Reviews

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

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wouterk's review against another edition

4.0

This is such a wonderful book and I'm really continuously shifting between 4 and 5 stars. It is a 5 star story. Mitchell really pulls you into the world of the different characters that we follow in this book. The story contains lush descriptions and has very vivid emotional scenes and pay-offs. I cried several times in the concluding chapters, just because I've come to understand the joy, the pain and the sacrifices of many of the characters.

But then there were a few things that did not really work that well for me, personally. But before that let me summarize spoiler-free. This book tells the story of the Dejima trading post of the Dutch East Indian Company (VOC), The only European trading post with the Japanese at the time. It is about this place in a particular historical time and it is made engaging by following the lives of Jacob de Zoet, Abaigawa Orito, Ogawa Uzaemon and many others. It has political intrigue, romance, action and even addresses a part of the war in the Indies between the English and the Dutch. Not to mention that it quite thoroughly addresses the themes of abuse of power and the abuse suffered by slaves and servants without making it the actual topic of the book.

And Mitchell does both very well. It is obvious that a lot of historical and cultural research has gone into this book. And at the same time the story starts and wraps up the lives of all the key figures introduced in the book. So without either suffering, Mitchell really made a novel that serves two purposes, to which one must take their hat off. His talent and craftmanship are indisputable as far as I'm concerned.

Still there is two minor gripes I'd like to address. One concerning Mitchells writing style in this book. The second concerns spoilers which I will hide for those who have not read the book yet of course.

First, I'm all for breaking a thought or spoken sentence with an observation or a 'said .... to ...' when it serves the story. Mitchell shows himself a master at setting the scene while also presenting the dialogue. However, it does break the thought of the reader as well, and when it serves no purpose and happens a lot, it starts to annoy me. Especially in the beginning of the book, I really had a hard time to justify, why I kept getting interrupted mid-sentence each time someone said, or thought something. So sometimes executed brilliantly, but too much of a habit to my taste in this book. In general, I found the book may sometimes be somewhat inaccessible to those who are not avid readers or literature geeks (like me, so no offense meant).

The second part concerns the wrapping up of the plot lines and really boils down to personal taste and maybe consistency in tone. And again it starts with a compliment as this book really took me by surprise.

Spoiler

Mitchell does not shy away from reality in his book. De Zoet is an honest moral man, which makes him a shunned victim by the corrupt and powerful. Ogawa organizes a great escape for Orito but it all fails and he dies, simply because Enomoto is an extremely powerful and influential man. But somehow in the end it still works out fine, which somehow does not entirely fit with the tone of the book.

So Enomoto is brought to justice by poison, giving the Magistrates harakiri (which is based on historical events) more purpose than it historically has had. The monastery with the sisters is freed. Orito can move freely as a female doctor and scholar throughout Japan. De Zoet happily marries and has a son (even though I bawled when he had to leave him behind).

Now, I'm not saying I disliked the ending. It is just that somehow this really stood out to me and gave me a tiny bit of dissatisfaction by incongruity.

No reason, not to read the book. Would recommend this any day.

katykelly's review against another edition

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4.0

I wondered at the start what would possibly take so many pages to cover, but I ended up really enjoying the multiple viewpoints and the interweaving stories. Easier to 'navigate' (if you'll pardon the pun) than Cloud Atlas.
Would have liked a happier ending, but I did enjoy how the story went.