Three interwoven stories take the reader from Nagasaki and a pirate-ridden world of import/exports to forbidden mountains filled with strict protocols and magical realism in this historical fiction set in the early 1800s. Intregues, trysts, missed opportunities, betrayals, translations, and power are ongoing themes. A great read.

I don't think I've read a David Mitchell book yet that I didn't love. This is in many ways a much more straightforward book than you might be used to from him, but the combination of vivid writing, humour, an incredible amount of historical research (it's set on a Dutch trading outpost in the bay of Nagasaki in 1799) makes it if anything an ever stronger read.

How he straddles the different sensibilities of the Dutch, Japanese and English through language is amazing, but of course this wouldn't count for much if it wasn't also a very emotionally captivating novel.

An impressive accounting of a young Dutchman, Jacob, signed under somewhat duress to the Dutch East Indian Trading Company (extinct for quite some time now). He finds himself in Dejima, which was an artificial island exclusively for trading when Japan was closed off to the world. Only high class prostitutes from Nagasaki, merchants, and interpreters were allowed on the premises. And so, through young Jacob’s eyes, we see a pretty unique historical moment. Now, the accounting of the events are well researched but from what perspective are they recorded? Something to keep in mind. And Mitchell, I think, wants you to have that at the forefront of your mind as well. So much of the book is dedicated to the demonstration of culture and communication. Translation plays a huge role in the book. Which is why so much of it is in dialect. Something I am not found of at all. But, thematically, I see why it is present and it felt well executed to me, aside from the recreation of speech impediments, which do nothing but interrupt the flow of the otherwise excellent prose. The book is in 5 parts. Part 1 is solely the European viewpoint through Jacob himself, which, while he quite open minded compared to the prejudices and rampant racism, do clue the reader into the fetishization and western mindset. It’s uncomfortable and eye-roll worthy sometimes, and it’s meant to be. The stakes, however, are pretty low. So while everything is absolutely stunningly rendered. Customs and mannerisms and colloquialism and on, all seem painstakingly researched and conveyed deftly. The book still did lag a bit for me in this part. It mostly establishes all the characters and exposes the western mindset and tests Jacob’s character. The second part then switches to two characters native to the area who are introduced and are somewhat predominate in part 1. We see Jacob’s influence in their lives, one in particular, but it is mostly focused on them. It renders the culture far better than Jacob’s perspective, of course, and also introduces meaningful stakes that really got the ball rolling for me. Parts 3 and 4 wrap up those segments, going back to the characters, and part 5 is the epilogue. It’s linear and very specific with dates, telegraphing the broad strokes of events to be actually true. I’m sure much else is embellished and fictionalized. But it is a very interesting cultural moment that I hadn’t known about. It’s also quite granular. The prose are balanced between evocative and precise. The characters are three dimensional and all feel like they meaningfully altered the plot, which, when looked back upon, I find to be quite excellent. This subverts expectations very well. Yet it also feels inevitable and surprising, in the way all my favourite stories do. Jacob is not a saviour. The Japanese do not behave in caricature like ways, especially the main characters, and when they do, it is generally from a western perspective, which casts such assertions into doubt. Plot wise, though, I thought nothing was perfunctory and it was quite satisfying. If not for the slow start, it’d have been another 5 star read for me.

This review does include spoilers but I have less than twenty followers and I assume not one of you will ever read this book. Make good choices and read at your own risk Two stars for Mitchell’s impeccable writing style. He has quite the way with words and I found myself very amused with the amount of vocab I had to look up and, at times, slog through. A half star for how unique the story was. It featured a complicated love triangle (square? pentad?), some enjoyable characters, and a series of head jumping that pulled me back into the narrative at times where I felt like falling off. The multiple perspectives weren’t perfect by any account, and this is actually where my issues with the book come up. Jacob was fine in the beginning, but Part One got monotonous as his focuses were on counting boxes and deciding to cheat on his fiancée. Switching to Orito in Part Two was a welcome change, as her story was far more entertaining at first glance. But was followed can be fined down to Orito being placed in shitty situations, needing a man, the man failing, and Orito giving up on her plans for some ‘greater good’ that never really comes through. I think Mitchell needed to separate Orito and Jacob for the whole English ship part of the story and settled on the damsel in distress gimmick, kinda lousy storytelling if you ask me. Penhaligon was not needed in the slightest, his story could have been told from Snitcker’s, Van Cleef’s, Fischer’s, or even William Pitt’s perspective without the need of introducing us to gout and too many sailing terms. The young man that dies in the barrage was written just to die and be pitied. Once again, lousy storytelling. I really did enjoy the majority of the words in this book, but from how I see healthy and admirable writing I give it the rating I give it.

The story was strong, imaginative, and well-written. However, the ending felt as though Mitchell had tired of his own story and simply rushed the ending, skipping ahead many years and essentially summarizing what would have been engaging.

Just as in Cloud Atlas, Mitchell has created worlds within worlds within worlds. They may not be so outlandish as in CA - but they are just as magical and just as detailed. Each bit character has a name, a favorite color and a hometown. And the set is crawling with characters, bit and starring role. We flit back and forth from unholy abbey to ship deck and somehow keep up with the pace. Even with the monkey clutching an amputated leg tries to monopolize our attention.

Usually I avoid books of the "corruption, passion and power" sort, as I can't stand them. However, I was willing to try for the sake of David Mitchell, and the title appealed to me as well. I don't regret it. His writing style shows how much research he puts into his books and I felt transported to 18th century Japan. Admittingly, the same writing style made it hard for me, as a non-native English speaker, to get into the story in the beginning, but I'm happy I pulled through. It makes sense retrospectively, when I learned that Mitchell spent some time living in Japan.

A beautiful, well-put-together book. Mitchell has a way of really putting you into the world he creates.

This is David Mitchell at his most Mitchell-esque. He unleashes his full brilliance across these 479 compact, tiny-typed pages with lines like "Two hours pass at the speed of one but exhaust Jacob like four" and "The rectum of Wybo Gerritszoon releases a hot fart of horror." Don't let the clever but misguided book marketers trick you into believing that this is a story of forbidden love between a Dutch clerk and a Japanese midwife. This is a complex and microscopically detailed historical fiction novel that gives you a street level view into the world of a Dutch East India Company trading post in Nagasaki harbor during the late 18th century, and unlike a lot of other historical fiction novels, it doesn't ignore or brush over the fact that European prosperity during this period was bought with the horrors of colonialism and slavery.

Took me a while to get into, and was a bit difficult to keep track of all the characters. However, it was beautifully lyrical, and the narrative was very compelling. A challenging read, but well worth the effort.