The opening chapter is about a midwife and doctor who help deliver a child from a woman who is the concubine of a Japanese magistrate. The story takes place primarily from 1799-1800 in Dejima and Nagasaki, Japan. Which is not to say this is an easy read.
Jacob is a character you like instantly, and his story is a compelling one. This time, I’m not even sure where the initial “slow patch” was for me. I put it down and planned to come back to it. I started this book last year, got a few chapters in, and for some reason found it difficult to connect with the book.
This book was on a lot of literary “best of 2010” lists last year, and it completely deserves the honor. Even better, the three books are completely different - Cloud Atlas spans many different time periods and characters, from prehistoric to future, Black Swan Green is about teens in 1980s England, and Thousand Autumns is a historical novel about Dutch trade in Japan in 1799. I’ve read three books by David Mitchell and he hasn’t disappointed me yet.
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