Title: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Author: David Mitchell
Pages: 479
Finished: June 2, 2018
First Sentence: "Miss Kawasemi?" Orito kneels on a stale and sticky futon.
Summary: Jacob de Zoet arrives on the island of Dejima ready to ferret out smuggling. He hopes to earn his pay so he can go back home to the Netherlands and marry his sweetheart. Instead, he falls in love with the midwife Orito who is, unfortunately, taken to a convent where monks impregnate the nuns who live there. And sadly, Jacob de Zoet can do little from the island of Dejima where he is forced to live so as to not contaminate Japanese culture.
Thoughts: I almost didn't make it. 50 pages in was a slog. I had actually made the decision to give it up and read something else, but I decided to take a look at a synopsis of the book. There was some really interesting stuff. Some characters who come back in later books even. With the knowledge of what was ahead, I continued slogging through the first part. Once Orito gets taken to the convent, things really picked up. I tore through the rest of the book. I've since started the next book, and it's really neat seeing how people have come back.
As for this specific book, I really liked that Jacob tried to keep his morales through the entire novel, even when he was basically abandoned on Dejima. He really tried to learn more about the Japanese culture rather than constantly look down at it the way so many of his compatriots did. Perhaps that's why they all kept such faith in him when Penhaligon tried to take over.
Marinus was great fun as well. Dry and intelligent. His lines often made me laugh out loud.
Connections I saw from other books:
The gray cat that helps Orito was similar to the gray cat that stayed with the main character in Number 9 Dream
Con Twoomy is possibly an ancient relation to Mo from Ghostwritten.
Boorhaave and the Prophetess from Cloud Atlas make an appearance at the end.
I'm sure there are plenty more, but those were the ones I was aware of.
As for this specific book, I really liked that Jacob tried to keep his morales through the entire novel, even when he was basically abandoned on Dejima. He really tried to learn more about the Japanese culture rather than constantly look down at it the way so many of his compatriots did. Perhaps that's why they all kept such faith in him when Penhaligon tried to take over.
Marinus was great fun as well. Dry and intelligent. His lines often made me laugh out loud.
Connections I saw from other books:
The gray cat that helps Orito was similar to the gray cat that stayed with the main character in Number 9 Dream
Con Twoomy is possibly an ancient relation to Mo from Ghostwritten.
Boorhaave and the Prophetess from Cloud Atlas make an appearance at the end.
I'm sure there are plenty more, but those were the ones I was aware of.
No comments:
Post a Comment