Mini Discussion For August : TheThousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

[Melissa]

I enjoyed this exchange late in the book, when Jacob is talking with Orito about Dr. Marinus, who had taught her about obstetrics:

He was proud of you. "Pupils like Miss Aibagawa justify me, Domburger," he used to say, and "Knowledge exists only when it is given. ..." Like love, Jacob would like to add. Marinus was a cynical dreamer.

P. 469 in my hardback edition.

[Ann D]

I like that - "a cynical dreamer" - almost a contradiction in terms.

Did anyone else listen to the Fresh Air interview with Mitchell? It was very recent (August 5?), but I got the impression that Gross hadn't really read the book. They talked a lot about his childhood stammer and how looking for other ways to say things to avoid problem sounds definitely influenced his writing.

One thing that really struck me about Jacob was his terrible loneliness. I think that must have been very typical of a lot of the men who went to the colonies to make their fortune, and then finally returned to their own countries in late middle or old age.

[Ann D]

Gabrielle,
Wasn't the heroine in SHOGUN called Mariko? My family and I really enjoyed all of James Clavell's books set in Asia. That was a long time ago.

Sherry,
Thank you for the welcome back. I lurk quite a bit in the "movies at home" and "what are you reading" topics. I've gotten some great suggestions for viewing and reading. Hopefully, I'll retire in 2 years, so I'll have more time for CR. I miss it.

Ann

[Carol]

I think that was the case Ann. I was terribly sad when Jacob had to abandon his son to a society in which there would not be many opportunities for the child. I did think Mitchell tried to wrap it up to fast in the end. Did anyone else think he was searching for an ending and maybe this was not exactly like the one he wanted? Just wondering if it was just me.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Carol (Kitty) wrote: "I think that was the case Ann. I was terribly sad when Jacob had to abandon his son to a society in which there would not be many opportunities for the child. I did think Mitchell tried to wrap it ..."

Thank you, Ann. I think her name was Mariko.

[Melissa]

Ann, I heard a bit of the Fresh Air program with Mitchell. I guess Terry Gross asked about the stammering because of the main character in his previous novel, Black Swan Green.

Carol, I agree that it was a devastating scene when Jacob sailed away from Japan and his life there. In a way, his son stood in for his whole Nagasaki experience of being there but never belonging there.

[Carol]

Phillip I am reading Cloud Atlas now. I really like Mitchell's nuances in language which leaves me chuckling, in all that I have read of his. His play on words and such are refreshing. In Jacob I am surmising that Orito was in love with the interpreter. I can't remember his name off hand.

Do you remember what was said about a thousand autumns . I can't find it again. I thought it was a beautiful passage. It was the interpreter expressing his love for Orito. Something like a thousand autumns. ... describing that when you don't
see someone you love for just one day it feels as though you haven't seen them for a thousand autumns.

[Joel]

Carol (Kitty) wrote: "I did think Mitchell tried to wrap it uo too fast..."

I actually really liked the huge leaps forward over the last chapter/two pages. The story proper really does end with the death of the possibly magical abbot, and the last section was a nice goodbye for all those characters, particularly Jacob. I felt like I really got a handle on the life he'd lived and the way he never really left Japan or the trading post, just in those few pages.

[Carol]

I wanted it to go on. He did wrap it up quickly and nicely. Jacob's time in Japan was probably the highlight of his life don't you think. He grew into the man he was, in Japan. I guess I wanted to know how he used those life traits for the rest of his life in Holland. I wanted details of the aftermath.