false 2918872 26511 14316 0812974018 9780812974010 536 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586589m/14316.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586589s/14316.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14316.Black_Swan_Green_A_Novel 3.94 2985 Black Swan tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran Lps, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons.
Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 4565 4.05 14506 2617 2006 3 2 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 10 16:16:25 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 21:37:47 -0700 2007
I liked the writing. I read that it is semi-autobiographical, and it seems like the kind of book that I'd like to write about myself--just remembering what it was like to be 13. Remembering all the ins and outs of it. Thirteen wa...more...]]>