1999 ∙ David MItchell ∙ 426 pgs
Sometimes I like books for no other reason than a feeling they give me when I finish them. It doesn’t seem to matter whether or not I full comprehend the deeper meaning of what I’m reading, as long as I have the warm feeling inside me that I just read something special. Such is the outcome of Ghostwritten. I went to Amazon to check out some other comments after finishing this book just to see if I’m a complete moron, or if the book didn’t really make much sense. I didn’t see a single explanation as to how or why the seemingly disparate stories in this book were tied together. I mean I recognized that there was always an overlap of characters from the first story to the second, to the third, etc. So a guy from the first story will show up in (or be mentioned) in the second. And a woman from the second will show up in the third. It’s an interesting premise, but ultimately I expected the last story to tie everything together. There is a vague mention at the end of how these things might be related, as our friend the cultist from the first story comes back, but it’s very quick and not exactly clear. Throughout the book there is an actual ghostwriter, and an actual ghost. There is a disembodied entity, an art thief and a physicist on the run from the U.S. Government. It spans many years and continents and discusses technology and ancient mysticism. It’s a genre-spanning book that is intriguing and well written. Like the ghost that seems to weave its way through the pages, the narrative has burrowed into my head and won’t soon leave.