Scan barcode
ohsnaplez's review against another edition
5.0
i've read this book so many times i've lost count. it is one of my top ten favorite novels of all time. the 80s british slang alone is perfection. a book about a boy and his stammer and his family and mrs. thatcher and war and first love and bullies and loss and how it's not the end yet--every bit of it rings true and is completely flawless in my opinion. a beautiful book.
lbolesta's review against another edition
3.0
3.5? Enjoyable but a bit boring. Catcher in the Rye 2.0.
adam_marcus's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Black Swan Green's brilliance really snuck up on me. Was only reading this as a bridge between Cloud Atlas and Jacob de Zoet, and did not expect to stumble onto an all-timer.
This is one of those rare books that feels like it was written just for me. It took me back to my childhood, wrapped me up in bubble wrap and dropped me off a cliff. In a good way.
Guttingly nostalgic and bittersweet.
David Mitchell does not miss.
This is one of those rare books that feels like it was written just for me. It took me back to my childhood, wrapped me up in bubble wrap and dropped me off a cliff. In a good way.
Guttingly nostalgic and bittersweet.
David Mitchell does not miss.
thaggstrom50's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
eoinmonty's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mafm22's review against another edition
5.0
Nothing profound, but an enjoyable book about growing up from someone who grew up at about the same time as me, in a different country.
liebo84's review
4.0
This might end up being my favorite book read in 2020. A rather straightforward (by Mitchell standards) collection of stories about a thirteen year-old growing up in remote Britain, likely borrowing heavily from Mitchell's own childhood. A lot of insightful observations and the usual quality prose from Mitchell.
pudejr's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
trak17's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
kraghen21's review against another edition
5.0
Jason Taylor is a pretty normal 13 year-old boy, growing up in Black Swan Green, a milquetoast town in the West Midlands of UK. He struggles with stammering [not the same as stuttering], with bullying, with his passive-aggressive parents and snarky sister, with his best-kept-secret poetry, with understanding the strange war in The Falkland Islands, and with a burgeoning interest in girls.
David Mitchell is known for his ambitious novels of interweaving storylines. But here [on the back of his major breakthrough 'Cloud Atlas'] he focuses on a single story, a more down-to-earth one, and a more personal one.
The story is largely modeled on Mitchells own upbringing. He himself was a stammerer, and has struggled to overcome it. Jason Taylor is also, we sense, a possible future writer.
The book is really two things. It is a psychological portrait of a 13-year old boy, and, at the same time, a study of 1980's provincial England.
As a portrait it works. Jason is a full and rounded character, not a particularly interesting person really, but fully fledged out in thoughts and emotions. There isn't a Bildrungsroman here. Jason doesn't learn big moral lessons or has his way of thinking completely changed by occuring events. His development is shown in the small things, and in small bursts at a time. It makes for a very nuanced and realistic portrait. Also the narration is from Jason himself, which means there is a ton of 80's colloquialisms a teenager of that era would have used. That helps ground him as a realistic product of his time and age, but as a boy he has just enough sensitivity to let Mitchell infuse the narration with delicate imagery and bits of poetic flair.
As a study of England in the 80's it also works. It is seen through the eyes of a 13-year old, mind you, but it still pierces that utmost British hypocrisy of the middle-class; keeping up appearances, maintaining a debilitating marriage with a straight face [read: a pained smile], arbitrary parental rules and [the worst hypocrisy of all] a blindness towards own hypocrisies ["we are not against foreigners, oh no, but these 'Gypsys' simply have to go!"].
The book also touches on the Thatcher reign and the Falklands War, mostly well regarded at the time, but which looks terrible in hindsight. It touches on the big economic class divide that still, to this day, haunts England, and on the ever-growing materialism that sustains the middle class. It has tons of British terms, slang and wit. If one is not well versed in British English, parts of the book will definitely pass you by.
Had it been just one of the two [boy/England], I doubt it would have maintained my interest for almost 400 pages, but being about both, it did. It made me laugh, it touched me, and it taught me things. That is a great achievement for any book.
David Mitchell strikes me as a natural writer. Well-written, well-edited, no discernible flaws, I doubt anyone could write a better book about a normal 13 year old boy in a normal town.
David Mitchell is known for his ambitious novels of interweaving storylines. But here [on the back of his major breakthrough 'Cloud Atlas'] he focuses on a single story, a more down-to-earth one, and a more personal one.
The story is largely modeled on Mitchells own upbringing. He himself was a stammerer, and has struggled to overcome it. Jason Taylor is also, we sense, a possible future writer.
The book is really two things. It is a psychological portrait of a 13-year old boy, and, at the same time, a study of 1980's provincial England.
As a portrait it works. Jason is a full and rounded character, not a particularly interesting person really, but fully fledged out in thoughts and emotions. There isn't a Bildrungsroman here. Jason doesn't learn big moral lessons or has his way of thinking completely changed by occuring events. His development is shown in the small things, and in small bursts at a time. It makes for a very nuanced and realistic portrait. Also the narration is from Jason himself, which means there is a ton of 80's colloquialisms a teenager of that era would have used. That helps ground him as a realistic product of his time and age, but as a boy he has just enough sensitivity to let Mitchell infuse the narration with delicate imagery and bits of poetic flair.
As a study of England in the 80's it also works. It is seen through the eyes of a 13-year old, mind you, but it still pierces that utmost British hypocrisy of the middle-class; keeping up appearances, maintaining a debilitating marriage with a straight face [read: a pained smile], arbitrary parental rules and [the worst hypocrisy of all] a blindness towards own hypocrisies ["we are not against foreigners, oh no, but these 'Gypsys' simply have to go!"].
The book also touches on the Thatcher reign and the Falklands War, mostly well regarded at the time, but which looks terrible in hindsight. It touches on the big economic class divide that still, to this day, haunts England, and on the ever-growing materialism that sustains the middle class. It has tons of British terms, slang and wit. If one is not well versed in British English, parts of the book will definitely pass you by.
Had it been just one of the two [boy/England], I doubt it would have maintained my interest for almost 400 pages, but being about both, it did. It made me laugh, it touched me, and it taught me things. That is a great achievement for any book.
David Mitchell strikes me as a natural writer. Well-written, well-edited, no discernible flaws, I doubt anyone could write a better book about a normal 13 year old boy in a normal town.