Ghostwritten - Orreadi

448 pages

English language

Published Oct. 9, 2001 by Vintage.

ISBN:: 978-0-375-72450-3

(1 review)

A gallery attendant at the Hermitage. A young jazz buff in Tokyo. A crooked British lawyer in Hong Kong. A disc jockey in Manhattan. A physicist in Ireland. An elderly woman running a tea shack in rural China. A cult-controlled terrorist in Okinawa. A musician in London. A transmigrating spirit in Mongolia. What is the common thread of coincidence or destiny that connects the lives of these nine souls in nine far-flung countries, stretching across the globe from east to west? What pattern do their linked fates form through time and space?

A writer of pyrotechnic virtuosity and profound compassion, a mind to which nothing human is alien, David Mitchell spins genres, cultures, and ideas like gossamer threads around and through these nine linked stories. Many forces bind these lives, but at root all involve the same universal longing for connection and transcendence, an axis of commonality that leads in …

A gallery attendant at the Hermitage. A young jazz buff in Tokyo. A crooked British lawyer in Hong Kong. A disc jockey in Manhattan. A physicist in Ireland. An elderly woman running a tea shack in rural China. A cult-controlled terrorist in Okinawa. A musician in London. A transmigrating spirit in Mongolia. What is the common thread of coincidence or destiny that connects the lives of these nine souls in nine far-flung countries, stretching across the globe from east to west? What pattern do their linked fates form through time and space?

A writer of pyrotechnic virtuosity and profound compassion, a mind to which nothing human is alien, David Mitchell spins genres, cultures, and ideas like gossamer threads around and through these nine linked stories. Many forces bind these lives, but at root all involve the same universal longing for connection and transcendence, an axis of commonality that leads in two directions—to creation and to destruction. In the end, as lives converge with a fearful symmetry, Ghostwritten comes full circle, to a point at which a familiar idea—that whether the planet is vast or small is merely a matter of perspective—strikes home with the force of a new revelation. It marks the debut of a writer of astonishing gifts.

6 editions

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Review of 'Ghostwritten' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Another winner from Mitchell. I have read most of his other works, so came late to this debut. It has his trademark style of nested stories, which he later perfected in books such as Cloud Atlas. I did sense that this book started as a collection of short stories that he then strung together in a novel. He is so bursting with ideas perhaps this form suits him best. But perhaps I am just too thick to understand the connection that links all the stories together. Not that it matters, as the book is a great read, with some stories (such as the Mountain Tea Shack) that are evocative, moving and immersive. What more could one want from a novel?

The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is to distinguish it from Mitchell’s other great books. I therefore use separate calibrated scale for Mitchell. His 4 …

Another winner from Mitchell. I have read most of his other works, so came late to this debut. It has his trademark style of nested stories, which he later perfected in books such as Cloud Atlas. I did sense that this book started as a collection of short stories that he then strung together in a novel. He is so bursting with ideas perhaps this form suits him best. But perhaps I am just too thick to understand the connection that links all the stories together. Not that it matters, as the book is a great read, with some stories (such as the Mountain Tea Shack) that are evocative, moving and immersive. What more could one want from a novel?

The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is to distinguish it from Mitchell’s other great books. I therefore use separate calibrated scale for Mitchell. His 4 star book would be anyone else’s 5 start master work.