|
Sometimes I like books
for no other reason than a feeling they give me when I finish them.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether or not I full comprehend the
deeper meaning of what I’m reading, as long as I have the warm
feeling inside me that I just read something special. Such is the
outcome of Ghostwritten. I went to Amazon to check out some
other comments after finishing this book just to see if I’m
a complete moron, or if the book didn’t really make much sense.
I didn’t see a single explanation as to how or why the seemingly
disparate stories in this book were tied together. I mean I recognized
that there was always an overlap of characters from the first story
to the second, to the third, etc. So a guy from the first story will
show up in (or be mentioned) in the second. And a woman from the second
will show up in the third. It’s an interesting premise, but
ultimately I expected the last story to tie everything together. There
is a vague mention at the end of how these things might be related,
as our friend the cultist from the first story comes back, but it’s
very quick and not exactly clear. Throughout the book there is an
actual ghostwriter, and an actual ghost. There is a disembodied entity,
an art thief and a physicist on the run from the U.S. Government.
It spans many years and continents and discusses technology and ancient
mysticism. It’s a genre-spanning book that is intriguing and
well written. Like the ghost that seems to weave its way through the
pages, the narrative has burrowed into my head and won’t soon
leave.
Other titles by David Mitchell:
Black Swan
Green
Cloud Atlas
Number9Dream
|