David Mitchell is a modern English writer. On his account, several best-selling novels. But his work fell into the view of many thousands of people after the film "Cloud Atlas", which was based on one of the novels of a young author.
Biography of David Mitchell
The writer was born on January 12, 1969 in the south of England, in Southport. I didn’t talk until five years old, then I spoke with a stutter, so I spent a lot of time alone. As soon as I started reading, I spent all the time reading books. Like all boys he dreamed: at eight - to become an inventor, at ten years - a football player. But after the physical education teacher put him “C”, calling this mark “charitable”, he stopped dreaming about football.
At the age of twelve, when his stuttering became apparent, he decided that he was unlikely to work in the area where he would have to communicate with people. Therefore, he decided to become a lighthouse keeper, and when he was told that this profession is dying, he will switch to the forester. At thirteen he was presented with a computer, and he became interested in programming games on BASIC. Two or three adventure quests were quite difficult.
Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a writer, but did not bother to finish writing courses, but simply went with the flow - this is how David Mitchell tells about himself. After graduating from university with a debt of 50,000 pounds, he continued to “drift”. One Japanese friend once said: “No plan is a plan,” and with this expression he described his career. Without a plan, David had to rely on luck in everything. And she helped him out.
At the University of Kent, he received a bachelor's degree in English and American literature. He lived in Sicily for about a year, and in 1994 left for Japan, where he taught English for eight years. He returned to England with his wife and two children. Now lives with his family in Ireland.
Literary debut
The first novel, Literary Ghost, was published in 1999. This book almost immediately raised the writer to the literary Olympus. The author won the John Llewelyn Rhys Award and Xatafi-Cyberdark Award nominee.
Ten chapters and nine different fates. The reader will get acquainted with the sectarian who staged a sarin attack, with a saxophonist working part-time in a store, a bank manager laundering money from the Russian mafia. He will meet with a veteran of intelligence who decided to publish his memoirs and with his literary Negro, with a ghost soaring over the steppes of Mongolia, with a woman physicist and many others. Ten chapters of the novel tell about nine different people, and each of them has its own story.
People are in different countries and cities. It would seem that there may be something in common between them? Nevertheless, their fates are intertwined with invisible threads. All characters are vivid and memorable personalities. David Mitchell managed to fit completely different people on the pages of the book. In each of the places described in the novel, the author visited in person.
In a dream and in reality
Mitchell's next book, Dream No. 9 (2001), was shortlisted by the Booker Prize. He talks about a young guy who comes to Tokyo in order to find his father. Arriving from a provincial island, known for a measured way of life, the guy finds himself in a whirlpool of events. Hotels, yakuza, endless cafes, sushi, skyscrapers, patinko - among this abundance, he is looking for a man who knows almost nothing about.
Against the background of a seemingly simple plot, interweaving of sleep and reality occurs. If at the beginning of the novel the border between them was clear, then by the middle of the book this border is blurred and it is difficult to distinguish sleep from reality. And the reader will have to deal with this on their own.
Despite the fact that the author lived in the Land of the Rising Sun, where the events of the novel take place, lovers of Japan will not find any interesting and hitherto unknown details. Nevertheless, the simple plot of Mitchell is surrounded by unusual details of the hero’s inner world and the situations in which he falls.
Unified Time Model
David Mitchell’s third book, Cloud Atlas, is on the Booker Prize shortlist in 2004. The novel was filmed, the film of the same name was released in 2012. Mitchell's first novel is reminiscent of the fact that six different time stories merge into one exciting story about the connection between two times - the past and the future.
In the first half of the novel, there are stories from the travel journal of an American notary who meets missionaries, sailors and island residents on the way. The second story is about a composer who came to earn money in the house of a famous writer. In the third story, a young journalist struggles with a large company that is building a nuclear power plant. In the fourth story, a London publisher is captured in a nursing home. The fifth story unfolds in the future, where the lives of people are dominated by corporations. In the final story of Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell talks about the distant future, where after the disaster, humanity on Earth is on the verge of extinction.
To life from nothingness
Mitchell’s fourth novel, The Meadow of the Black Swan, stands out among his works. David Mitchell introduces readers to a thirteen-year-old teenager struggling with his stutter. To hide a speech impediment, he paraphrases his speech, looking for synonyms. He thinks in advance so as not to stop in the conversation, trying not to pronounce the words beginning with the letters “n” or “s”.
Thirteen chapters - thirteen months, that is how much it took the hero of the novel to turn from an insecure teenager into a confident adult. A novel with a psychological background is no longer about growing up as such, but about how to keep oneself in this world, how to preserve inner purity.
Forbidden love
The fifth book, The Thousand Autumn of Jacob de Zut, differs from the previous novels by writer David Mitchell in a linear plot. Of course, it could not do without magic, which the author likes to allow in unexpected places. But in general, this is a solid adventure novel about 18th-century Japan, about trade intrigues, terrible secrets and robbers.
A young Dutchman comes to the Land of the Rising Sun and falls in love with a Japanese woman. His beloved is waiting for him at home, of course, his conscience torments him. But Anna is far away, and the mysterious eastern beauty is nearby. But for them, love can turn into a tragedy, because this love is forbidden. This is a clash of East and West, a clash of two cultures, customs, religions. For this novel, the author was justifiably awarded two awards: the Alex Prize and the Costa Prize.
Story starts
The sixth book of the writer, “Simple Mortals” (2014), justifying its name, begins rather trite: a teenage girl who does not want to put up with her mother’s shortcomings runs away from home. This is where the reality of the story ends, then what awaits is not what happens to everyone. In the first part of the novel, the narrative is conducted on behalf of the heroine, then each story has its own narrator.
Six different stories, each of which is addictive - here are strange rites, and telekinesis, and the secrets of the universe, and reincarnation. But what is surprising, against the background of the mystical component, the characters of the novel look quite realistic and vital. The novel is awarded the World Fantasy Award, nominated for the Goodrides, Ignotus, and Nowa Fantastyka magazine awards.
Slade House
The Hungry House — the seventh book by David Mitchell — like all his previous novels, was awarded the Goodrides and Children of the Night awards. Among readers, the novel provoked conflicting opinions. Horror lovers expected more from the novel, others are sure that it is undeservedly assigned a age limit of 18+.
In fact, the book contains rude expressions and the intimate life of the characters is described in sufficient detail. In general, this is a good, good reading. As is characteristic of Mitchell, there are several genres: detective story, classic horror, and Gothic history.
The novel consists of several parts, the duration of each begins nine years later. The old mansion opens its doors to all comers every nine years. In 1979, he lets in another victim. The owners of the mansion greet them warmly, each guest is waiting for something different. The boy who was hunted down at school by peers makes friends with a child unlike any other. An unsure student will survive a love affair. And a lonely policeman will receive care and unforgettable sex here. Each of them will receive what they most need. But ... nobody will be able to leave the house. Those who get there disappear forever. Only their portraits on the wall remain. Five parts, five disappearances, five stories, which, overgrown with new details, more and more open the veil of secrecy.
How does the author write?
David Mitchell's books reflect the perspectives of events, not the events themselves. This is the main aspect of the writer's approach to his work. He skillfully juggles genres - thriller, science fiction, love stories, fairy tale. In a word, which can describe Mitchell's prose, perhaps, will be the word "richly."
The author does not trifle - from the war-torn Baghdad he throws his heroes into the snowy Alps, from post-apocalyptic Ireland to Canada or London. David Mitchell impressed the contemporary literary scene: Granta magazine selected him as one of his best young British novelists.