The Bone Clocks

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Average customer rating 4.6 (10 comments)

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David Mitchell creates another puzzlebox of a book that is a literary feast. Each section focuses on different characters at different times that connect to an over arching storyline. Each section is compelling and each first person protagonist engaging. You read this wanting to know who these people are and how they fit together. It's a linearly progressing story so you aren't lost across time and it's heroine shows up in each section so you are never totally out at sea, lost as to what's going on. This is by far the best book of the year from the level of writing, to the concept and execution. I would love to see him tackle a truly genre type book next. Amazing stuff.

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I have absolutely enjoyed this book. To follow someone's life in a way that does not bore me with monotony is refreshing. I am thrilled with David Mitchell on this one.

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I was so excited to see Bone Clocks as an indispensable title. I also freaked out that it was listed as sold out. I emailed Powells and found out my copy was coming. The book was worth the panic attack. David Mitchell showed the form he did in Cloud Atlas switching between voices. Holly was a character who fascinated me from the start. For those who read Mitchell it is so much fun to pick out his allusions to previous books.

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James Wood in The New Yorker criticized The Bone Clocks as muddled and MItchell too self-conscious as an author, but Stephen King said in this week's Rolling Stone that it was the best book he had read all year, and I agree. This is Mitchell's muddled and wonderful Joycean moment, and confusion becomes exhilaration at every turn of the plot. The author is more concerned with content than craft, but only occasionally does this become a weakness. He has mastered the art of storytelling, so he has earned the right to display the difficulties of authorship and, at the same time, challenge, provoke, meander, astonish, and appall. The jacket on the beautiful British edition I purchased (which has a much more colorful, intricate cover) says it describes our "self-devouring times," which it does, sometimes in ways that will make you cringe. Like me you may find yourself occasionally, and somewhat uncomfortably, identifying with Mitchell's deeply flawed characters. But you will also laugh, out loud and often! I loved this book.

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I've seen this book described as "the most ambitious book ever written" and the have read praise of the authors "attention to detail" yet I find neither the ambition nor attention to be qualities I look for in a book, and certainly not qualities that add anything but tedium and sheer volume to this tome. Every character, no matter how trivial to the storyline, is fleshed out in minute detail. There are some characters in the book that I really did want to know more about, and expected to see them return since Mr. Mitchell had spent so much time on developing them, only to never become reacquainted. They just disappear. The book is huge. And truthfully I could have put it down and not gone back to it, but I fell into the author's trap and kept going to see how he would wrap it up. I wasn't that interested in the story anymore, but I really wanted to see if there was any way he could gracefully bring this mess to an end. There wasn't. It was quick, neat, and formulaic. I'm sure there are readers out there who will appreciate this book. Not me.

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This was one of those books that I had to just read and not think too much about. But once it all came together in the last two sections... wow. I don't know if I would have picked it up, but getting it though Indiespensable... I'm glad I've read it.

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I got through the first 100 pages, then life intervened. Can't wait to get back to this book.

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I'll go ahead and say that this is a better novel than Cloud Atlas. This novel spans the timeline from 1984-2043, following along the lives of a few main characters who are new, and some supporting characters who have appeared in other Mitchell novels. (Although reading those books is not necessary). The jumps in time, especially the first, occur at what seems like the worst possible time for the narrative, only to all be wound up together beautifully by the end of the novel. A very large book that seems daunting becomes one that is impossible to put down and ends up being read in a much shorter period of time than considerably smaller books. Fantastic read from one of the best novelists out there these days.

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“Our most lusted-after gong, the Brittan Prize, has--scandalously--eluded his grasp so far, but many believe that 2015 could finally be his year.” Alas, as the nearly-prophetic David Mitchell transcribes, this year, just shy of 2015, is not his year, either. Mere days ago that prize eluded him once more. The week has been bitter-sweet, though. Three days into sales and Mitchell’s THE BONE CLOCKS has been seizing top rankings from New York’s finest newspaper. Rightfully so, performing better than his self-created reflective characters. Congrats, Sir Mitchell. I’m sour mostly because in both CLOUD ATLAS and now in THE BONE CLOCKS the character authors are my favorite. They seem to connect me with near- intimacy to the genius author’s mind. Yes, pieces of Mitchell lie scattered about: a stammer mention, a reference to Tom Hanks, but the most provocative and drawing are the inmost thoughts of the penmen. Take for instance: “A writer flirts with schizophrenia, nurtures synesthesia, and embraces obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your art feeds on you, your soul, and, yes, to a degree, your sanity. Writing novels worth reading will bugger up your mind, jeopardize your relationships, and distend your life. You have been warned.” Sigh. Perhaps his craftsmanship is too great for the prize. The first chapter of CLOUD ATLAS could not be read without an accompanying dictionary; each layer of time withdrew a complexity of articulation. The opening of THE BONE CLOCKS drops us into a teenage mind during the era of Cyndi Lauper. Judging by the ease of reading and the warmth of character, I would dare say the craft of writing was no less of a task--rather far more difficult--making effort seem without. That’s okay, because I still enjoyed this book immensely. It played my emotions, it toyed with my thoughts, and it danced in my heart. What else does a good book need? I conclude with another self-prophesizing quote from THE BONE CLOCKS, “He was doing quite well until the last sentence, but if you bare your arse to a vengeful unicorn, the number of possible outcomes dwindles to one.” That outcome for me resulted in deep appreciation. Wonderful. Thank you Random House for sending this to me for review.

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Just started, and love it already