Book Review | Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

My thoughts on David Mitchell's debut novel!
number9dream review: • Book Review | number9d...
Cloud Atlas Review: • Book Review | Cloud Atlas
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[@BooksFriends]

Thank you. I'm trying to read it in Italian before reading my favourite novel I think *Cloud Atlas*
I like his style.

[@aryastark4527]

My favorite part of Ghostwritten was the last chapter with the zookeeper and Bat Segundo. Such a cool little piece of writing.

[@abookolive]

I was so excited to see you were reading this one when I was going through my feed on Goodreads a while back. I'm planning on reading it later this year - I'm happy to hear you think it's best to read his works in order of publication since this will be the first of his books I'll be reading. Although your copy is 10 times as gorgeous as mine (those RED EDGES

[@bookishsabrina]

Aw, thank you :D Looking forward to seeing how David Mitchell treats you!

[@shilpatummala8395]

I've always thought Number 9 Dream was an outlier. The rest of his novels that I have read - Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas, Bones Clocks - all work on the same formula.

[@Alan-wd7wv]

I read Ghostwritten maybe 10 years ago, and I only have a vague recollection of a couple of the stories, whereas I remember Cloud Atlas so clearly, and I read that a couple of years previous to that. Generally I think all his novels are fantastic, but after his last two I'm hoping for a more conventional novel next. I thought Black Swan Green was really good, got better as it went on, but it's just dwarfed by his louder books, so doesn't get much attention.

[@bookishsabrina]

I'm eager to get to Black Swan Green. I think that the characters in Cloud Atlas are more memorable, at least in part because they are more fleshed out and there are far fewer introduced. I think Ghostwritten has at least 10 sections, so you have less time and more people. I'm already starting to feel some of the characters fade in memory, but I will definitely remember the general vibe of the book and the impressions it left me with. I particularly loved hearing Mitchell talk about cities. He really personifies them in a unique way.

[@reginalemoine5809]

I'm so glad you did this video. I read Slade House not knowing that Mitchell's works are connected in some way. I was going to read number9dream next because it's supposed to be the most Murakami-like. THEN, I decided that I want to start at the beginning and go forth chronologically. I just started Ghostwritten, so it was good to open youtube and see your video.

[@bookishsabrina]

Oh wow, what a coincidence! number9dream is definitely the most Murakami-esque thing I've read by Mitchell yet. I think it is the closest thing to a Murakami novel that I've read that wasn't penned by Murakami himself. I would definitely recommend it if that's what you're specifically looking for, but nice to know someone else is making their way through in publication order.

[@thisisyrrobotfriend]

I wasn't crazy about bone clocks but now you have me interested in giving his work another shot, starting with #9 dream. Great review

[@bookishsabrina]

Thanks! Can't speak for The Bone Clocks yet, but I hope to review each of his novels as I make my way through :)

[@TheKayleighsHQ]

I have taken the same approach as you. I read Cloud Atlas a few years ago and decided at that point I wanted to read his works in publication order and have since read Ghostwritten. I have number9dream on my shelf which I mean to get to soon. I can't decide if I should re-read cloud atlas when I get to that point...

[@bookishsabrina]

Hm, I'm not sure. I think it depends on how much you enjoyed Cloud Atlas. I really liked it and think it is super accomplished, but I don't know if I would want to read it again. Then again, I'm less than a year out from having read it the first time, so I may feel differently with a few years' distance.

[@BooksandLooks]

Really interesting assessment of this story. Not sure I would like the style it is written in, since you compared it to interconnected short stories.

[@bookishsabrina]

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps the variety in writing style and voice between the sections would make it work for you? I'm not sure.

[@erindillman]

The Bone Clocks was the first Mitchell I read, and I was thoroughly confused and unimpressed( i did take like a two month break in the middle) but I feel like I still want to read his works, so perhaps I'll try publication order.
because Cloud Atlas and Slade House seem super interesting to me.

[@bookishsabrina]

I actually don't know the plot of The Bone Clocks at all, so I wonder how similar it really is to his other stuff. I'm excited to find out when I get to it. It is probably the novel of his that I know the least about. I have a general impression on the basic plots of all of his other novels.

[@erindillman]

It wasn't a bad book, I don't want to turn you off from it, I think it was more me and my circumstance. I'll definitely try something else by him in the future though :) I'll just keep watching your reviews :D

[@velmavlogs7693]

Great video. My favourite thing about Mitchell is also this fully developed world that is just one step away. I'm not a well read sci-fi/fantasy genre reader, so this kind of lit fic riff is definitely my bag.
I wonder what you'll think of Black Swan Green. I enjoyed it, but its definitely smaller in terms of time and place, and quintessentially British in way none of his other books are.

[@bookishsabrina]

I'm not British (duh), but I do love British novels! :)