(author of that amazing book, "Cloud Atlas")
A Dutch clerk finds himself in Dejima, the only tradingpost of Japan with the outside world, just outside of Nagasaki. There he battles conspiracies, his love for the girl he left at home, the Japanese midwife who is imprisoned into a horror abby, an English dog of War and the very Japanese culture himself.
Again, amazingly written, with every character his own voice, a well-detailed background, an amazing rich narrative.
I wish I could compare it to James Clavell's "Shogun" or the like. Books that showed more of the Orient's thoughts and culture, but had less diverse and complicated characters.
A review of both this book and "Cloud Atlas" complained of the former that the many strange and difficult voices held the reader back from enjoying the story, but I disagree. It said about this book that it shows Mitchell's mastery, but that it is not yet his zenith.
We shall see. I do prefer "Cloud Atlas" to this; it was more diverse, richer and stranger, but those are all personal points of view. From a literary standpoint (whatever that might mean) they are both amazing.
