The Bone Clocks - Rambling Readers

crabbygirl reviewed The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Review of 'The Bone Clocks' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I loved Cloud Atlas, had high expectations for this book, and really enjoyed the start of it: holly sykes as a dense teenage girl divulging details that made the reader know her outcome month before she would. and the next narrator, hugo lam, was deliciously manipulative so that even the reader was in the dark halfway through his tale. then the 2 meet and romance and that's all good. and then - maybe it's time travellers, and that will be OK... but no - it's black and white, evil vs good, and the reader is dropped into a harry potteresque fantasy that the reader (ok - ME) felt tricked into. I can take the sci-fi parts and the dystopian stuff, but fantasy is not my thing.
still, i'll read his other stuff. I hear that his Japanese translation of 'the reason I jump' is amazing.

ana reviewed The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Review of 'The Bone Clocks' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Another one of Mitchell. Like Cloud Atlas it makes a strong bet on how this world – or at least our world – will be / is bound to change beyond recognition. It is good that readers of a mainstream novel are reminded how lucky we are to have endless and reliable supply of things like heat, electricity, communication channels. Journalists in not-sto-lucky places don't transmit this enough when reporting how life is in war torn countries, or even not officially at war, where there is no internet and electricity is available randomly. The story itself falls in the fantasy genre, but tehre are themes of human interest that makes one put the book aside and think – the greatness of true love, teenage problems, family, tenderness, and the arrogance and privilege, revenge and sorrow. And personal sacrifice. The setback is that in too many passages there are sentences that …

Another one of Mitchell. Like Cloud Atlas it makes a strong bet on how this world – or at least our world – will be / is bound to change beyond recognition. It is good that readers of a mainstream novel are reminded how lucky we are to have endless and reliable supply of things like heat, electricity, communication channels. Journalists in not-sto-lucky places don't transmit this enough when reporting how life is in war torn countries, or even not officially at war, where there is no internet and electricity is available randomly. The story itself falls in the fantasy genre, but tehre are themes of human interest that makes one put the book aside and think – the greatness of true love, teenage problems, family, tenderness, and the arrogance and privilege, revenge and sorrow. And personal sacrifice. The setback is that in too many passages there are sentences that are puzzles that will be solved only later in the plot. There are so many of them I only fully enjoyed and understood the book the second time I read it – but then it was sublime and most moving.

dommiz reviewed The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Review of 'The Bone Clocks' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I am a big fan of Mitchell, and this book combines all the best stylistic aspects of all his other books. But the main reason for reading it is that it so damn well written.

OriginalBarbas

rated it

Feb. 27, 2016

nick

rated it

Feb. 27, 2015

Ankur Sinha

rated it

April 24, 2016

Simon Fairbairn

rated it

July 25, 2017