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Loading... The Bone Clocks: A Novel (edition 2014)by David Mitchell (Author)
Work InformationThe Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
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This was my first David Mitchell and I think I can say that I'm a fan and will certainly pick up his other work (at least Cloud Atlas which I've had on my nightstand for years!) However, I'm not completely sure what I thought about The Bone Clocks. Parts of it were wonderful but there were almost as many parts that were very slow and that never tied themselves to the main story enough to justify their presence in the book. I would love to read more about the individual horologists and their lives. I really enjoyed the parts about Marinus as a young serf and his initial meetings with Xi Lo and Holokai and would like to know more about their metalives. I also want to know what happened to Hugo Lamb after he got into the car in Switzerland. There's so much that I'd rather have seen than all the time spent with Crispin Hershey. Overall, a mixed thumbs-up. Outside the last two chapters, I loved this book. Mitchell's writing is incredible. His main characters are flawlessly written. The final chapter was good, except for the lengthy and overly wrought disaster movie lecture on climate change, which droned on for far too long and added little to the overall story.
Mitchell's plotting is as intricate as ever, and he indulges in many familiar tricks. Themes, characters and images recur in different configurations, as in a complex musical work; characters from earlier Mitchell books make guest appearances; there are sly references to Mitchell's literary reputation, as well as to the works of other writers.... Mitchell is a writer who will always do his own thing, and the question to ask about his work isn't how profound it is, or what category it belongs to, but how much fun it is to read. And on that measure, The Bone Clocks scores highly. In fact, Holly’s emergence from “The Bone Clocks” as the most memorable and affecting character Mr. Mitchell has yet created is a testament to his skills as an old-fashioned realist, which lurk beneath the razzle-dazzle postmodern surface of his fiction, and which, in this case, manage to transcend the supernatural nonsense in this arresting but bloated novel. Another exacting, challenging and deeply rewarding novel from logophile and time-travel master Mitchell AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as "the radio people," Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life. For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics -- and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly's life, affecting all the people Holly loves -- even the ones who are not yet born. A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list -- all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumDavid Mitchell's book The Bone Clocks was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The writing was just ok - I really enjoy interesting writers and this one just did not shine through. The story line was very good. I was not happy with the way it ended, but since I did not write it, I don't get to decide. ( )