The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell, 2010
480 pages
This I checked out on a semi-whim. I read his book
Slade House a month prior, to fair enjoyment. It was quick not only in size, but also managed to be an easy page turner. I don't want to call the writing simple by any means, as that sounds like an insult, and it really isn't to begin with, so I'll just say it was very digestible and one to knock out in a day or less. A haunted house story that offered some solid chills that as a standalone read was more or less predictable. It intrigued me enough to want to check out more ambitious novels of his, namely
Cloud Atlas, but the library didn't have that and they were closing in five minutes, so I nabbed this.
A well researched historical drama, differing from
Slade House's ghosts and time warps and apertures leading to otherworldy eternal houses,
Thousand Autumns is not without its own sense of mystery and intrigue. The story itself and other tales told therein are kept grounded in history and realism but remain fascinating when suffused with often subtle forays into the fantastical and folkloric. The story takes at the very end of the 1700's, and is stretched mildly throughout the Orient, mainly a Dutch trading outpost near Nagasaki called Dejima. Here a simple clerk travels to make a fortune and offer his services in recording and investigating certain criminal activities of his company following a warehouse fire that destroyed a good amount of stuff while the former company superiors were out slammin whores at a brothel like Shaq at the hoop. He would become infatuated with a midwife, whose own duties would be taken advantage of after sent unwillingly to an enigmatic and reclusive shrine. I want to avoid spoilers, so I'll just say that the organization at this shrine is invested in some shady and possibly mystical creeds.
Apparently a genre hopper, David Mitchell maintains an endearing style that's not overtly abstract or complex but also not some novelized paint by numbers. It's intelligent and casual, and not without some laughs.
I didn't think it'd be my thing at first, and you can spare me your cliches because it has nothing to do with the cover, but it surprised me in a way akin to some movies I've been skeptical of. Thousand Autumns is rooted in areas of literature I have little to no expertise in, but it had me unexpectedly engaged, so I'd personally take the liberty of recommending it as an early plank of the path bridging the gap to Tolstoy. I don't have any desire to read it again and it's not the style I'd binge on, much more humble and political, but it's good.
7/10