No! I mean, I know it sounds awful the way I just explained it, but the book's actually really, really great!"Two days later....Me: (privately, to self) "Oh, God, this is awful."I don't know what happened! This book started out really
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