The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
A review by laislinns
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
2.0
I love David Mitchell. He is one of my favourite authors. Which makes it really difficult to admit that I really didn't enjoy The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
This is not an indictment on Mitchell. I still can't wait to dive into his other works. But here is why I just couldn't get into this particular piece of historical fiction (which, to be fair, isn't a genre that I usually enjoy in any event. I felt like if anyone could do it in a way that I would love, it would be Mitchell.)
From the start, I found the story didn't flow, the prose felt stilted and unnatural. I kept going, partly because of my love for Mitchell's other works, knowing that it's recommended to read it before others like Bone Clocks, from a hope that I would become used to the way it was written and find myself becoming unconsciously invested in the characters, and partly because I really needed a read to tick the nautical theme on my 2023 reading bingo challenge. And it took me around 250 pages to actually start feeling like the storyline was going somewhere. But even then, by the end of the novel I didn't feel the payoff that comes from a gripping read. I felt nothing but relief that it was over, to be frank.
If Dutch and Japanese historical fiction is your jam, then you may have a very different experience to mine. So don't let this review be the reason you don't pick it up. But if you're reading this and expecting it to be one of Mitchell's better works, pick up Cloud Atlas, or Number9Dream, or Ghostwritten instead.
This is not an indictment on Mitchell. I still can't wait to dive into his other works. But here is why I just couldn't get into this particular piece of historical fiction (which, to be fair, isn't a genre that I usually enjoy in any event. I felt like if anyone could do it in a way that I would love, it would be Mitchell.)
From the start, I found the story didn't flow, the prose felt stilted and unnatural. I kept going, partly because of my love for Mitchell's other works, knowing that it's recommended to read it before others like Bone Clocks, from a hope that I would become used to the way it was written and find myself becoming unconsciously invested in the characters, and partly because I really needed a read to tick the nautical theme on my 2023 reading bingo challenge. And it took me around 250 pages to actually start feeling like the storyline was going somewhere. But even then, by the end of the novel I didn't feel the payoff that comes from a gripping read. I felt nothing but relief that it was over, to be frank.
If Dutch and Japanese historical fiction is your jam, then you may have a very different experience to mine. So don't let this review be the reason you don't pick it up. But if you're reading this and expecting it to be one of Mitchell's better works, pick up Cloud Atlas, or Number9Dream, or Ghostwritten instead.