The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

[Travis]

In chapter 7 enjo6ing it even though I have no idea where it's going or what the point isthus far


Chapter. 1 (view spoiler)[ that birth. Wow. I was fearing the worst. Several years ago 2 days before thanksgiving I called the vet at 9pm for a hard calving. Got out to me about 10 I think. We tried everything. Chains wouldn't get calf. And as mentioned in book next we tried eye hooks. Which is literally a pointed hook you put in the eye socket towards nose. Let's you get a real good pull on head. I pulled chains on legs vet pulled eye hook. No deal. You can use eye hooks on living calves the eyeball just pushes back out of way. In our case calf was already dead. With calf dead a C-section would have been unnecessary stress to the cow which was our only concern by this point. Vet says gonna have to cut it. I'm like what. The calf we gotta cut it let me get my kit. She got a wire rope saw and she went in got it places where she wanted then basically made sure the cow wasn't being cut while I sawed. Basically cut off all four limbs allowing us to remove calf a piece at a time in 5 pieces. Finished up about 230 am. To this day that is the hardest calving I've ever had. When the book spoke of cutting the fetus out I was going oh no don't make them do that. I hate to even think about that. Of course the question is since the baby came to life where do we see it next (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

Thanks Margo. That's helpful.

[Sarah]

Thanks for sharing that Travis. I think. Lol. Wow. What an experience!

Are you listening to the audio too?

[Travis]

Yes I too have the dual narration

[Sarah]

I'm using the new branded oneclickdigital to listen to this and annoyingly it doesn't tell me what % i've read so I cannot update my status.

[Sarah]

I have read chapter 3 and I'm really enjoying the book. Nothing has happened as yet nor do i know what is happening as Travis has commented. But I like it. (view spoiler)[Love that Marinus has shown up. In male form. (view spoiler)[ I guess it is a few centuries before Bone Clocks and Slade House. (hide spoiler)] I like that he's going against the grain and sees blood letting for the quackery it is. I like his attitude. Someone talked about a snake attack and how his hat is made from the snake. I like how he referred to it as the "squeezy bugger". (hide spoiler)]

[Margo]

Sarah wrote: "I'm using the new branded oneclickdigital to listen to this and annoyingly it doesn't tell me what % i've read so I cannot update my status."

That's really annoying. BorrowBox and playaway are the same.

[Travis]

Yes Margo there were some details we didn't need in regards to the 4-6 spoilers earlier

To all the spoilers on Mitchell's other books grr. I can't read them this is my first by him. Lol

Does anyone know how long a span this book covers. Just wonder if the baby comes back around in future years.

[Travis]

Well my brain isn't keeping up with character names and stuff so if you've made it through ch 6 should be safe for this (view spoiler)[ so the midwife ant the babies birth is the student that Jacob has an eye for? So that's one link between characters ? What is the deal with him and the woman. Is it strictly academic. Jacob seems the type it could be. Yet I feel like just for the fact he left the love of his life and came to this foreign country mainly because of her father that even though Jacob doesn't know she is more of a love interest. Or does the father in law know something of this woman student and purposely sent Jacob here because of her. That may be more of my wild imagination but I'm just speculating. Still early in the novel (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "Who is narrating your versions Margo and Janice? ..."

I'm reading the ebook edition.

[Janice, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "I have read chapter 3 and I'm really enjoying the book. Nothing has happened as yet nor do i know what is happening as Travis has commented. But I like it. [spoilers removed] I like that he's going..."

(view spoiler)[The guy was trying to sell Jacob a hat made out of snake skin, but he made the swindler aware that he knew it wasn't snake skin, but "poorly cured shark skin". (hide spoiler)]

[Margo]

Travis, re chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ I have the midwife pegged as the love interest too! I think his "love" for Anne is very much the romantic kind and I am surmising that it won't last out the separation. As for the time span of the story - from the title I'm guessing it's a thousand years ;-D > (hide spoiler)]

[Travis]

Almost wish I had ebook to keep up with sayings and proverbs. Missed the one about mother in law but I do like this one. To not say no is to half say yes

[Travis]

I got into part 2 of the book and all speculation is off the table the events and places our characters have ended up has me with no clue where this is all going at all. And that's fine. Keep me guessing it keeps me going

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm just starting Chapter 6. I'm finding it a bit of a slog. I read one page and I'm falling asleep.

To end of chapter 5 - (view spoiler)[I couldn't help but think that Jacob's future father-in-law found a convenient way to get him out of the way - send him to Japan for 5 years to make his fortune. That strategy is much better than forbidding the union. I wonder if he's successful in permanently separating them.

Miss Aibagawa was the midwife in Chapter 2. The chapters are starting to connect. It's interesting that she asked to study under Dr, Marinus, considering that (Bone Clock connection) (view spoiler)[the baby may be an "atemporal" - like Dr. Marinus with the ability to continue their life indefinitely. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Margo]

Janice, I had the same thought re cuapter 5

Finished pt 1 (view spoiler)[ this part ended with some shocks! The mindless cruelty of the masters to the slaves, the execution of the theives and finally the imprisonment of Jacob for refusing to overlook the corruption of his boss. I hope the next section is from the pov of the midwife. What did she make of Jacobs gift? Is there more to her sudden disappearance than we are told. Was she attempting to visit Jacob in prison?

I can wait to find find out more about the guy who cut the head of the snake in the warehouse - I can't rememer his title. I think he is going to be important to both characters futures, though like Travis, I have no clue where this is going :-) (hide spoiler)]

[Travis]

I think the narrators are probably adding much to this one Janice. I went over the half way mark this morning. Now things are getting interesting . They've also gotten more complicated so as they say. The plot thickens. Being so far I you'd think I'd have more to comment but to be honest I got rather engrossed in things and completely lost what chapters I was in. Or am in now actually. Maybe 25

[Travis]

Oh yes Margo there is more to things and that's exactly where it starts getting really interesting.

[Janice, Moderator]

I asked this in the "what are you reading thread"... how are you finding the audiobook? I thought there were some confusing parts that wouldn't translate well to an audiobook. But, Travis, you're saying the narrators are adding to the story.

[Sarah]

Sorry I've been AWOL. I'll be starting up again with this one now.

[Margo]

Welcome back Sarah.

Janice I always find unusual names difficult on audio i.e. foreign or fantasy. Life would be simpler if all characters had one syllable names lol

The first part of the story was very fast paced and, first time ever, I had to slow audio down to 90%. The male part of reading was very good though. Jacob is a very likable character with a lovable innocence and , for me, the voice has become part of the character.

[Travis]

I think that using a male and female narrator was a good decision. It really helps keep things straight. Especially where I'm at in the story as the male and female parts of the book are being done separate or if that sentence doesn't make sense the POV keeps changing at this point I do think the male narrator reads faster than the female though. The female is almost too slow for me but I'm not going to switch speeds Everytime the narrator changes
Basically I made that comment Janice because I haven't felt any of the story to be a slog so I felt like it must be the narration adding

[Margo]

Have to agree with Travis - I have found the engaging from the start :-)

[Janice, Moderator]

Thanks for clarifying that. It's a bit of a slog for me in that I keep falling asleep. It's not the fault of the book, but it's dragging the story out in that I'm only reading a few pages a day before I start snoring. It doesn't help that my neighbor above me gets up for work at 5:00 and thumps across the floor, waking me. That will be a thing of the past soon! Yeah!

I finished chapter 6 & 7 - (view spoiler)[I'm rather surprised at Marinus' animosity towards Jacob. I'm not sure if it's because they started out on the wrong foot, or if there is something more afoot. Hehehehe. Having met Marinus before in 2 other books, it just seems a bit out of character for him. That was a nasty trick he played on him, using him to demonstrate a device to his medical students.

"Butter your artichoke", is a rather unique euphemism for having sex. Made me chuckle when I read it.

This attraction Jacob has for the midwife is going to lead to disaster. (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

Travis sivarT wrote: "In chapter 7 enjo6ing it even though I have no idea where it's going or what the point isthus far


Chapter. 1 [spoilers removed]"

I would have replied sooner, but I thought this was a spoiler for chapter 7 so marked it on my sticky note to come back to it. Having raised cows, your story made be cringe. (view spoiler)[We had to pull a few calves, but never dismember one. (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

Travis sivarT wrote: "Well my brain isn't keeping up with character names and stuff so if you've made it through ch 6 should be safe for this [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I don't think Anna's father knew about the midwife. I think he just wanted Jacob out of the way. Five years is a long time, and things happen. Did you notice that the guests Anna's father invited to that last supper with Jacob were all potential suitors for his daughter? Get the scumbag clerk out of the way, and hopefully his daughter will fall for someone with more money. (hide spoiler)]

[Travis]

Japan, it seems, is known as the land of 1000 Autumn's. Which gives no clarity to the title at all except a classy way of saying Jacob de Zoets adventures in Japan perhaps.

[Travis]

Well I began part 3. I am having trouble following this part so far each part seems to focus on one character. Part one Jacob part 2 the midwife and Ogawa. Now I'm on a boat with either traders or a navy I still haven't white figured. How all these parts end up needing together I just don't know. I almost feel like each oart is a separate story in a book of novellas. Not that I'm worried. I feel I've followed events well enough that it will all become clear. Although the over theme seems to be corruption and deceit and it's these things which make the story at times tricky to follow.

[Margo]

Travis I didn't know that was a name for japan.

The Bone Clocks is also made up of a series of stories with seemingly tenuous connection, as is Cloud Atlas. It seems to be a pretty common thing for him. I was actually quite surprised to find Slade House so straightforward.

I've just finished chapter 19. (view spoiler)[ focus of past 2 is very much on the midwife as she struggling with life in the convent. It's unlike any convent I've heard of with the inmates fed a daily dose of drugs and the intention being that the sisters become pregnant. Around here the intention is for nuns to avoid that eventuality! ! To what end? Why do they get the women to give birth and then have the children adopted? It can't be coincidence that the MC of this part is a midwife.

Jacob is referred to in passing. I think I picked something up wrong as I was under the impression he went to prison. It seems he is free and is still assisting in Dr. M's demonstrates. I'll have to relisten to the end of part 1. (hide spoiler)]

[Cherie]

I actually got 8 pages read at lunch time today. It sounds like the audio is really good. I might see if the library has it available.

[Travis]

To be honest Margo I'm a bit confused at this point where Jacob is and what he's doing. I'm not sure it clearly said.

[Janice, Moderator]

Travis sivarT wrote: "Well I began part 3. I am having trouble following this part so far each part seems to focus on one character. Part one Jacob part 2 the midwife and Ogawa. Now I'm on a boat with either traders or ..."

That seems to be Mitchell's style. Separate individual stories that eventually connect.

[Janice, Moderator]

Margo wrote: "Travis I didn't know that was a name for japan.

The Bone Clocks is also made up of a series of stories with seemingly tenuous connection, as is Cloud Atlas. It seems ..."

Even Slade House was similar in that each chapter was 9 years in the future and featured new characters (except for the brother/sister duo).

[Cherie]

I had some time to read more this evening.
I am in chapter six, about the middle. (view spoiler)[ I liked how Jacob withheld the sheet music from the Doctor until the afternoon, when he comes back to meet Miss Aibagawa. (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished to the end of Chapter 10. I managed to stay away long enough to read 3 chapters last night.

Chapter 8 - (view spoiler)[ I liked the way that Jacob exposed the interpreter's trickery. He seems to be picking up the Japanese language quickly.

The bantering while drinking all that rum was rather boring. It's when I'm reading sections like this that I wonder if I'll ever finish the book. What was the point of all that? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9 - (view spoiler)[ And so the interpreter gets his revenge. He would be a dangerous enemy to have. I wonder what the repercussions of the stolen picture are going to be.

That Marinus. He's a tricky one. I knew that Marinus was going to win the bet. Funny that Jacob fell for the lousy billiard player bait and switch routine. It's a rather common one. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 10 - (view spoiler)[ Rendezvous in the garden. You just know that he's going to fall madly in love with her, if he hasn't already. Interesting discussion of the word Rosemary. We have a couple of possibilities from which Marinus' name was derived. It could have been from the scientific name of Rosemary, "rosmarinus". Or it could have been from the nautical name Marinus. Is it relevant to the story, or just interesting?

Interesting discussion on slavery. I've heard that same discussion in favour of slavery before, you know how civilization was built on it. Why is it that the owners denigrate the slaves so much as to insist they aren't even human with feelings and emotions? One answer is that it allows them to treat them as cattle. It makes me angry. (hide spoiler)]

Ooof, I have about 40 pages to get to the end of Part one.

[Travis]

I think tgat and let me note you're testing my memory pretty good, that it was not so much the banter as the drinkers which hold the relevance to that section Janice

[Margo]

Janice re chapter 10 spoiler (view spoiler)[ the comments on slavery made me think of the slave traders in The Underground Railroad who referred the to the humans they were selling as "it" (hide spoiler)]

Finished part 2 (view spoiler)[ the scene where the midwife was arguing with herself about wheter or not continue her escape was like watching a carcrash in slow motion - you just knew what her decision was going to be. She would have spent the rest of of her life blaming herself, wrongly, for the death of woman and her twin babies. I wonder if her descision would have been different if she had the the full facts?

Poor interpreter! Not only did have foreknowledge of his own death but he also died knowing that he was the cause of the midwifes death too. (hide spoiler)]

I really should be reading my book club story but I can't put this one down ;-)

[Travis]

I finished . What I can't seem to decide is if I'm unhappy with the way some of it turned out or is it just that it wasn't the way I expected it to be. Really it was all done quite well. Still something is bothering me. Perhaps I missed a detail along the way preventing me from being content . I was thinking should I go 4 stars or 3.5. well whatever it is bugging me I don't think it's enough to drop my rating. So 4 stars. Story kept me engaged the whole time and it did wrap things up quite nicely at the end.

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm bringing up the rear. LOL!

[Cherie]

No, Janice. I am still behind. I just got to chapter 9 tonight. I feels like I am reading slower than normal. I think because of the names. I like to roll them around in my mouth, I think. I can't read your spoilers because I am on my iPod, but here are mine.

End of chapter six (view spoiler)[I couldn't believe that the Doctor was really going to use Jacob for the smoke experiment! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter seven (view spoiler)[ the earthquake was so well detailed, I could almost feel it. Mitchell is very good setting the scene, isn't he? The Abbot "incident" was an interest story line. I love all of the little side pieces and innuendo that are being marched out each day. The stories of each of the characters really make them come alive. I loved Ogawa's. He and Jacob found out that they are both prisoners on their islands. I am dying to see where the Chinese tea pot mystery is going to go. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter eight (view spoiler)[Jacob's tricking Tomine into revealing the kanji for the numbers was brilliant. The corruption just gets deeper and deeper, but Jacob has made a Japanese enemy now. He also knows that Ogawa's is protecting him. The poker like card game was fun, with some of of the player's stories. So sad how the sailors were shanghaied. It was no surprise at the end, to find out that the cards were marked. The story of the ginseng switch is "a nice piece of work", but does that mean that the Doctor is in on the corruption schemes on the island too? (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished part 1 - (view spoiler)[ This part ends so brutally. We have the executions, which speak to the brutality of the time period in Japan. We have Jacob being demoted so severely because he wouldn't go along with the corruption. Orito is sequestered away in the nunnery. And finally, the vindictiveness of Fischer is repugnant.

I really felt bad for Jacob. I was hoping that the ship would have some incident and sink at sea. I wanted him to punch Fischer in the face.

I wonder if Marinus will come to Orito's rescue, or even Jacob's. (hide spoiler)]

I came across this listing of characters in the book. I always am a bit concerned that these lists give away spoilers, but at least this one is a chronological listing of when characters are introduced in the book.

That reminds me, I wonder if (view spoiler)[the baby will be more than just a mention in the first chapter. Was the first chapter just setting up Orito as a main character? Or is there more significance to it? (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

You've made some similar observations to mine, Cherie.

[Travis]

I'm going to make a very general statement and say I was disappointed the baby didn't have a larger role in the story than it ended up having. Not sure how it could have exactly though

[Margo]

I'm on chapter 35, about 3 hours listening left. I am not as engaged in part 3 as i was in the previous parts. Should finish today or tomorrow.

[Travis]

Part 3 wasn't as gripping as the first parts I agree. For a lot of it I couldn't figure the relevance. There is a lot seemingly unnecessary detail although I believe the point if it was to show the integrity or lack of of the characters

[Margo]

Travis, re pt 3 (view spoiler)[ I liked the ships captain and I get what Mitchell is saying - it's never as simple as the good guys vs the bad guys - but I think he could have conveyed that idea in a lot fewer words! I'm a lot more interested in Jacob and the Abbot (hide spoiler)]

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished Chapter 17. (view spoiler)[I'm much more engaged in Part 2 mainly as a result of Orito's plight. It's so repugnant to me that her father's friend would incarcerate her in such a manner. Will she be successful in breaking the addiction and escaping? I wonder if Otane (the old woman in the cottage) will be able to help her. (hide spoiler)]

[Margo]

Question for those reading this as a print or ebook. At times throughout the book I've noticed (when the narrator is japanese) that sometimes there are haiku like snippets in the text. They usually are about nature but don't always follow the traditional 5-7-5 rule. Are these inserted into the print as a poem would be?

example, for those that have got this far, at the end of pt 3, chapter 39 (view spoiler)[ a black butterfly
lands on the white stone
and unfurls its wings

Beautiful image (hide spoiler)]

[Cherie]

Margo - I was looking at the text in chapter 39 in my ebook, to see if I could see what you are talking about. Trying not to actually read the text, just skimming. There are lots of lines in italics that look like someone's thoughts, but not poems. Like he is remembering pieces of lines maybe, but I'm not sure. That is still 30 chapters from where I am, so I wasn't trying to look real hard at who and what, if you know what I mean. :)

I am trying hard not to start another book until I'm done with this one, now that I'm done with Sarah Waters.

[Sarah]

Well I have had no chance to listen to this. But I envisage next week I will be able to pick it up again. It's a shame as I was enjoying it. My commute to work has changed which is why the reduction of listening to this. Normally I listen to it when I walk/bus to work but I've been getting a lift and catching the train which has thrown a spanner in the works to that.