The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
February 2018
I believe that I stumbled over this book on a fantasy book list and as fantasy, well, I guess it fits the bill but its not really my favorite kind of fantasy. It took too long building to "the story". I was perfectly happy hanging with the characters on the outskirts of this other-world and did not really need to go deep into it to be satisfied. That's a sign of a pretty good novel but not such a good sign for one that bills itself as "fantasy"...I mean, if the reader thinks your climax is sort of an add on and not the meal itself, have you really succeeded in writing good fantasy?
Setting discussion of genre aside, what to say about this book? It was a wandering tale of varying degrees of likeability. Or rather, it was a wonderful wandering tale with characters who had varying degress of likeability. The story, the writing, the overall feel for the book did not vary-I liked it very much. The Holly stories were top notch. Crispin was a bore. Hugo was a little too "too". I did not quite buy that a guy that selfish would be won over after limited exposure even to someone as fabulous as Holly and that he would be able to pull from that history to become something of a hero. Ed though-him I found very appealing. I truly felt short changed by his story's conclusion and perhaps that was what Mitchell was going for and if so, he nailed it. The writing was good, the story moved along, the characters whether I like them or not were interesting and I did for the most part want to know what happened next AND I mastered how to keep notes on my Nook while reading this book so that was something. Quote-able quotes (and no, it doesn't pass my notice that these are nearly all from the Hugo portions of the book so while I may not have liked him, I sure liked his words...):
He was doing quite well until the last sentence, but if you bare your arse to a vengeful unicorn, the number of possible outcomes dwindles to one.
Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; ring;vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays; life insurance. Babies. Love's a dictator. I know this, yet the blast furnace in my ribcage roars You You You You You You just the same, and there's bugger-all I can do about it.
The world's default mode is basic indifference. It'd like to care, but its just got too much on at the moment.
of "Dusk": It hums, not quite like bees, and mutters, not quite like a crowd, and susurrates, not quite like sand.
I mean, the man can turn a phrase! And that he uses a word I don't know and don't think I have ever heard, seen or read before, well, that impressed me as well. Can you define susurrates? Me neither.
David Mitchell apparently has a wide and varied list of books to his name including Cloud Atlas which I have not read but which is now on my "to read" list. My understanding is that some of the characters overlap between The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas though not in a way that would disrupt your enjoyment of one or the other if you did not read both.
Rating: Falls somewhere between Liked It and Enjoyed It Very Much: 3.5
February 2018
I believe that I stumbled over this book on a fantasy book list and as fantasy, well, I guess it fits the bill but its not really my favorite kind of fantasy. It took too long building to "the story". I was perfectly happy hanging with the characters on the outskirts of this other-world and did not really need to go deep into it to be satisfied. That's a sign of a pretty good novel but not such a good sign for one that bills itself as "fantasy"...I mean, if the reader thinks your climax is sort of an add on and not the meal itself, have you really succeeded in writing good fantasy?
Setting discussion of genre aside, what to say about this book? It was a wandering tale of varying degrees of likeability. Or rather, it was a wonderful wandering tale with characters who had varying degress of likeability. The story, the writing, the overall feel for the book did not vary-I liked it very much. The Holly stories were top notch. Crispin was a bore. Hugo was a little too "too". I did not quite buy that a guy that selfish would be won over after limited exposure even to someone as fabulous as Holly and that he would be able to pull from that history to become something of a hero. Ed though-him I found very appealing. I truly felt short changed by his story's conclusion and perhaps that was what Mitchell was going for and if so, he nailed it. The writing was good, the story moved along, the characters whether I like them or not were interesting and I did for the most part want to know what happened next AND I mastered how to keep notes on my Nook while reading this book so that was something. Quote-able quotes (and no, it doesn't pass my notice that these are nearly all from the Hugo portions of the book so while I may not have liked him, I sure liked his words...):
He was doing quite well until the last sentence, but if you bare your arse to a vengeful unicorn, the number of possible outcomes dwindles to one.
Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; ring;vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays; life insurance. Babies. Love's a dictator. I know this, yet the blast furnace in my ribcage roars You You You You You You just the same, and there's bugger-all I can do about it.
The world's default mode is basic indifference. It'd like to care, but its just got too much on at the moment.
of "Dusk": It hums, not quite like bees, and mutters, not quite like a crowd, and susurrates, not quite like sand.
I mean, the man can turn a phrase! And that he uses a word I don't know and don't think I have ever heard, seen or read before, well, that impressed me as well. Can you define susurrates? Me neither.
David Mitchell apparently has a wide and varied list of books to his name including Cloud Atlas which I have not read but which is now on my "to read" list. My understanding is that some of the characters overlap between The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas though not in a way that would disrupt your enjoyment of one or the other if you did not read both.
Rating: Falls somewhere between Liked It and Enjoyed It Very Much: 3.5
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