The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a thrillery, travelloguey, historical, love storyish type book by David Mitchell.
It's set on a Dutch trading post off the coast of 18th century Japan and starts by following the career of a book keeper - Jacob - who has been tasked with helping to investigate fraud among the employees of the Dutch East India Company there.
It’s a book about corruption, the reasons we choose to live with it and the true cost of confronting it.
It encompasses a love story, an adventure story, there is even an element of fantasy that creeps in – all beautifully written by an author who has the skill of combining vivid, atmospheric scene setting with a relatively lean delivery.
Mitchell’s books are never a chore to read and this is no exception. It will give you a sense of being in an alien environment but dealing with matters that feel close to your heart.
It’s really good.
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I was a bit miffed at the ending the first time I read it, but I guess that’s the only ending that really makes sense. Actually, what I really like about the book is how Jacob is quite powerless for most of the book – not so much “white man coming to the rescue of the poor Oriental woman” this. Well, maybe a little bit, but the person making the ultimate sacrifice wasn’t even Jacob, but Uzaemon the translator.