|
|
| Plot Summary of Ghostwritten |
|---|
"This brilliant first novel is a series of stories interwoven by chance meetings and coincidences. It starts with the doomsday cult Sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo and follows one of the fugitive attackers. Next there is the story of a jazz shopworker and his love affair with a customer also set in Tokyo. Then to Hong Kong and financial shenanigans involving a British expat and a fraudulent Russian mafia financial transaction that ruins his life – there is also an affair with the conniving house cleaner thrown in. Next to China where we follow the life of a woman who runs a tea shack on a Holy Mountain and we see 80 years of Chinese cultural change. Then to Mongolia, where perhaps the best story is set, where we have a noncorpum spirit being that lives in the minds of people trying to discover the origin of a story that it was born with. It controls the people it invades and moves from person to person by forcing them to touch eachother. Next to Petersburg in Russia where we follow a gallery attendant and her criminal businessman boyfriend as they make their final art theft by swopping a forgery for the real thing and get nastily involved with the Russian mafia. Then to London and story of a womanising ghostwriter and drummer who gets involved in a bet in a casino and changes his life forever. Next to the friendly island of Clear Island off the south coast of Ireland and the story of one of the islanders who is a fugitive from the Pentagon. She is a genius quantum physicist and is working on the next generation of computers which the Pentagon wants to harness for military means against her will. Then to New York and the story of a nighttime radio chathost and his mysterious caller called Zookeeper who rings once a year. Zookeeper is no ordinary caller for he she it is a computer hacker who might just control the world. Wanted by the FBI the hacker destroys a secret government installation by laser satellite on air and later saves the world from third world war nuclear attack by freezing all the nuclear missiles. Is the Zookeeper a next generation computer with a mind of its own or it is the doomsday cult leader from the first story of the book? The novel finishes with a brief story that interlinks all the themes from the stories as the Sarin gas attacker strikes again on a train in Japan and tries to escape his own gas attack. David Mitchell describes each of the countries and cultures in which the stories are set in-depth and beautifully. His range and breadth of story telling is awesome. If you want to know how the coincidences link each story you will have to read this brilliant book as they are far too intricate to describe here. A wonderful book by a truly talented writer!"
John Marcel, Resident Scholar
|
|
| Review Analysis of Ghostwritten |
|---|
|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
|
|
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 60%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Spying/Terrorism Thriller
Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:
- preventing bomb/biohazard/disaster
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Who's the terrorist enemy here?
- cult
Main Character
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
- Russia
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- Russia
- China
- Japan
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- London
- Dirty, dangerous (like New York)
Misc setting
- moving train
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- hundreds or more
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
- actual description of sex
A lot of techno jargon?
Yes
Kind of jargon?
- physics
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
|
|
|
Click here for more information about this book
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
Use our site!
17 FREE Sci-Fi Ebooks!
FREE "How to be happy" Ebook!
Feedback
Most recent discussions:
General Book Talk
Book writing discussion
Off-topic message board
George W. Bush
12:16:44 AM
Norah Lofts
12:50:53 AM
Suzanne Weyn
4:47:34 PM
Wilma Counts
1:23:32 PM
Kin Platt
12:58:29 AM
Anonymous
12:47:34 PM
Lilian Jackson Braun
10:05:52 PM
Jane Rubino
10:04:38 PM
LaVyrle Spencer
10:04:00 PM
G.A. McKevett
10:03:31 PM
David Williams
10:03:01 PM
Steven Pressfield
10:02:30 PM
Jeanette Walls
10:00:19 PM
Darryl Ponicsan
9:59:27 PM
Ann Rinaldi
9:58:30 PM
R.L. Stine
9:57:34 PM
Geoffrey Huntington
9:57:14 PM
Betty Mahmoody
9:56:38 PM
Deric Longden
9:56:11 PM
Mary Downing Hahn
9:55:48 PM
More message boards
|
