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Original Essays | May 3, 2012

Lucia Perillo: IMG The Polymorph's Perversity



It should not be so hard to write both poetry and fiction. Both arts, after all, make use of the same materials, words and punctuation. Poems... Continue »
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Ghostwritten (Vintage International)

by David Mitchell

Ghostwritten (Vintage International) Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

David Mitchell's electrifying debut novel takes readers on a mesmerizing trek across a world of human experience through a series of ingeniously linked narratives.

Oblivious to the bizarre ways in which their lives intersect, nine characters — a terrorist in Okinawa, a record-shop clerk in Tokyo, a money-laundering British financier in Hong Kong, an old woman running a tea shack in China, a transmigrating "noncorpum" entity seeking a human host in Mongolia, a gallery-attendant-cum-art-thief in Petersburg, a drummer in London, a female physicist in Ireland, and a radio deejay in New York — hurtle toward a shared destiny of astonishing impact. Like the book's one non-human narrator, Mitchell latches onto his host characters and invades their lives with parasitic precision, making Ghostwritten a sprawling and brilliant literary relief map of the modern world.

Review:

"Ghostwritten is also elegantly composed, gracefully plotted and full of humor....[It] recall[s] Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in its emotional scope and its ambitions. Like the great Russians, Mitchell makes us feel that more is at stake than individual lives, although it?s by individual lives that pain and loss are measured." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"This is one of the best first novels I?ve read for a long time....I read a proof of this on a transatlantic flight. When I got off in Atlanta, I couldn't put it down. I pulled my luggage in one hand along corridors and escalators, and held David Mitchell's last chapter up to my nose with the other. I finished at the carousel. It seemed appropriate. And it's even better the second time." A. S. Byatt

Review:

"David Mitchell's first novel is a firework display....The assurance and panache are truly remarkable....This is a remarkable novel by a young writer of remarkable talent." The Observer (London)

Review:

"Mitchell...has a gift for fiction's natural pleasures – intricate surprises, insidiously woven narratives, ingenious voices... " The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Mitchell deftly sketches each character to such a compelling extent that you become totally immersed....His nine characters and their random but fateful interactions provide a playful, suspenseful foray into our ever-shrinking world." Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"[Mitchell's] detail boasts the quiet and proud precision which makes his Englishness no surprise." The Seattle Times

About the Author

David Mitchell lives in Hiroshima, Japan.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

Lissa Summers, January 3, 2011 (view all comments by Lissa Summers)
This is really an amazing book. Because the story is told in a series of seemingly unrelated fragments across several generations, it read like a mystery in that I was always trying to figure out the connection between the fragments. The characters were very compelling and the history that is woven throughout is fascinating. David Mitchell is one of my favorites and I was not disappointed by this book.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
gavan, June 1, 2008 (view all comments by gavan)
Entertaining and rewarding read.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(9 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375724503
Author:
Mitchell, David
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Interpersonal Relations
Subject:
International Relations
Subject:
Connectionism
Subject:
Cognition and culture
Subject:
Transcendence
Subject:
Trancendence
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries
Series Volume:
no. 00-4754
Publication Date:
20011031
Binding:
trade paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
448
Dimensions:
8 x 5.16 x 0.93 in 0.75 lb

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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Ghostwritten (Vintage International) New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$15.95 In Stock
Product details 448 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780375724503 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Ghostwritten is also elegantly composed, gracefully plotted and full of humor....[It] recall[s] Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in its emotional scope and its ambitions. Like the great Russians, Mitchell makes us feel that more is at stake than individual lives, although it?s by individual lives that pain and loss are measured."
"Review" by , "This is one of the best first novels I?ve read for a long time....I read a proof of this on a transatlantic flight. When I got off in Atlanta, I couldn't put it down. I pulled my luggage in one hand along corridors and escalators, and held David Mitchell's last chapter up to my nose with the other. I finished at the carousel. It seemed appropriate. And it's even better the second time."
"Review" by , "David Mitchell's first novel is a firework display....The assurance and panache are truly remarkable....This is a remarkable novel by a young writer of remarkable talent."
"Review" by , "Mitchell...has a gift for fiction's natural pleasures – intricate surprises, insidiously woven narratives, ingenious voices... "
"Review" by , "Mitchell deftly sketches each character to such a compelling extent that you become totally immersed....His nine characters and their random but fateful interactions provide a playful, suspenseful foray into our ever-shrinking world."
"Review" by , "[Mitchell's] detail boasts the quiet and proud precision which makes his Englishness no surprise."
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