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frasersimons 's review for:
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
An impressive accounting of a young Dutchman, Jacob, signed under somewhat duress to the Dutch East Indian Trading Company (extinct for quite some time now). He finds himself in Dejima, which was an artificial island exclusively for trading when Japan was closed off to the world. Only high class prostitutes from Nagasaki, merchants, and interpreters were allowed on the premises. And so, through young Jacob’s eyes, we see a pretty unique historical moment.
Now, the accounting of the events are well researched but from what perspective are they recorded? Something to keep in mind. And Mitchell, I think, wants you to have that at the forefront of your mind as well. So much of the book is dedicated to the demonstration of culture and communication. Translation plays a huge role in the book. Which is why so much of it is in dialect. Something I am not found of at all. But, thematically, I see why it is present and it felt well executed to me, aside from the recreation of speech impediments, which do nothing but interrupt the flow of the otherwise excellent prose.
The book is in 5 parts. Part 1 is solely the European viewpoint through Jacob himself, which, while he quite open minded compared to the prejudices and rampant racism, do clue the reader into the fetishization and western mindset. It’s uncomfortable and eye-roll worthy sometimes, and it’s meant to be.
The stakes, however, are pretty low. So while everything is absolutely stunningly rendered. Customs and mannerisms and colloquialism and on, all seem painstakingly researched and conveyed deftly. The book still did lag a bit for me in this part. It mostly establishes all the characters and exposes the western mindset and tests Jacob’s character.
The second part then switches to two characters native to the area who are introduced and are somewhat predominate in part 1. We see Jacob’s influence in their lives, one in particular, but it is mostly focused on them. It renders the culture far better than Jacob’s perspective, of course, and also introduces meaningful stakes that really got the ball rolling for me.
Parts 3 and 4 wrap up those segments, going back to the characters, and part 5 is the epilogue.
It’s linear and very specific with dates, telegraphing the broad strokes of events to be actually true. I’m sure much else is embellished and fictionalized. But it is a very interesting cultural moment that I hadn’t known about. It’s also quite granular. The prose are balanced between evocative and precise. The characters are three dimensional and all feel like they meaningfully altered the plot, which, when looked back upon, I find to be quite excellent.
This subverts expectations very well. Yet it also feels inevitable and surprising, in the way all my favourite stories do. Jacob is not a saviour. The Japanese do not behave in caricature like ways, especially the main characters, and when they do, it is generally from a western perspective, which casts such assertions into doubt. Plot wise, though, I thought nothing was perfunctory and it was quite satisfying. If not for the slow start, it’d have been another 5 star read for me.
Now, the accounting of the events are well researched but from what perspective are they recorded? Something to keep in mind. And Mitchell, I think, wants you to have that at the forefront of your mind as well. So much of the book is dedicated to the demonstration of culture and communication. Translation plays a huge role in the book. Which is why so much of it is in dialect. Something I am not found of at all. But, thematically, I see why it is present and it felt well executed to me, aside from the recreation of speech impediments, which do nothing but interrupt the flow of the otherwise excellent prose.
The book is in 5 parts. Part 1 is solely the European viewpoint through Jacob himself, which, while he quite open minded compared to the prejudices and rampant racism, do clue the reader into the fetishization and western mindset. It’s uncomfortable and eye-roll worthy sometimes, and it’s meant to be.
The stakes, however, are pretty low. So while everything is absolutely stunningly rendered. Customs and mannerisms and colloquialism and on, all seem painstakingly researched and conveyed deftly. The book still did lag a bit for me in this part. It mostly establishes all the characters and exposes the western mindset and tests Jacob’s character.
The second part then switches to two characters native to the area who are introduced and are somewhat predominate in part 1. We see Jacob’s influence in their lives, one in particular, but it is mostly focused on them. It renders the culture far better than Jacob’s perspective, of course, and also introduces meaningful stakes that really got the ball rolling for me.
Parts 3 and 4 wrap up those segments, going back to the characters, and part 5 is the epilogue.
It’s linear and very specific with dates, telegraphing the broad strokes of events to be actually true. I’m sure much else is embellished and fictionalized. But it is a very interesting cultural moment that I hadn’t known about. It’s also quite granular. The prose are balanced between evocative and precise. The characters are three dimensional and all feel like they meaningfully altered the plot, which, when looked back upon, I find to be quite excellent.
This subverts expectations very well. Yet it also feels inevitable and surprising, in the way all my favourite stories do. Jacob is not a saviour. The Japanese do not behave in caricature like ways, especially the main characters, and when they do, it is generally from a western perspective, which casts such assertions into doubt. Plot wise, though, I thought nothing was perfunctory and it was quite satisfying. If not for the slow start, it’d have been another 5 star read for me.