The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet--David Mitchell

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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet--David Mitchell

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1BCCJillster
Apr 21, 2010, 4:34 pm

I was lucky enough to read this as an ARC and kept thinking I HAVE to pop in and recommend it to all who love historical fiction about Japan. The setting is 1799-1800 in the main. Here's the review I wrote for LT. I'm dying to discuss it with others who love this genre.

Finished now and BOY does the second half of the book pick up speed. I LOVE this book and Mitchell's skill. His facility and variety of language amazed me and made me smile with pleasure. It's an epic adventure of so many parts, yet so whole.

When I was still mid-book I wrote the following out of enthusiasm. Now that I've finished, my enthusiasm has more than doubled and I'm sure it will be one of my favorites of the year.David Mitchell book The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,

Written while in-progress: I'm more than half way now and it's long and densely packed. Some will think it too dense and tedious, but others will be amazed at the historical research and his ability to give a sense of immediate surroundings. I found myself asking...how did he know that? How did he find that out? Because it does not feel made up. The setting is a Western enclave on a little island shut off from Japan by a gate in 1799-1800s. The characters are a mix of Dutch traders, a few from other parts of the Western world, and many Japanese with whom they interact.

Mitchell seeds the book with rich vignettes and folktales told by various people--these are almost like campfire stories that give marvelous flavor to the times and what people were capable of believing. DO NOT read plot-giving reviews if you're going to read the book because there are a few shockers along the way that are much better not anticipated. Really! I suspect reaction is going to be mixed because it is quite long but it's also linear, which helps a lot. Mitchell is really in control of his skills and manages to convey a sense of immediacy/reality by letting the background 'noise' interrupt a paragraph in a way that feels very realistic. But he doesn't overuse the device so it's not intrusive.
Ok a small example

Uzaemon suspects van Cleef contrived the scene to show off his possession.

'More's the pity,' croons Sekita, 'she's not on the menu.'

If de Zoet had had his way, thinks Uzaemon, Orito would be a Dejima wife, too ...

Cupido, the slave distributes a bottle to each of the two dozen diners.

...giving herself to one man instead of being given to many.

'I was afraid,' says Sekita, 'they'd be forgoing this pleasant custom.'

That's your guilt talking, Uzaemon thinks. But what if my guilt is right?

The Malay servant Philander follows, uncorking each bottle.

And the scene continues...He doesn't do this a lot or it would be really annoying, but it's very effective when he does. I'm not sure I've chosen a great example, but it gives the pacing and method of allowing concurrent happenings and thoughts.
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After finishing: I can only hope lots of folks read this so we can all huddle together and talk about it. I was truly sad to have it end and will miss the sound of this book as well as a few of the people in it.
Here's hoping to a shorter wait for Mitchell's next epic.

2JoseBuendia
Giu 23, 2010, 2:46 pm

I have it preordered from Amazon and can't wait. Cloud Atlas was amazing.

3bridgitshearth
Apr 25, 2011, 1:37 pm

Thanks for the recommendation. I already have this on a wishlist, so I'll go ahead and get it in the summer. This sounds chockfull of erudition, which I love because I can only get that secondhand!

4hugh_ashton
Apr 26, 2011, 4:30 am

A book I highly recommend. Having lived in Japan and visited the Dejima museum/reconstruction in Nagasaki, I maybe have a clearer mental picture than many readers about the physical surroundings of the story, but the book is so well-written, to my mind, that it doesn't need any help from the real life examples - it would work equally well if it were a completely imaginary universe.

5edwinbcn
Mag 5, 2012, 9:27 pm

173. The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Finished reading: 16 December 2011



Amid quite a few mediocre and disappointing readings, I was happy to get started on this great novel, The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell. Oddly, Dutch people in general do not know very much, at least not in detail, of the history of Dejima and the Dutch influence on Japan. While reading this novel, especially the last part, I looked up various things and was astounded by the scope of Dutch influence through "Dutch studies" on Japanese modernization.

The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a novel on a grand scale, which never tires reading. Both the Japanese story line and the Dutch-British skirmish story line are joined in an elegant and convincing manner.

The story of the Dutch-British skirmish is based on a true historical event, but displaced in history by about five years. Mitchell has picked up this story and turned in into a wonderful book. Dutch authors have not written about this story, which Mitchell uses so well to illustrate the decline of the Dutch empire, the ascent of the British empire and the Japanese caught in the middle, realizing the imminent need for their steps on the path of modernization, which would lead Japan away from the feudalistic society to a modern nation, as the first in Asia, and develop its own imperialistic plans.