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Black Swan Green
From highly acclaimed two-time Man Booker finalist David Mitchell comes a glorious, sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new.
In his previous novels, David Mitchell dazzled us with his narrative scope and his virtuosic command of
multiple voices and stories. The New York Times Book Review said, “Mitchell is, clearly, a ...more
In his previous novels, David Mitchell dazzled us with his narrative scope and his virtuosic command of
multiple voices and stories. The New York Times Book Review said, “Mitchell is, clearly, a ...more
Hardcover, 294 pages
Published
April 11th 2006
by Random House
(first published January 1st 2006)
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A Spelling Test
I kept this book on the shelf for a few years, before thinking I was ready to read it.
I didn't want to break the spell of the first two David Mitchell books that I had read (I didn't really like Cloud Atlas) and I was a bit apprehensive about the subject matter of a young teenage boy.
Ultimately, it was very much a book of two halves for me.
Teenage Mates Land
The first half captured male teenagerdom in the period in the ...more
I kept this book on the shelf for a few years, before thinking I was ready to read it.
I didn't want to break the spell of the first two David Mitchell books that I had read (I didn't really like Cloud Atlas) and I was a bit apprehensive about the subject matter of a young teenage boy.
Ultimately, it was very much a book of two halves for me.
Teenage Mates Land
The first half captured male teenagerdom in the period in the ...more
view all 10 comments
Why is it that bad memories from adolescence never seem to fade away? I mean really, it's been a pretty long time since I was in junior high, yet there's certain times that those memories come flooding back to the point where it feels like all those events just happened yesterday. Being a shy, bookish type girl did not go over well in the junior high social scene, believe me. I remember one day getting off the bus after school, enduring more than the usual amount of name calling and laughing,...more
Jessica
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
little british boys
Shelves:
leetle-boys
I remember describing this book to a coworker:
Me: "It's about this little stuttering English kid who lives out in some little village during the Thatcher era, and sort of like, his coming of age kind of experiences?"
Coworker: "Oh God, that sounds awful."
Me: "No! I mean, I know it sounds awful the way I just explained it, but the book's actually really, really great!"
Two days later....
Me: (privately, to self...more
Me: "It's about this little stuttering English kid who lives out in some little village during the Thatcher era, and sort of like, his coming of age kind of experiences?"
Coworker: "Oh God, that sounds awful."
Me: "No! I mean, I know it sounds awful the way I just explained it, but the book's actually really, really great!"
Two days later....
Me: (privately, to self...more
1) A novel written from the perspective, or in the voice, of an adolescent boy is nothing new.
2) A novel concentrating on the development of character through formative experiences, some of which are representative of the time he or she lives in, is nothing new. It is called a Bildungsroman.
3) A novel that highlights, or hints at, the fragility of family, or the frailty of marriage, is nothing new.
Mitchell trods on these, and other, well-beaten paths, strivin...more
2) A novel concentrating on the development of character through formative experiences, some of which are representative of the time he or she lives in, is nothing new. It is called a Bildungsroman.
3) A novel that highlights, or hints at, the fragility of family, or the frailty of marriage, is nothing new.
Mitchell trods on these, and other, well-beaten paths, strivin...more
Miina
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
my husband and anyone with a young teen
I think I am developing a serious author crush on David Mitchell. I am a 31 year old married woman and yet David (we're on a first name basis now because I've read two of his books, see) creates the 13 year old character of Jason Taylor in such a manner that Jason becomes EveryKid to me. I feel his adolescent pain, fictional construct though it may be, because I felt that kind of pain when I was a pre-teen. Once again, David brilliantly captures the spirit of his protagonist and the time through...more
Growing up is tough going anywhere, and the town of Black Swan Green is no different. David Mitchell's novel follows Jason Taylor, a thirteen-year-old in 1982, as he navigates around a world filled with bullies, awkward love, confusing politics, and a family on the verge of disintegration. Each chapter is a different month in his life, so the novel reads episodically, but Mitchell's great strength is making each scene resonate with humor and pathos. He makes the ordinary seem epic and perfectly ...more
There's some interview from right when this came out where he says something like, "It's the best thing I've written, I'm confident of that." I don't know if that's just selfblurbing marketing nonsense or what, but I was totally buying it with this book. I thought I was done with the first person "unhappy, partially wised-up nine-year-old"* until I started reading this, and I was willing to totally make out with it, even given all of the Big Realizations the Character Comes T...more
Black Swan Green takes place over the course of a year: from January 1982 to January 1983. There is one chapter for each month. Until the last chapter, the other twelve chapters read more like short stories than chapters in a novel. The plotting is subtle, often focusing on the mundane joys of life than on the big picture events.
The narrator of the book is thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor. He is like Adrian Mole but more likeable and probably smarter. His narration is told in the past ...more
The narrator of the book is thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor. He is like Adrian Mole but more likeable and probably smarter. His narration is told in the past ...more
Emma
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Mand who also grew up in Worcs in the 1980s
Shelves:
emmasreads
It may not be quite the epic and intellectual Cloud Atlas, but infinitely more enjoyable and unputdownable. Whereas Cloud Atlas had enjoyable episodes interspersed by (shall we say) more experimental writing, this more human novel deals with the rich tapestry of everyday life. Its details of the mundane are anything but - they are touching, gentle and they make you genuinely care about the characters.
The novel is written from the perspective of Jason the protagonist - but it is more like...more
The novel is written from the perspective of Jason the protagonist - but it is more like...more
This book is nowhere near as ambitious as Cloud Atlas but definitely seems more finished. It's a year in the life of Jason Taylor, a thirteen-year-old boy growing up in the small English town of Black Swan Green, in a family that's on the verge of breaking apart. In the hands of another author this story might have become a self-indulgent, thinly veiled autobiography, but David Mitchell knows what he's doing. Jason is an intelligent and interesting person (and not annoyingly precocious, which i...more
AJ Griffin
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
sentimental softies; nostalgia-lovers, people who enjoy "that British charm"
My mom sends me a lot of books, many of which kind of suck. Every now and then though, she hits the jackpot (e.g., it seems like she was kind of ahead of the wagon on that whole "harry potter" thing).
Anyhow, this would fall into the "occasional awesomeness" category. I'm not sure if it's impressing or disconcerting, but the author is really fucking good at capturing the essence of being a 13-year-old boy.
Anyway, to summarize, let us quote the great G...more
Anyhow, this would fall into the "occasional awesomeness" category. I'm not sure if it's impressing or disconcerting, but the author is really fucking good at capturing the essence of being a 13-year-old boy.
Anyway, to summarize, let us quote the great G...more
I've heard this called a British Catcher in the Rye, and although the protagonist isn't nearly as depressed or angst-ridden, the comparison is apt. It's a beautiful, poignant character sketch of a fictional boy who I wished were real so I could be his friend. I loved it.
Patrick
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of 'Freaks and Geeks'
Recommended to Patrick by:
Steve
Shelves:
books-read-in-2008
You never know what you're going to get when you read a 'coming of age' book. When you get right down to it, they're often very indulgent and narcissistic exercises in creative non-fiction masquerading as the experience of the typical (or atypical, as they'd want you to believe) teenager or young adult. Other times they can be very true to life and touching, if not altogether inspiring.
'Black Swan Green' sort of splits the difference between these two results. It's not a bad bo...more
Although a few minor elements seemed somewhat hokey or unnecessary, as a whole, Black Swan Green is, in my opinion, a great piece of contemporary fiction. I really enjoyed Mitchell's characterization and use of episodic and unresolved short stories that combine to evoke a very strong empathy in the reader. This book is definitely a coming-of-age novel, and almost every scenario is stereotypically within that category, ie: first cigarette, first kiss, being bullied, dealing with parents, dealing ...more
I can't even tell you how much I adored this book. Part of it was the anticipation of reading another David Mitchell book, part of it was the fact that Mr. Mitchell and I (and his protagonist) are of an age, and part of it is Mitchell's sheer brilliance as a writer.
This book has a very simple premise -- it is a year (1982) in the life of 13-year-old Jason Taylor, a sensitive yet quite ordinary boy who lives in the back of beyond, Worcestershire. Each chapter of the book is a month in...more
This book has a very simple premise -- it is a year (1982) in the life of 13-year-old Jason Taylor, a sensitive yet quite ordinary boy who lives in the back of beyond, Worcestershire. Each chapter of the book is a month in...more
I read this book a month ago but it hasn't yet fallen into that oblivion in my mind so I'll write about it.
Before this one, I read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas which is totally, totally awesome! I mean, like, really awesome. And from that book, I already had David Mitchell pegged as one of The Good Guys In My Book. One of those Guys who can write really, really well and has an enourmous and empathetic world vision. Other Good Guys In My Book include Thomas Pynchon and William T. ...more
Before this one, I read David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas which is totally, totally awesome! I mean, like, really awesome. And from that book, I already had David Mitchell pegged as one of The Good Guys In My Book. One of those Guys who can write really, really well and has an enourmous and empathetic world vision. Other Good Guys In My Book include Thomas Pynchon and William T. ...more
Ok, so this is more of a precedence review than anything else. If I never give 5 stars then 4 stars becomes 5 stars, right? And where does that leave 4 stars? I dunno. You can't be assigning ratings you can't define, can you? This all isn't helping...
Ugg... Anyway.
No, this book is not perfect. But, hey, neither is Joe Mamma, ok!?!
English kid growing up in 80s Thatcher-England in a small village somewhere north and west of London. Kid has problems, as...more
Ugg... Anyway.
No, this book is not perfect. But, hey, neither is Joe Mamma, ok!?!
English kid growing up in 80s Thatcher-England in a small village somewhere north and west of London. Kid has problems, as...more
I LOVED THIS BOOK!! talk about remembering what it's like to be a teenager--David Mitchell captures this brilliantly. His book before this one, Cloud Atlas, is half read by Dino and I and one of these days i'll get back to it--also a serious page turner (cloud atlas is).
Black Swan Green is funny, honest, so enjoyable to get into the mind of Jason Taylor growing up in a small town in England in the 1980's--i mean, he gets his first kiss while Duran Duran's Planet Earth is playing at t...more
Black Swan Green is funny, honest, so enjoyable to get into the mind of Jason Taylor growing up in a small town in England in the 1980's--i mean, he gets his first kiss while Duran Duran's Planet Earth is playing at t...more
Mitchell's books are always unique. Even this one, seemingly a simple coming of age story, is astonishing in its insight and in its technique.
This story is about a 13 year old boy in a small town in England. It begins in January and runs through the year to the next January. Each month is a chapter that, in a way, stands on its own, so you get thirteen vignettes. However, they are all tied together with some overarching themes.
Interestingly, each chapter is about s...more
This story is about a 13 year old boy in a small town in England. It begins in January and runs through the year to the next January. Each month is a chapter that, in a way, stands on its own, so you get thirteen vignettes. However, they are all tied together with some overarching themes.
Interestingly, each chapter is about s...more
I wanted to like this book more. The writing is beautiful and the characters seem interesting. But I just found myself a little bored out of my gourd.
This book is a year in the life of Jason Taylor, a young British boy trapped between being a child and being a teen. He's bullied because he stammers. He writes poetry, but is afraid that others will find out because it's "gay" to enjoy reading or writing. His older sister is moving out of the house and his parents marriage is...more
This book is a year in the life of Jason Taylor, a young British boy trapped between being a child and being a teen. He's bullied because he stammers. He writes poetry, but is afraid that others will find out because it's "gay" to enjoy reading or writing. His older sister is moving out of the house and his parents marriage is...more
I'm finding that most of my favorite writers are British. This is the second book I finished by David Mitchell -- the first being _Cloud Atlas_. I loved Cloud Atlas. It is one of my favorite books ever -- an amazing piece of literature. But I can say that I loved Black Swan Green even more, even though Cloud Atlas was a more original piece of literature. While Cloud Atlas was more cerebral, Black Swan Green just grips your heart.
It is the story of a 13-year-old boy Jason Taylor in the yea...more
It is the story of a 13-year-old boy Jason Taylor in the yea...more
No narrative drive, thus little impetus to read. The narration by a stuttering 13 year old boy is reminiscent of Haddon's "Curious Incident", but not as convincing or interesting. It mentions specific 70s brands and products too deliberately - as if he's trying to make it understandable far in the future, not at all how such a boy would have described things at the time. Also, it makes it read rather like Nigel Slater's "Toast" and Andrew Collins' "Where did it all go ri...more
I have a hard time saying why this book is so charming. Perhaps it's Jason's naked honesty as a narrator, the way he lays bare his own insecurity. Perhaps it's the way he anthropomorphizes his own impulses and problems, or how the initially de rigeur contempt/resentment relationship with his older sister rapidly becomes something more respectful and interesting. Perhaps it's that he writes poetry under the name of Eliot Bolivar.
At any rate, Black Swan Green manages to make a memorabl...more
At any rate, Black Swan Green manages to make a memorabl...more
Such a refreshing story. David Mitchell’s range in voice is astounding, I mean, Cloud Atlas is staggering, genius, but ‘Black Swan Green’ is just so damn lovely. It’s endearing (“A brick of loneliness is reaching terminal velocity inside me.”) hilarious (“My life may be a swamp of shit but at least I’m not in Jason Taylor’s shoes.”), profound (if I quote anything, it would ruin it. Just take my word for it.). Towards the end I found myself wishing it was a the book of fornever-ending treadmills...more
I became a fan of David Mitchell last year when I read "Cloud Atlas" (my review) so it was fortunate that I ran into his 2006 book "Black Swan Green" at the library. Since I had seen it on several year end lists I picked it up and was not disappointed. It's very different from "Cloud Atlas" but does keep the style of having separate stories in different chapters. The major difference this time is that the stories are all about one year in the life of Jason Taylor...more
A well-written coming-of-age story and a curious departure for David Mitchell, author of the well-received Cloud Atlas, Ghostwritten, and number9dream. I wondered how much of it was memoir and how much invented novel, and also thought of Iain Banks' non-science-fiction novel, Whit -- it had a little of that feel to it, a smart outsider naif making his way through a not-always-pleasant world. But with a happy ending. To describe the story's elements -- a nerdy boy in a small village in England wh...more
Where Mitchell's Cloud Atlas was a psychedelic swirl of a gaze up into the night sky, this book was a more earthbound, look-at-this-shiny-beetle-in-grass sort of affair.
I find that characters in coming-of-age books are often either a bland and washy canvas to project one's own past onto, or else downright unlikeable in the manner of child actors (let's face it: Holden Caulfield is kind of an asshole). Mitchell does a good job with Jason, making him both a 13-year old everyboy, yet interest...more
I find that characters in coming-of-age books are often either a bland and washy canvas to project one's own past onto, or else downright unlikeable in the manner of child actors (let's face it: Holden Caulfield is kind of an asshole). Mitchell does a good job with Jason, making him both a 13-year old everyboy, yet interest...more
Michael Bennett
rated it
David Mitchell has been universally confirmed now as one of the world’s best young experimental novelists. He has been named by Granta of one of the UK’s best young writers, and two of his first three books were shortlisted for the prestigious Booker prize, one of which, Cloud Atlas, was cruelly robbed in one of the worst upsets in Booker history (according to me). So what do you do when you have written three critically acclaimed masterpieces of experimental literature? Why you write a semi-aut...more
I've had this book for a while but only read it recently on holiday when I was without distractions. It is nicely written, with many passages and phrases that I immediately re-read for the pleasure of the language, the well made observations, and sometimes suprising words ("ribbly", "trellisy", "rivery", "twizzled", "grundled", "twanged", "dragonish").
"Lying on my chest, my front ribs sank into my back."...more
"Lying on my chest, my front ribs sank into my back."...more
Black Swan Green is David Mitchell's best novel yet. He has shown great promise in all of his previous novels (Ghostwritten, number9dream, Cloud Atlas). However, I think this the first one that is truly in his own voice. He often wore his influences on his sleeve in the other novels. I am not a big fan of fantasy or science fiction, so I felt those elements marred his other novels. I guess one aspect of the novel that was interesting to me was the English nostalgia of the 80s aspect of it. Mitch...more
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David Mitchell was born in Southport, Merseyside, in England, raised in Malvern, Worcestershire, and educated at the University of Kent, studying for a degree in English and American Literature followed by an M.A. in Comparative Literature.
He lived f...more
More about David Mitchell...
David Mitchell was born in Southport, Merseyside, in England, raised in Malvern, Worcestershire, and educated at the University of Kent, studying for a degree in English and American Literature followed by an M.A. in Comparative Literature.
He lived f...more
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