Lawrence Norfolk was at Lemuria for his release of John Saturnall’s Feast in September 2012. Norfolk and a few Lemurians were chatting about how many authors start off from foggy obscurity—like J K Rowling–writing novels on the napkins of their dayjobs. Norfolk spoke of David Mitchell in the same mythic proportions. He told the booksellers that he was one of the first readers of Mitchell’s Ghostwritten, and was among the first to realize that Ghostwritten was much more than short stories; rather, it is a novel with a contiguous plot told through subtly connected narratives.
“Everyone of these pages deserves and demands to be read and re-read. Ghostwritten is an astonishing debut.”- Lawrence Norfolk’s Ghostwritten promotion.
Mitchell has become a master since Norfolk was asked to blurb Ghostwritten. The advance reader copies of Ghostwritten have become a collector’s item with a heavy price tag.
“Grief’s an amputation, but hope’s incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed. Like Schrödinger’s cat but with a box you can never get open.” – overheard at the Fox and Hounds concerning a friend’s disappearance near Slade House
Mitchell’s new novel, Slade House, proves to me that he is capable of creating entire worlds. Just as Tolkien enamored the post-war world in his immersive creation of Middle Earth, or how Rowling immersed an entire generation of the world’s youth in Hogwarts—Slade House returns us to Mitchell’s immersive world of atemporality. Atemporals are people (or entities) that are able to transcend the bonds of a physical body. They are capable of a range of powers that would make both Sith and Jedi envious.
“When you die, your soul crosses the dusk between life and the blank sea. The journey takes forty-nine days, but there’s no wifi there, so to speak. So, no messages can be sent.” – Fred Pink interview at Fox and Hounds, just a block away from Slade Alley
Slade House is a return to the same eternal tug of war between the vampiric Anchorites and the psychosetaric telepaths that walk the shaded path. The prose within Slade House is doubly chilling and entrancing. The plot is an Escharian labyrinth: relentlessly moving forward but inevitably returning in circular motions. The story gains velocity through Mitchell’s agile cultural awareness and maneuverable wit.
“This is all getting a bit too Da’vinci Code.”- overheard at Fox and Hounds
The most appealing thing about Slade House is that it’s a great place to start reading Mitchell. It’s a quick read, and much more approachable than The Bone Clocks. If you’re new to the author, pick this book up and introduce yourself to one of the developing legends of contemporary fiction. Let Slade House give you chills like any good ghost story should.
If you’re returning to reading Mitchell, get yourself excited for the return of enigmatic figures such as Enomoto and Marinus. Take another look at The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet for some extra Slade House goodies.
If you’re a scaredy-cat, this isn’t the book for you. The pages will give you unavoidable goosebumps. This is a ghost story perfect for a spooky Halloween read.
Comments are closed.