Skip to main content

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell : The adventures of a Dutch Clerk in Feudal Japan


The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a brilliant and utterly fantastic book. It takes an unconventional setting and makes a genius novel out of it.
Its the last decade of the 17th century. The Dutch seek to restore a floundering trade relationship with Japan a nation that gives access to a few foreigners.
The Dutch have the port town Dejima near Nagasaki. The red haired idealistic Jacob De Zoet enters as a clerk hoping to find his fortune and then proceeds to fall in love of course.(I make it sound as if it cliched but it is anything but). Corruption is rampant and Jacob de Zoet questions his motives many times. Complications arise, a conspiracy is uncovered and an attack on Japan is taken care of with Jacob De Zoet having a prominent hand in the affairs. 
The book is beautifully written. The characters are extremely well realized. David Mitchell says a lot but he conveys a lot more by not saying everything out aloud. Also the thousand autumns contains the single greatest first chapter that I have ever read. The sense of pacing, the beautiful prose. It just hooks you in and refuses to let go. Read that first chapter here 
A pitch perfect book.

You can buy The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet here.
Labels:

Comments

musically_ut said…
After reading through books of British sensibility (read: The Tale of Two cities), the first chapter of this book comes across as a hard slap on the face, with a backhanded caress towards the end.

(* shivers *)

I think I'll put a few other books in between my last one and this one to ease out the effect.

(* shiver again and retreats to read 'The year of silence' *)

~
musically_ut
June 19, 2011 at 7:03 PM
Kartik Kaipa said…
Aah so you read the complete review :). I have read the first chapter many times now. The whole book is brilliant.
June 19, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An ode to Hall 1

This goes out to Hall 1, the hostel where all the 4th year students of IIT Kanpur live. Indeed this hostel serves as a meeting ground between familiar foes some of who go on to become friends. A lot of factors make Hall 1 what it is. It acquires a mythic quality right from the first year when juniors are often threatened with “Aaj raat hall 1 main chal”. The seniors who live in Hall 1 seem to have a totally different existence as compared to the rest of the campus. On a visit to the hostel in the first year all one hears is the constant swearing, and sees everyone in shorts or in suits. Legends surround Hall 1 and in our first year the stories we hear are of Hall 1 and none other. Indeed Hall 1 residents perpetuate this myth as well acting as if they are the scariest beings on the campus. Indeed the fear is such that if a fresher goes to Hall 1 they are not expected to come back. There is something about Hall 1 that separates it from the rest of the Halls. For starters, Hall 1 has
8 comments
Read more

Places to eat in Kanpur

Our real exploration of Kanpur began in our 5th year when we had our stipend to spend so hopefully this article will prove helpful to all the foodies out there. Surprisingly(and I really mean this) there are a number of terrific places to eat in Kanpur. Hopefully this article will prove helpful to many who are looking forward to spend their stipends. By far the best way to reach places to eat in Kanpur is to catch the bus that the institute provides. The bus runs everyday(except Sunday) at 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm. The bus returns at around 10:15 pm. Murgi(Our food and snacks Coordinator, every wing should have one) always takes the phone number of the conductor so that he can stay updated about where the bus is and so that the return is convenient. The bus service is really a life saver and unless you have a bike should be the first option. It is also better to roam during weekdays than weekends simply because there is lesser ruckus everywhere. Going to a restaurant on a weekend is an ab
19 comments
Read more

The best of Paul Graham

Paul Graham is a startup incubator. He also happens to write essays which are really really good. In general I wish I had them read them a lot earlier. I have been reading his essays for a while now. Here are some extracts which I liked and so it begins. Addictive things have to be treated as if they were sentient adversaries—as if there were a little man in your head always cooking up the most plausible arguments for doing whatever you're trying to stop doing. If you leave a path to it, he'll find it. And my main computer is now freed for work. If you try this trick, you'll probably be struck by how different it feels when your computer is disconnected from the Internet. It was alarming to me how foreign it felt to sit in front of a computer that could only be used for work, because that showed how much time I must have been wasting. From Disconnecting Distraction How do you avoid copying the wrong things? Copy only what you genuinely like. That would have sav
Post a Comment
Read more