Anyone read Ghostwritten by David Mitchell? What did you think?

[TuttiFrutti]

I've just finished it and can't decide what I think. Loved some sections but was very confused by others, and don't really get what the whole thing was about.

I got bored

this makes me a bad person I know

I got bored, gave up.

I love everything by him ... but I'm not sure which one this was ...

It was his first. NQC, I love everything by him too - well, have only read Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green so far, which inspired me to read Ghostwritten. I'd say this is the least accessible of the three, although I still enjoyed it, but would just like to understand what it's about!

I'm afraid I think I read this when it came out - DH bought it for me, slightly randomly, but I liked it, so kept reading his stuff. I think his writing has got better over time, tbh ...

I absolutely love it.
The first time I read it I quite liked it - I could see he was being ambitious & managing to pull it off - so I sort of respected his writing rather than loving it.

The second reading I realised just how much of the ideas & the images & the words had sunk in & were being carried around with me. I can't think of another book I've read as an adult that resonated so strongly, unless indeed it is Number 9 Dream, his next one.

Does it need to be about something specific? I have an idea of what it's "about" for me, but that's just what I get from it.

My only difficulty with DM is the gorier bits, and I can totally see why he's doing them - as the whole idea is totality of a picture, so you can't exclude cruelty - but I'd rather not (wimpily).

Number 9 Dream also very very much bears a re-read. I haven't yet re-read Cloud Atlas, but on first reading that seemed over-stretched to me; and Black Swan Green (which he wrote before all of these - it just got put out later) is not in the same league, I think.

Aha... very interesting summary, Bink. I know you say it's just what it's "about" for you, but that still makes it a bit clearer for me.

I didn't realise he wrote Black Swan Green before the others. It's still the one I enjoyed most, maybe because it's not so ambitious.

What do you make of the recurring themes/characters between the books? Katie has a birthmark shaped like a comet in Ghostwritten, which I seem to remember was a recurring theme in Cloud Atlas.

Bink - agree 100 per cent with yr post. I read all his books within 6 months of each other and was just so delighted to have found him!

Did he write "Black Swan Green" before the others? I thought that was a myth. Some reviews mentioned that it felt more like a first novel, but I didn't think it actually was.

Read Ghostwritten years ago, but parts of it still stick with me, especially the bit set in Mongolia. Must re-read sometime. Didn't care much for Number9dream or Cloud Atlas - got a bit too sci-fi, whereas Cloud Atlas seemed more credible. Also enjoyed Black Swan Green - a nice nostalgia trip, and if you enjoyed this, you'd probably appreciate the film "this is England"

Ghostwritten more credible, one glass of rose, I ask you, what a lightweight , that'll learn me to be 'arty'