From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys' games on a frozen lake; ...
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From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys' games on a frozen lake; of "nightcreeping" through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigr� who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason's search to replace his dead grandfather's irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher's recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell's subtlest and most effective achievement to date.
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Seller's Description:
Good. 067697497X. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY-customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery. Light edge and tip wear, Some curling to wrapper.; 5.5 X 0.65 X 8.28 inches; 304 pages.
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Seller's Description:
Fine. Paperback Fine Small scratch on the front cover, otherwise the book is new Quality Books Because We Care-Shipped from Canada Usually ships within 1-2 business days If you buy this book from us, we will donate a book to a local school We donate 10, 000+ books to local schools every year.
Superbly written, wonderfully understood, Black Swan Green opens for an international audience the trials and tribulations of a boy between his 13th and 14th year. He, along with his family members, straddles this year, each of them changed by their having lived through it.
Druid
Apr 3, 2007
Pensive, brooding, hopeful
Broodingly and sympathetically written without losing its sense of humour. Throughout the book you could not help but wait for Jason to realise his own, and when he does, you fight the urge to shout 'Huzzah' . Should become required reading in all classrooms. It gives a good, long look at oneself. Not only a coming of age for boys but certainly for any gender, at any age.
voyager
Apr 3, 2007
An indulgence a very English eighties
This is strictly for an English audience or someone wishing to know about and english childhood in the eighties. Mitchell takes us back to simpler times of Rubiks cubes and street fights (possibly based on his own life) and takes us through the traumas of a stuttering child. Everyone can associate with the alienation Mitchell describes very well. It is, however , a purely indulgent book rather like reading someones personal diary.
