false 53509015 73 885230 067697497X 9780676974973 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179182135m/885230.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179182135s/885230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/885230.Black_Swan_Green 4.00 3 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 14483 2613 2006 0 2009-10-14T15:21:12-07:00 1447146 254 2009-10-14T15:21:12-07:00 0 2009-10-12T14:39:31-07:00 1436691 124 2009-10-12T14:39:31-07:00 0 2009-10-09T11:21:14-07:00 1423707 118 2009-10-09T11:21:14-07:00 Wasn't loving the beginning, but its growing on me. I kinda hate children. 0 2009-10-07T10:27:27-07:00 1414044 66 2009-10-07T10:27:27-07:00 0 2009-10-07T10:26:39-07:00 1414040 66 2009-10-07T10:26:39-07:00 4 0 false Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 15:23:26 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 13:23:37 -0700 2009