This is an amazing book. The depth of characters is astounding and
the attention to detail is
gripping. Mitchell can write like the wind - a hurricane force at times
that speeds along and other times a gentle breeze.
The setting is a trading port near Nagasaki Japan. The year is 1799 and Dejima is a Dutch East Indies outpost serving as the conduit for trade between Japan and the Netherlands. The main character Jacob de Zoet is posted there as a clerk and charged with auditing the books and uncovering any malfeasance committed by the other employees. Too late does he realize that his supervisor is as committed a thief as those he is investigating.
Part one of the book details Jacob's discovery of fraud and as well as his discovery of Orito, a Japanese mid-wife learning Dutch medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Marinus. Jacob, bethrothed to Anna, is smitten with Orito and gives her several small presents. Jacob enlists the assistance of a Japanese interpreter, Ogawa, to seek Orito's hand in marriage. The first part ends with Jacob's fall in political power and with Orito's exile to a mysterious mountain monastery.
Part two suddenly shifts attention away from Jacob and onto the monastery. Orito has been enslaved here to facilitate the successful delivery of infants, from the captive women impregnated by the monks. These infants are delivered to the the Lord Abbott Enomoto, who sacrifices them in a ritual that has allegedly extended his lifespan to over 600 years. Ogawa emerges as the main male character who is also in love with Orito and determined to free her from the prison or die trying.
Part three begins with a description of a British Man of War bearing down on Dejima. The British and French are at war and the Netherlands has been absorbed by France. Thus any Dutch holdings are fair game. The British captain threaten Dejima with annihilation unless the Japanese agree to trade with Great Britain. They do not and part three ends with cannons destroying the outpost. The Japanese magistrate is shamed by foreigners raining destruction on Japan and tradition decrees that he commits suicide. Jacob consults with the magistrate and apprises him of what actually occurs at the monastery. The magistrate owes his son's life to Orito and decides to that he will take Lord Enomoto into the afterlife with him.
The novel is lengthy, with shifts in tempo and pace. Some sentences I savored like bites of poetry, others I gobbled up with the intensity of a starving man. Mitchell masters so many different writing styles, this is truly a smorgasbord of a novel.
The setting is a trading port near Nagasaki Japan. The year is 1799 and Dejima is a Dutch East Indies outpost serving as the conduit for trade between Japan and the Netherlands. The main character Jacob de Zoet is posted there as a clerk and charged with auditing the books and uncovering any malfeasance committed by the other employees. Too late does he realize that his supervisor is as committed a thief as those he is investigating.
Part one of the book details Jacob's discovery of fraud and as well as his discovery of Orito, a Japanese mid-wife learning Dutch medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Marinus. Jacob, bethrothed to Anna, is smitten with Orito and gives her several small presents. Jacob enlists the assistance of a Japanese interpreter, Ogawa, to seek Orito's hand in marriage. The first part ends with Jacob's fall in political power and with Orito's exile to a mysterious mountain monastery.
Part two suddenly shifts attention away from Jacob and onto the monastery. Orito has been enslaved here to facilitate the successful delivery of infants, from the captive women impregnated by the monks. These infants are delivered to the the Lord Abbott Enomoto, who sacrifices them in a ritual that has allegedly extended his lifespan to over 600 years. Ogawa emerges as the main male character who is also in love with Orito and determined to free her from the prison or die trying.
Part three begins with a description of a British Man of War bearing down on Dejima. The British and French are at war and the Netherlands has been absorbed by France. Thus any Dutch holdings are fair game. The British captain threaten Dejima with annihilation unless the Japanese agree to trade with Great Britain. They do not and part three ends with cannons destroying the outpost. The Japanese magistrate is shamed by foreigners raining destruction on Japan and tradition decrees that he commits suicide. Jacob consults with the magistrate and apprises him of what actually occurs at the monastery. The magistrate owes his son's life to Orito and decides to that he will take Lord Enomoto into the afterlife with him.
The novel is lengthy, with shifts in tempo and pace. Some sentences I savored like bites of poetry, others I gobbled up with the intensity of a starving man. Mitchell masters so many different writing styles, this is truly a smorgasbord of a novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment