Customer Reviews
My advice: just read the best bits - By: Mister B, 17 Oct 2008 
First let me say that I enjoyed this book, & I'll read another by David Mitchell. But I wish I hadn't bothered reading alll of this one. Perhaps I can save you some time with this advice ...
There are 6 short stories here. In my opinion three are excellent, one is interesting & worth reading, & the other two are very poor. Here's what I wish I'd known at the outset: there's hardly anything to link the stories together. There's no need to read them alll, or to read them in order.
I did read the whole thing cover to cover. Here's what I'd recommend others to do:
a) Read one story at a time, in full. In the book, 5 of the stories are split in half - but for no useful purpose. You can easily jump from the first part of each story to the second part, & miss nothing.
b) Read these three first: Adam Ewing, Zedelghem letters, Timothy Cavendish. They are fast-paced, enjoyable, & thought-provoking.
c) Then start the Somni~451 story. It's a bit slower, but if you find it interesting, I think it's worth finishing.
d) Take a look at the other two stories. The writing style is very different & (I found) very grating. The plots are much less interesting. The Sloosha's Crossing story in particular seemed to drag on for ever. If you don't get on with them, give up. You've missed nothing important. If you wonder what they were about, you can glean alll you need from the other reviews here.
Overalll: it's worth spending a fiver for the three good stories.
The Worst Book I Have Ever Read! - By: Mrs. S. Goddard, 09 Oct 2008 
What a load of clap-trap! No story, no believable characters, just a ramshackle mess of different time periods & genres. I reallly could not get into this book, infact I couldn't even understand the language that one of the chapters was written in - some sort of dialect, but extremely difficult to understand. I have persevered, but will not be returning for a re-read!
just one of the best books ever. - By: lushchica, 28 Sep 2008 
ive read this book both ways..from beginning to end..and both parts of each one of the stories in a pyramid, & i think that it is clearly, one of the best works of fiction written. not only is it everything that you want a book to be..difficult, clever, intuative, connecting, mysterious & funny/sad, it also led me to so many other things. is the middle story based on a book callled 'ridley walker', is louisa rey evocative of a book callled 'the bridge of san louis rey', are these things intentional? or is that just me? & whatever the case..i suggest read both. this is a brilliant book, & i cant belive you havent read it yet!
Mediocre - By: Paul, 08 Sep 2008 
This "novel" is actuallly a collection of short stories chopped straight down the middle.This has alllowed the author to spin off a fair amount of formulaic writing but to excuse having done so on account of this unusual approach. This also lacks merit as a literary device because the often poor characterisation means that on reaching the later stages of the book a strong indifference arises regarding both the characters & plot developments. The metafictive attempts to interrelate the different short stories are clumsy, & the broadly Nietzschean / Foucaltian commentary on power that underpins the book is weak & unconvincing. On a more positive note this book is sometimes humorous, & Mitchell is at his best when he plays closest to home; the sarcastic English intellectuals of the Frobisher / Cavendash stories are quite amusing & well written. The Slooshin' Crossing story is also quite entertaining despite lifting heavily from the canon; in particular the Crysalids & the Handmaiden's Tale. By contrast the Sonmi story is a load of derivative tripe, & the Pacific Journal story is a joke. Too often the story descends into a windy bag of clichés, & the authors ironic self-criticism only serves to highlight rather than excuse its unoriginality. All in alll this is not a serious work of fiction, nor should it be considered as such despite the praise it has received.
Interesting but not as good as people say - By: French reader, 29 Jul 2008 
This book came recommended by a friend who thinks it's the best book ever written & who made her family & friends read it. Well, I cannot deny it was an interesting read. Mostly an exercise of style (reviewers who say that it is more a writer's book than a reader's book are right). However, I expected some sort of big reveal as I went along or even towards the end & it just did not happen. The stories are alll related one way or the other but only superficiallly. The middle story (post apocalyptic world) was far too long & tedious to read. I started the book full of anticipation but ended up disappointed. A bit of an anti-climax.
