Black Swan Green in David Mitchell Appreciation

Feb 28, 2012 s.penkevich [mental health hiatus] rated it really liked it

Shelves: coming-of-age

'The world unmakes stuff faster than people can make it.'

Month by month our lives spiral forth into the future, with each moment shaping who we are and who we will become. It is no wonder that the pivotal years of adolescence, the stage of development classified by Erik Erikson as the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, is fertile land for novels (if the nutrients of such land has been dried up from overuse of such topics is up for debate). Mitchell’s Black Swan Green examines this tumultuous per ...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2011, mitchell, reviews-5-stars, reviews

A Spelling Test

I kept this book on the shelf for a few years, before thinking I was ready to read it.

I didn't want to break the spell of the first two David Mitchell books that I had read (I didn't really like Cloud Atlas) and I was a bit apprehensive about the subject matter of a young teenage boy.

Ultimately, it was very much a book of two halves for me.

Teenage Mates Land

The first half captured male teenagerdom in the period in the 60's and 70's (when I grew up) and the 80's (when Jason grew ...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Madeleine rated it really liked it

Shelves: our-libeary, 2011, head-in-the-clouds-nose-in-a-book

In every review of "Black Swan Green" I've read, the reviewer made sure to include some remark like "This isn't nearly as ambitious as 'Cloud Atlas'" or "I was expecting this to be more like 'Cloud Atlas' and, like, it totally wasn't." And that's really not fair to BSG because the two books are delightful and beautiful in their own ways for different reasons.

I had no idea what to expect from this book. I picked it up because I bloody love David Mitchell (and, yes, "Cloud Atlas," which I do adore In every review of "Black Swan Green" I've read, the reviewer made sure to include some remark like "This isn't nearly as ambitious as 'Cloud Atlas'" or "I was expecting this to be more like 'Cloud Atlas' and, like, it totally wasn't." And that's really not fair to BSG because the two books are delightful and beautiful in their own ways for different reasons.

I had no idea what to expect from this book. I picked it up because I bloody love David Mitchell (and, yes, "Cloud Atlas," which I do adore so very much, WAS my introduction to his brand of wonderful) and the beautiful things he does with language as both a wordsmith and a storyteller. So when the adolescent narrator mentioned his stammer the first time, my stuttering self needed a second to regroup. Seeing one of my favorite writers tackle a speech impediment much like the one I've struggled with since first grade? Yeah, it was a combination of a little too much at once and everything I wanted.

And you know what? In less than 300 pages, thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor perfectly described all of the hang-ups and anxieties and fears and Catholic-sized guilt it's been taking me 20 years to figure out. It's intimidating to feel that in sync with a fictional pre-teen. But Jason Taylor is a young lad in early '80s England, so there's a lot going on both around and inside him; thus, his stammer -- our biggest commonality -- was not the central plot from which the story radiates. This book couldn't win me over solely on my overwhelming empathy for an invented youth -- though it certainly helped.

Like the other Mitchell books I've read, BSG is, at its core, a series of intertwining vignettes (in this instance, each chapter represents a month in Jason's life for 13 consecutive months); the most obvious dissimilarity comes from how immediately apparent the connecting thread is. Instead of multiple narrative voices, Mitchell stuck to one this time -- with much success. Coming-of-age tales can be so damn onerous and so immersed in self-aggrandizing observations that reading them is as unpleasant as actually going through puberty again. Jason is such a charming, observant and conflicted child that I was taken with him at once. The truths he sprinkles throughout his narration are said with such reverence and awed discovery that it keeps the typically cloying sentiment found in lesser examples of the bildungsroman genre at bay. ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it liked it

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction, biog-and-autobiog, uk, autism-maybe, solitary-protagonist, mitchell-uber-book

There is little narrative drive, but Mitchell is pretty much my age and this is heavily autobiographical, so I enjoyed being transported to a fairly accurate version of a world I remember. I could imagine knowing someone like Jason, maybe even being him some of the time.

The narration by a stuttering 13 year old boy is slightly reminiscent of Mark Haddon's Curious Incident, but not as convincing or interesting.

It mentions specific 70s brands and products too deliberately - as if he's trying to ...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Steve rated it it was amazing

I can’t wait to read more by this guy. It’s clear how Mitchell has such devoted fans. The only word of advice I would give to anyone before reading this tremendous coming of age story is to choose not to be bothered about whether a 13-year-old boy could, in real life, be such a polished and insightful writer. Just enjoy the fact that Mitchell is. He’s ace, as young Jason might say!

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Jun 28, 2012 Agnes added it

Shelves: ya, brit

Reads like an autobiography with lasting images of a childhood home, local hangouts, faces of schoolmates and neighbors. The author paints Jason's world as splintered. Because we hear Jason's story first hand, from the protagonist himself, it all adds up through his reflections on the world in which he lives in and the way he presents himself in that world. We get to know Jason when he's popular and when he's not popular with the local kids. He's often confounded with how his actions have or do ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Casey rated it it was amazing

This is the most amazing coming of age novel I've read in a long time. Mitchell perfectly captures the miseries and triumphs of his narrator. I loved it through and through. ...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Gary rated it it was amazing

A beautiful work of art. It is amazing to watch David Mitchell do what he does with words. It is magic.

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Mar 01, 2011 Michael rated it really liked it

David Mitchell proved his mastery once again with a simple story with all of the complex David-Mitchell changes of voice and time. The book is a bit depressing and pessimistic at times, but Mitchell makes it truly entertaining and fascinating. A very good read for anyone who picks it up, you won't be disappointed in the least. ...more

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Jul 25, 2014 Eric rated it really liked it

Great Mitchell read, as always. This one is much more earthy, naturalistic than Cloud Atlas or Jacob DeZoet. No cannibalism in sight, for example. He makes an utter hell of the middle school years and then offers an improbable, wholly satisfying redemption, passing through bullying and peer anxieties, sibling rivalry, school terrors to one of the top-five first kisses in fiction and a state of well earned self-reliance for the lead. Top notch.

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