I began Number9Dream. n/a, any advice?
― sandra lee, gimme your alcohol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 19:20 (thirteen years ago) link
ha ha - what do you need advice on? anything in particular?
(note: I read Number9Dream like five years ago and have a terrible memory so I am not going to be able to offer anything useful on it)
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:41 (thirteen years ago) link
oh at the top I say I like Number9Dream more than Cloud Atlas? that's weird, I don't know why I said that. But referring back, I do see my five year estimate was accurate! So good for me!
My current ranking:GhostwrittenCloud AtlasBlack Swan GreenNumber9DreamJacob de Zoet
but I like all of them
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 23:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Paris Review is available at the LRB shop.
I was blown away by #9dream - maybe even more than I was by all other Mitchell except BSG and (haven't read) the Thousand Autumns.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 4 November 2010 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Have you read any Murakami, Pinefox?
I'd currently rank them:
GhostwrittenCloud AtlasBlack Swan GreenJacob De ZoetNumber9Dream
Number9Dream never really gelled for me but it certainly had its moments.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 4 November 2010 11:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I like Number9Dream best, though the center section of Cloud Atlas is probably my favorite thing he's written.
Number9DreamCloud Atlas
GhostwrittenJacob de ZoetBlack Swan Green
― Cherish, Thursday, 4 November 2010 14:47 (thirteen years ago) link
oh at the top I say I like Number9Dream more than Cloud Atlas?
Yeah, so far I think I agree.
― sandra lee, gimme your alcohol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 4 November 2010 15:28 (thirteen years ago) link
I need to reread all of these, but I'm not much of a rereader.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 4 November 2010 15:31 (thirteen years ago) link
i thought black swan green was great, though a little bit "neat" in the way it ended. but as far as that coming-of-age type of story goes, it was at the top of the genre.
― omar little, Thursday, 4 November 2010 20:34 (thirteen years ago) link
yup.
i guess i would put cloud atlas/ghostwritten/black swan green above jacob de zoet too, but that makes it look like it's not good, and it is. really enjoyed it.
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Thursday, 4 November 2010 20:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Nice lil piece abt what a Kate bush fan he is - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/01/kate-bush-hero-david-mitchell
― just sayin, Monday, 3 January 2011 12:03 (thirteen years ago) link
to answer question above: only read Murakami short stories. found them deeply unconvincing, or deeply shallow, or frustrating, or nugatory, or immature. wonder how far it's a translation problem and he is a much better writer really; was quite bamboozled by how mediocre he seemed in English sentences.
hence, while not doubting that #9dream must derive in part from DM's admiration of Murakami, am pretty certain that as a piece of writing in English #9dream is a million times better than, at least, the limited amount of M. that I have read in English.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 4 January 2011 11:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm not a fan of Murakami at all, at all, but the charm of his writing-- and the thing that Mitchell emulates in number9dream-- at least, in my estimation-- is that episodic, non-sequitur quality that you find in classical Japanese literature. And, I'm told, Chinese lit too, but I haven't read any of that.
Mitchell takes the same idea, and has Eiji's adventure transpire like a stream-of-consciousness. The first time I read it, when the Yakuza section suddenly happened, it felt very much like Murakami, not to mention that Goatwriter chapter.
On another note, I reread De Zoet over Christmas and it's far and away my favourite of his. I was asked to interview him for a magazine, and started making inquiries, but later realized the editor was talking about this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(actor)
― ARP 2600 vs. Atari 2600 (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 12 January 2011 11:31 (thirteen years ago) link
sadly, in their home country this guy is a lot more famous
― thomp, Wednesday, 12 January 2011 21:00 (thirteen years ago) link
No disrespect to this guy intended.
― ARP 2600 vs. Atari 2600 (Ówen P.), Thursday, 13 January 2011 04:20 (thirteen years ago) link
On another note, I reread De Zoet over Christmas and it's far and away my favourite of his. I was asked to interview him for a magazine, and started making inquiries, but later realized the editor was talking about this [other] guy
that sux cuz he was by a decent margin the most interested and enjoyable of the handful of authors ive ever interviewed
ive thought about giving de zoet another shot because it took a second reading for me to really 'get' black swan green but i cant muster up the energy.
― Lamp, Thursday, 13 January 2011 07:46 (thirteen years ago) link
I like "...De Zoet" even more after letting it sink in and talking about it with my friends as they've read it.
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Thursday, 13 January 2011 15:41 (thirteen years ago) link
apparently tom hanks is going to star in an adaptation co-written and co-directed by the wachowskis and tom tykwer of run lola run?
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:51 (thirteen years ago) link
produced by ... michael bay?
― they call him (remy bean), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:57 (thirteen years ago) link
i always thought it should be a 12-episode HBO miniseries broadcast in the same order as the book, w/ different directors for each segment doing 2 episodes each
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 02:03 (thirteen years ago) link
unfortunately i am not in charge
your idea is better!
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 08:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Much better, although conversely I don't think there's so much spilling out of Cloud Atlas that it couldn't be served well by a film adaptation. Hopefully they restrict Hanks to just one section rather than having him play several characters.
Luisa Rey section aside, the BBC might make a better fist of a Cloud Atlas series than HBO. Can't quite see an HBO-ised Timothy Cavendish story somehow.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 09:09 (thirteen years ago) link
It would be OK if Hanks just played the old gay bloke that Luisa Rey meets on a balcony
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 10:54 (thirteen years ago) link
definitely, matt, HBO was just a placeholder
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 12:51 (thirteen years ago) link
i think the most middle section of the book could be awesome – if it were done all dreamy and super-futuristic like
― they call him (remy bean), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 12:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Apparently playing Dr. Henry Goose: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111/
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 23:02 (thirteen years ago) link
About one hundred pages into Jacob de Zoet, which I am so far enjoying more than his other books.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 May 2011 12:53 (thirteen years ago) link
http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2011/news/111121/hugh-grant-300.jpg
hugh grant in makeup on set
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Tuesday, April 12, 2011 10:03 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
This is a great idea and would prob be better than the book which for all its effort never really shook the milquetoast Englishman tone
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 12 November 2011 17:57 (twelve years ago) link
What an insult to Calvino frankly
J/k it was p good
nice try
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 17:58 (twelve years ago) link
Do u love this book max, cause I only like it it, its a bit stilted or something
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 12 November 2011 18:44 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i do. i dont get 'stilted' at all from it--some parts dont succeed as well as others for sure. i think ghostwritten is better probably. (the others are all good too but not as easy to compare.) this guy is like my favorite working author though!
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 18:56 (twelve years ago) link
Ghostwritten is still my favorite, although a large chunk of the new one was beautiful.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
It's a great book and I agree with Max (and suspect Alfred is correct about excellence of new book also) -- as living authors go, DM is brilliant and admirable and I like to celebrate him.
as I have said before I even thought no9dream, which no one here liked, was often staggeringly brilliant
― the pinefox, Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
I really liked Cloud Atlas, but I found Jacob de Zoet problematic. I seem to remember feeling it toiled somewhat. Pretty sure I wrote something on ILB, hang on.
― Fizzles the Chimp (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
Here we go:
I... can't make up my mind. Some good things - there's a nice aesthetic tingle produced by yoking constructs of Dutch 18th C Enlightenment/language with Japanese, and also his brief thumbnail detail has a sort of... well, what I wd approximate ignorantly with Japanese brush strokes, or the fine detail of its poetry/art.Yet, and yet, it's awful slow burning. Mitchell's good at little set pieces, but actually, not an awful lot is happening. Continual hints at mystery are beginning to produce an atmosphere of a type of magic realism, whereas Cloud Atlas details a sense of real magic, rather than gesturing towards a sort of totemic/symbolic/metaphoric spirituality, which always strikes me as half-baked, and not a little lubberly.There's a touch of the TEFL about the language stuff and a touch of the history lesson about more than a few of the character speechs.His style grates on me sometimes as well, with characters' thinking descriptions in a most writerly fashion. Noticed this as well in Cloud Atlas, but it mattered less.
Yet, and yet, it's awful slow burning. Mitchell's good at little set pieces, but actually, not an awful lot is happening. Continual hints at mystery are beginning to produce an atmosphere of a type of magic realism, whereas Cloud Atlas details a sense of real magic, rather than gesturing towards a sort of totemic/symbolic/metaphoric spirituality, which always strikes me as half-baked, and not a little lubberly.
There's a touch of the TEFL about the language stuff and a touch of the history lesson about more than a few of the character speechs.
His style grates on me sometimes as well, with characters' thinking descriptions in a most writerly fashion. Noticed this as well in Cloud Atlas, but it mattered less.
― Fizzles the Chimp (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
i loved the new one, even the mystical mountain demon part
― average internet commentator (remy bean), Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
i liked no9dream, pinefox
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 19:50 (twelve years ago) link
Feel like for all the formal ambition he's p workman like, he could afford to be more outragous or something, I'm all spread yr wings and fly David mitchell - like riffing off if on a winters night a traveler but finishing the stories is kind of oddly in opposition to the sprit of the thing - don't get me wrong it's still p awesome in its own way I just found it k frustrating
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 12 November 2011 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
eh i think IOAWNAT is the wrong referent here, obviously its a forerunner to this but what hes doing is grounded a lot more in sci-fi/fantasy than it is in postmodern text games
that being said he doesnt "finish the stories" in ghostwritten, maybe youd like it more?
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
Isnt cloud atlas a direct ionawnat reference tho
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 12 November 2011 20:34 (twelve years ago) link
i dunno
― max, Saturday, 12 November 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
I didn't like winter's night and I loved Cloud Atlas
yes, he says CA idea was taken from WNight, but from my POV he has taken something and vastly improved on it.
Presumably that is possible to do and many instances could be found - eg Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, or whatever (nothing against Haley)
― the pinefox, Saturday, 12 November 2011 21:01 (twelve years ago) link
omg you're the only one, pinefox! besides me! who doesn't like if on a winter's night! <3!
― horseshoe, Saturday, 12 November 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
Crazy talk!
― ice cr?m, Saturday, 12 November 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
i like his novels a lot but am also biased cuz ive interviewed a couple of times and he was just super intelligent and engaged and fun to talk to and once took like an extra hour just to chat w/ me abt like japanese music and nabakov, and was really encouraging and kind abt my own writing
'ghostwritten' is his best book, i think, although there are stretches of 'cloud atlas' that are incredible i think some of the sections really lag, also hes better at beginning than ending mb
hes kindof a storyteller at heart tho, i think, like he cares abt his characters and what happens to them, it makes his more fractured stories less inventive/clever but also nicer to read cuz theyre not just chess pieces or w/e. when i talked to him abt 'black swan green' he talked a lot abt 'realism' and caring abt truth which is kinda in opposition to calvino, sort of
― we were cool once (Lamp), Saturday, 12 November 2011 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
My favorite part of Jacob de Zoet was the final section: the sea captain's ruminations.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 November 2011 21:16 (twelve years ago) link