by David Mitchell
Oh, it's been a while since I last visited my own blog. I'm positively rusty. Still there are a few things I want to put on the record. All in its time, though, and every thought in its own blog post. For this one, just a few musings on the book I just finished reading. "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" by David Mitchell reminds me of the Clavell's "Shogun", the book I devoured as a youngster. De Zoet took me to the port of Nagasaki at the turn of the 18th century. It's a fascinating story about love, history, politics and the clash of cultures. It's written in a fashion I find extremely annoying: the author often interjects a quick visuals from the surrounding right into a conversation or a train of thought of a character, which makes a reader constantly re-reading previous lines to be able to follow two strings of narrative going at the same time. In almost 500 pages long book it quickly becomes a tiring way to tell the story. Which is too bad, because the story is really captivating, and deeply sad.
Well, after closing the last page I'm equally saddened with the story and relieved that I don't have to put up with the annoying style of storytelling any more. A strange mixed feeling, maybe not of love and hate, but certainly of melancholy and happiness.
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