Ghostwritten was published in my last year as a bookseller when I’d become a little jaded with sales pitches. It attracted a good few tired phrases such as ‘dazzling debut’ and ‘literary tour de force’ but in David Mitchell’s case they were well deserved.
In this set of linked short stories, some fitting together like a jigsaw, others joined by tenuous threads, Mitchell explores chance and fate. From the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack to Russian art fraud and gangsters, from a sweet love affair between two jazz obsessed young people to a resignation which sets the CIA into a terrifying spin, the stories would be ambitious in themselves but to meld them into a whole takes a level of accomplishment that few manage to attain. Mitchell did it with apparent ease, catching the eyes of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize judges.
Ghostwritten turned out to be one of those debuts which was never matched for me. I admired the literary pyrotechnics of the much-acclaimed Cloud Atlas but didn’t love it and haven’t kept up with Michell’s writing since.
What about you, any blasts from the past you’d like to share?
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I loved “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet”, both for the writing and the concept. I haven’t read any of his other novels.
Maybe I should give it a try. Thanks!
I loved this when it came out! I haven’t read all his novels now but I completely agree this seems unmatched. I’ve enjoyed others by him but not to the same extent. Cloud Atlas got so much attention but for some reason I didn’t connect with it the way I did with Ghostwritten.
Lovely to hear that! Cloud Atlas felt over complicated to me. I remember reading it for work at the time and thinking I’d like to give it up but couldn’t.
I haven’t read this one but I have read a few of David Mitchell’s. And I liked them a lot but the last couple have left me feeling a little flat.
I often find that I’m disappointed after brilliant debuts and I don’t think Cloud Atlas helped so I suspect I’ve not given him a fair chance. Perhaps I should stick with the earlier ones, though.
I must give this a go. I haven’t been a great David Nicholls fan and didn’t get on with CLOUD ATLAS despite people loving it, though I did enjoy his recent YOU ARE HERE.
Cloud Atlas was a tricky novel unless you clicked with it, I felt.
David Mitchell ≠ David Nicholls!
David Mitchell is one of my husband’s favourite authors but I’ve only ever read his Slade House and Jacob de Zoet, which in some ways are the odd ones out. I attempted Cloud Atlas but couldn’t get anywhere with it. This does sound like one I’d enjoy, though. My library has a book club set of it, intriguingly, which suggests they think it’s good for discussion.
Cloud Atlas would have defeated me had I not needed to read it for work. I hope you’ll try Ghostwritten. Definitely lots to talk about.
I read Cloud Atlas first, as a teenager, and was bowled over (though I doubt a lot of it would stand up to a re-read), so when I got to this one I already had a sense of what to expect from Mitchell and so was less impressed. My favourite Mitchells are probably later – Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks.
Cloud Atlas felt unwieldy to me but it’s the book that made his name. I plan to read Jacob de Zoet given the positive comments about it on here.
Personally I love David Mitchell. He’s AMAZING in person. I’ve read Black Swan Green, Slade House, and Utopia Avenue. He’s incredibly inventive, sometimes working almost too hard at delivering at an almost insane level of entertaining twists. I will read Ghostwritten, thanks for the prod!
I hope you enjoy it as much as the three you’ve already read, Jennifer. It really hit the spot for me: a clever structure that worked brilliantly.
I think I went for Ghostwritten when the hubbub over Cloud Atlas was swelling, and it remained a favourite throughout. I didn’t DISlike Cloud Atlas, but I suppose I would have expected it to be a favourite and, yet, some of the others I’d reread in an instant and perhaps CA would be further odwn that list.
Pleased to hear you’re a fellow Ghostwritten fan, Marcie! It seemed to cohere so much better than Cloud Atlas for me but I suspect I’m in the minority.