From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

Black Swan Green

David Mitchell

Start date: February 15, 2015

Finish date: March 15, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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Group Reads Discussions

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What Members Thought

Jul 25, 2018 Lindsey Z rated it did not like it

I was just not the right audience for this book. I struggled through all of the 1980s British slang in this novel and therefore had a really unenjoyable reading experience. I also wasn’t sure what the underlying message or point of the whole book was. There is a lot of bullying, boys being mean to each other even though they are friends, homophobic comments and attitudes, hypermasculinity without criticism, and heterosexism in this novel that I couldn’t parse out or be OK with. The couple of sto ...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: england, coming-of-age

Very different from Mitchell's other work, but excellent in its own right - a perfect time capsule of a book in how it preserves the early 1980s and the drama of being 13. Mitchell spices it all with a wry-but-gentle humor that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy but not saccharine. ...more

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