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Controlling an uncontrollable world by rewriting it, chapter by chapter 2010-07-13

Reviewer: Daniel Bor

Black Swan Green is a rather more standard departure for David Mitchell from his earlier ultra-creative, multiple voiced novels. On the surface, it is an early 1980's period novel about a 13 year old boy struggling to fit into the complex, often cruel world of his peers, while his home world slowly self-destructs. The novel is told via very discrete episodes, which each feel like a short story in themselves.

However, as always with David Mitchell, such descriptions will never do his books justice. There is more humour and meaning than first appears - even the clashing of colours in the title is a subtle joke, which makes us think of the protagonist more as a unique person, and perhaps one comfortable with inconsistencies. The inventive style, although incongruous with a young adolescent's voice, sparkles very brightly in places. Some set-pieces are electric, as they were in other Mitchell novels. The voicing of the adults is painfully acute at times. The capture of a world 30 years now past, replete with very frequent references to the little details of that time, is wonderfully real and evocative. Most interestingly, the young protagonist, Jason, does feel like a very real 13 year old kid, with huge gaps in his understanding (while we see the marriage falling apart almost from the first moment, Jason doesn't realise - or doesn't choose to realise - that this is happening until near the end), and a burning desire to be popular, even though more often than not he is at the sharp end of teenage brutality. Although his constant hopeful strivings can be seen by some as a heartening point of view, Mitchell is just reflecting again the unsophisticated mental world that Jason has - where depression is perhaps emotionally a little beyond him.

But while Jason himself might be unaware of many of his own thoughts and feelings, being reasonably young, his character itself is actually rather complex, and this is the main triumph of the novel for me - the way that Mitchell subtly makes Jason develop in response to world events, seemingly without any conscious direction, but always trying desperately to gain control in an uncontrollable world. Most tellingly - and easily missed - is the way that every quite discrete chapter we read is not actually an online capturing of events, but Jason's later rewriting of them, as a prose exercise, so he can fix mistakes, embellish moments and indulge at times in elaborate fantasy. In the end we are left confused, not knowing where the foundations of the novel really are. But this is a strength, not a weakness - we are left questioning how we all recreate the truth to fit our own conscience and sense of interest, and we also can't help question the nature of fiction itself.

The one unnecessary, and for me slightly false, note in this novel, though, is Jason's interaction with the old Belgian poetry guide. Atlhough interesting and vivid, it also felt pretentious and contrived, and sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the novel. But it did allow Mitchell to weave together this novel with previous ones, as this old lady and those she interacted with in her youth figure prominently in Cloud Atlas.

Although not as good as his earlier three novels, there is still much to love about Black Swan Green. The style is just so utterly skilled that I was gripped on every page, even when little seems to be happening (which was rare). Add to this the deliberate inconsistencies, the hidden meanings, and a second reading would definitely be warranted - and probably even more enjoyable.

better than 3 stars, but not 4 stars because david mitchell has set his own bar so high 2010-05-17

Reviewer: jamesr0012

as i said in the title, mitchell sets the bar so high with his previous books, it's virtually impossible for him to make such a dramatic change in style, as is done in black swan green, and it not to leave you feeling you've read a book by a less inspired, interesting writer. this makes this a very difficult book to review.

i would say it's nicely written and definitely captivating enough to keep you turning the pages, you won't find yourself becoming bored or considering how much is left to read. however, if you have experience of the twists and off-kilter wonder of mitchell's other work, you'll be left slightly disappointed as each page and chapter carries on from the last. there's no spirit-transference, no cross-cultural jumping and no time-travelling, it's virtually a straight ride through a turbulent year in a 13-year old's life. if you're a british person who grew up at any point in the 80's you're going to feel some parts speak straight to you. mitchell has used typical aspects of life, the awkward relationships with your family, moving house, school bullies etc in a montage of growing up fast, he's just missed out all the things that make him the writer i love.

it's nice that he references his other books and this gives me the hope that black swan green is kind of a holiday from the intensity of his 3 previous novels, and that his new book will carry on the style i think most people love him for. i respect the decision to write in a different style and i enjoyed it more than 3 stars gives it credit for, i just can't let it go up to 4 stars.

100 words on Black Swan Green 2010-04-09

Reviewer: AJ

Is there anything David Mitchell can't write? I'm getting a real kick out of watching
the career of this gifted author unfold in real time. His style is less conspicuous or tricksy here - but the skill on display is masterful nevertheless.

The novel is a traditional telling of a year in the life of an adolescent boy. But despite the absence of Mitchell's special literary effects, the story is deep and vivid, full of pain, joy, fear, humour, insight and triumph. All without resorting to trite sentimentality. Come to think of it, that is a pretty nifty trick after all.

Gentle, retro tale by the prose master 2010-03-29

Reviewer: 100wordreviewer

David Mitchell can create awesome prose and breathtaking fantasy. In Black Swan Green I waited eagerly for either to kick in. It wasn't until I was 100 pages into the book that I realised that this gentle, retro tale about story about a boy growing up in 1980s middle England is just that: a boy grows up.

This is OK so far as it goes. But I found both the story and the telling of it bafflingly clunky by Mitchell's standards. Almost every character is a stereotype, from awkward stuttering narrator Jason to louche temptress Dawn Madden to his eventual love interest, whose interest in him is never explained. The parents' marital and financial problems seem routine. The constant references to the era, from the Falklands to Sinclair ZX Spectrums to TDK C60s to Head and Shoulders to Slush Puppies seem forced. Various characters appear - cousin Hugo, Madame Crommelynck, some rather worthy gypsies - and disappear again. The school bullies are all from central casting. When the plot is resolved by Jason changing his character, I felt as though we'd landed in a children's book - or Hollywood.

It may be that this is all autobiographical, in which case the story makes excellent sense. Otherwise, it all feels a rather pointless exercise compared with the thought-provoking elegance of Mitchell's earlier works.

A journey into the 13 year old soul 2010-03-25

Reviewer: Ian Shine

Many people say this novel as something of an odd step for Mitchell, a writer who had established himself as an inventive voice producing real "literary" fiction. To suddenly jump to what feels like a very autobiographical novel might not satisfy his purist fans, but he's still produced an interesting book.
The main character, 13 year old Jason Taylor, is torn apart by voices in his head - reminiscent of the technique seen in Irvine Welsh's Filth - and this provides the main narrative quirk. The rest of the book is narratively straightforward, but Mitchell proves himself equally able at evoking the humdrum feelings of an adolescent as riffing on the complications of several interacting worlds as he did in Cloud Atlas.
As domestic and school-life chaos evolve and crash around him, Jason slowly changes and gets to grips with the world a little more. It is his journey to understand himself and his world where the novel excels, evoking so perfectly the feelings of the lost souls of 13 year old boys, caught somewhere between their lost childhoods and the teenage-adulthoods that they don't yet understand.
Something of a Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century.