The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet [Paperback]

Some gentle advice imparted through bitter experience, don't ever read an introductory chapter of a book on Amazon before it is published. I opened the PDF for the first chapter on David Mitchell's monumental new book "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" some two weeks ago and have wished my life away ever since waiting for its full publication. A warning in addition the first chapter based on the birth of a child is quite graphic but it drags you into this complex, beautiful, intriguing, funny and brilliantly written work from the author of that masterful Russian Doll of a novel "Cloud Atlas" and possibly the finest young British writer of recent years.

The story is set on the man made Island of Dejima a remarkable place built by the Japanese in Nagasaki Bay in the 17th century as a small and heavily restricted "point of entry" into the country for Western foreign merchants. This enclave was a conduit between the thrusting mercantile empire of the Dutch (the origins of which are so brilliantly captured in Simon Schama's "The Embarrassment of Riches") and the traditional, secretive society of Japan with its doctrine of Sakoku ("closed country"). An isolation intended by the Shogunate's to create uniquely homogeneous culture which still has resonance today.

The book centres on a range of very strong characters (I particularly enjoyed the "old sage" of a physician Dr Marinus) but obviously the main protagonist is Jacob De Zoet a Dutch clerk arriving for a five year posting to work for the East India Company. Young De Zoet is a rather pious and anxious individual dedicated to his work and his love of the psalms coupled with a desire to make money and return to Holland to wed a future bride. He is a typical "innocent aboard" but thrown into circumstances that are from simple not least the Japanese hostility to Christianity and the inscrutability of a closed society.

In a short review I am desperately trying to capture the richness and breadth of Mitchell's work without giving too much away. One of the essential features of the story centres on the fact that his fellow workers at the East India Company outpost do not play it straight and corruption is rife. Compounding this is the fact that Dejima despite the influence of Japanese traditionalism is a port and not surprisingly has its own exotic dimensions and distractions. And then there is the giant shadow cast by Japan itself a mysterious and secretive society and a world that Mitchell teases you to glimpse into and discover. It is also not without its pleasing attractions in this case the facially scared but alluring midwife Orito Aibagawa. Then there are a range of other key plots and developments not least the role of a very strange convent, the trajectory of Jacob as a character, the despicable Lord Abbot Enomoto and the introduction of the British here represented by a deliciously bad tempered sailor.

There is something for everyone in "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" a book that is a sprawling cocktail of love, treachery, power politics and brutal violence. Throughout Mitchell writes brilliantly and his sharp turns of phrase are a joy. A baby is described as a "boiled pink despot" while De Zoet is warned at one time of the dangers of foreigners succumbing to the charms of Japanese women as finding themselves "mired in the same syrupy hole".

This book is narrated in the third person and despite the compelling subject matter it is possibly a more straightforward book than "Cloud Atlas". It certainly does take a while to grasp the varying characters and you have to cross reference and return to parts of the book to keep apace. Sub plots abound and with concentration these evolve brilliantly particularly as you devour the second half of this longish but very manageable novel. By the time I reached Chapter 36 "The room of the last Chrysanthemum at the magistracy" I was so fatigued that I was injecting black coffee but the last 60 pages whizzed by.

All in all Mitchell has produced a book of which makes your imagination leap and like all great fiction the sense of satisfaction at finishing the book combines with the slight regret that despite the opportunity for a second or third read it has disclosed its key secrets. "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" is ultimately the dazzling product of a writer already at the height of his powers and if there is a finer novel to be published this year then a "hat" will be devoured in this part of the world. If you disagree before you press the negative vote button please tell me why as I would be delighted to hear from you.

There's little doubt that David Mitchell is one highly special author whose leaps of imagination, literary wit and challenges have found him many fans. And long may he continue to delight and prosper. The literary world needs writers like Mitchell to keep pushing the boundaries. Whether you're going to enjoy the ride is another matter.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a big complex novel that takes some commitment to savour. Indeed it's just as likely that you'll be struggling to get to grips with it after three short chapters as equally half way through - though by then you may just have learnt to live with all its machinations. Part of the problem for the naysayers is Mitchell's master intelligence packing to the paragraph rafters; characters, ideas and historical tributaries. It's like being in a room where everyone's shouting to themselves when all you want to do is find a quite corner for a chat with someone you find interesting.

That analogy makes some sense when there is much reading pleasure to be had here but the best description is that joy only comes in waves: of wonderment and loud sticky trudge. Oh for more of those quiet colourful corners to relax in. The plus, of course, is for those that relish a challenging and undoubtedly intelligent read but that still shouldn't undermine those that do, but fail to grasp Mitchell's multi-layered rooms.

Complex books can often seem a little cold and unforgiving and though there's much delight in having conquered, there's an equal frustration in having been defeated. Yes there is a poetic and beautiful heart beating inside this novel and some will see a lithe and energetic body running with it; others may struggle to get past the supposed blubber.

Sadly, though Mitchell has a master craft, more universal appeal isn't forthcoming yet. But maybe that's as much a cause for celebration.

Treat with unbridled joy / caution.

Ever since Ghostwritten I have been a great admirer of David Mitchell's work. The innovative structures to his novels, combined with masterful descriptive prose set him at the pinnacle of his field. I had been very much looking forward to reading 'Thousand Autumns', but holding off, as the anticipation of reading a book can sometimes be almost as pleasurable as reading it. Before you start a book there is a myriad of possibilities, afterwards there is only one reality. Perhaps I had built the novel too much in my mind, but I found 'Thousand Autumns' to be like a family Christmas.

This novel is a curious beast. The unwieldy title hints that Mitchell may have been deliberately trying to make his novel inaccessible, and the awkward, meandering narrative backs this theory up. The quality of writing is once again second-to-none. From the queasy opening to poignant conclusion, the novel's description is sumptuous and evocative, but it lacks the accessibility of 'Black Swan Green' or the structural elegance of 'Ghostwritten' and 'Cloud Atlas'.

In essence this is a straightforward historical novel set in and around a Dutch enclave in Japan. Dejima is a far flung outpost of the crumbling Dutch East India Company. Jacob de Zoet is a young clerk hoping to make his name in the company, so that he may return to Holland and marry the woman he loves.

I found the opening hundred or so pages dull and hard going. Much of the dialogue is dialect, and dealt with trading and commercial transactions. It is only when De Zoet discovers that all is not what it seems, and his fortunes take a dramatic downturn, that the novel gets going. After that though he doesn't make another appearance for hundreds of pages, and it's hard to see why he is the novel's title character. This for me is indicative of the novel's main flaw. It is too sprawling, with too many narrative strands. Just as one strand picks up a head of steam, it fades out, and the novel shifts point-of-view. Overall the novel is coherent, but with tighter editing `Thousand Autumns' could have been even more powerful.

The writing style and even the themes explored reminded me of Amitav Ghosh's epic novel Sea of Poppies. I found Ghosh's novel to be the more satisfactory of the two, but before reading it I had had no expectations; if anything I thought I might not like it. So perhaps that is where I missed out. Maybe I was doomed from the start, and this was a novel that would never live up to the one I had imagined.

I may have found 'Thousand Autumns' to be flawed, but it still showcases the considerable talents of one of Britain's finest authors. There is much to admire in this novel, but I urge caution; try not to expect too much.