The Bone Clocks by David MitchellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was the first book of Mitchell's that I have read, and based on what I have heard about him, and this book's placement on the watch list for the Man Booker, it did not disappoint. Its appropriate, I think, to describe this book as a feast, because there's so much to take in, and at the end, you are completely satisfied, but have trouble remembering everything you ate.
The book is told from multiple characters over a span of decades, beginning in 1980s England and ending in a somewhat apocalyptic future. The only narrator you get twice is Holly Sykes, at the beginning and the end, and the book pivots around her. But in the meantime, we get several other narrators, each unique. This, for me, is where Mitchell's writing shines. It truly was like reading from a different perspective. Even Holly's narration - first as a teenager and then as an elderly woman, are unique and appropriate. Such diversity in a single novel, where the characters and settings are interwoven over such a great expanse of time, signifies Mitchell as a gifted literary writer.
Again, back to my feast analogy, this book has so much to digest. It's a page turner, culminating in a psychic, fantasy showdown among two groups with psychic powers. It has action and pace. It introduces us to a world, filled with psychics and mythology and strange powers, yet grounds it in what feels like real life. It provides ideas and philosophies to meditate upon (seriously, how great is this quote - "Being born's a hell of a lottery."), and ultimately provides a meditation on mortality and what it means to be human, but remains incredibly readable.
There is so much more I can say about this book. I think it takes truly gifted writing to make a 600 page book, filled with content that can cause meditation and deep reflection, not only a page turner, but a book that makes you wish it just kept going. On the shortlist of one of the best books I've read this year.
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