A black butterfly lands on the White stone, and unfolds its wings.
Seagulls riot in the dusk above a boat hidden by the Sea Wall.
Each man takes one of the long-stemmed glasses: they clink rims.
The new maid appears with slippers, warm water and a towel.
These are just 4 of the hundreds of lines written in the Haiku style as part of the narrative of this book. Oh my, that sounded just like the beginning of a lit paper that I would write for my uni class. And, I wouldn't want to dissect this book like I would have to if I was studying it. This is a book to float away with. This is a story to dream about. This is a tale to remember fondly for years to come. This is a novel to sing and sigh over. This is one of 'those' books for me. It is sublime and divine. It is David Mitchell at his best.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is a story about a Dutch clerk in the early 1800s who has traveled to Japan aboard a Dutch trading ship when Japan was closed to all foreigners. Mitchell is a master of description and right from the start I, as the reader, felt I knew the island of Dejima and its inhabitants intimately. The characters come alive so vividly that when I closed this book I felt like I was interrupting their lives and putting them on hold until I could come back to them. I felt guilty leaving them alone between the closed pages for so long while I attended to other, more important things in my life at the time.
It took me 5 weeks to read this book - not because it was hard to read or long or tedious. Not at all. But, I was enjoying my family and friends in another country and could not give it the attention it deserved. I arrived home yesterday and I have read non-stop and, sadly, finished the book. It was an absolute priviledge.
OK - I know it sounds like I am in love with this book and I am going overboard. Maybe I am a little. But honestly, it was such a pleasure to read this story that I am sticking to my guns on this one.
Mitchell is a fine craftsman. I count Cloud Atlas as one of my canon. If you haven't read it - please do. His other books - number9dream, Ghostwritten and Black Swan Green have also been delightful reads. But The Thousand Autumns has topped them all, for me. This book is the outsider's look at Japan in the 19th century and it is
fascinating.
One of the names for Japan is the Land of a Thousand Autumns. Jacob De Zoet is pulled into the life of Japan and, unlike his Dutch comrades, embraces it and tries to learn from it. There are several other equally interesting characters - the burnt medical student on the island, the European Doctor who has adopted more refined ways, the Magistrate of the town, and more - all are brought vividly to life and all have engaging stories to tell.
But the most interesting aspect of this book is its rhythm. As I was looking back through it to find my favorite Haikus I started reading lines that, obviously, all have the same amount of syllables. There are hundreds of them. They are not obvious as you are reading the novel as they are often just mundane statements - "Jacob can tell from Hanzaburo's response that the news is bad", "Jacob opens his Psalter, but is too agitated even for David's verses", "A night-soil man's buckets, swinging on his pole, stain the air". I think that the Haiku epitomizes the feel of the Japanese - simple, profound, thoughtful, gentle. Mitchell has achieved an air of all of these principals in his writing by composing so many lines in the style, that the book just takes on its own meter and flow and we are soothed and connected to the words.
Apparently, the first Westerner to write Haiku was a Dutchman living in the real-life circumstances of Dejima trading post. In my small internet search about Haiku I found bloggers who journal only in Haiku, Haiku 'movements' in North America, knitting patterns call Haiku and many other interesting sites. This is clearly an art that has been embraced by people the world over and must have an appeal to many. This book will have just such an attractiveness to anyone who reads it.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is lovely and the only way it could have been better would have been if I had read it sitting next to a Koi pond under a blossoming cherry tree.
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