The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell
Book Review by SJ Higbee
Anyone who has spent any time on this site will know that I'm a huge fan of Mitchell -- Cloud Atlas is one of my all-time favorite books. So would I enjoy this offering?
Run away, one drowsy summer's afternoon, with Holly Sykes: wayward teenager, broken-hearted rebel and unwitting pawn in a titanic, hidden conflict. Over six decades, the consequences of a moment's impulse unfold, drawing an ordinary woman into a world far beyond her imagining.
Right from the first page, I was drawn into this episodic narrative. Holly has run away after discovering her best friend in bed with her boyfriend. Though I was reading it on an autumn night, I was whisked away to the blistering heat as Holly has an emotional meltdown. And during this starting point, events unspool during that particular afternoon that go on having consequences for decades to come. The next five episodes that comprise the whole narrative all circle around that primary event, in one way or another as we also chart Holly's life. It's a difficult life. Being singled out doesn't make for an easy time of it. But Mitchell does what he does best -- provide a series of sharply written, beautifully crafted slices of action that allow us to join up the dots and provide the overarching narrative. My personal favorites are the first one -- 'A Hot Spell', 'The Wedding Bash' and the chilling final 'Sheep's Head'.
However, it is a masterpiece of storytelling and the themes are around the notion of good and evil and what makes someone a survivor. As well what the cost of survival may be. If you enjoyed Claire North's The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August -- see my review here -- you may have a clue about the narrative, but as Mitchell slowly reveals the heart of the story in careful stages, only revealing the whole enormity of the plot by the end of the fifth section, I'm not going to venture into Spoiler territory.
While you won't find Mitchell on the shelves marked Sci F and Fantasy -- he is regarded as a Literary writer -- there is a fantasy/science fiction mash-up at the heart of this story. He is always worth reading and the fact that in this book, he ventures yet again into one of my favorite genres is a major bonus. And if you like your fantasy with a quality label on it, then give this a go. No one writes his particular brand of fiction better...SJ Higbee
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