ghostwritten

"Backpackers are strange. I have a lot in common with them. We live nowhere, and we are strangers everywhere. We drift, often on a whim, searching for something to search for. We are both parasites: I live in my hosts' minds, and sift through his or her memories to understand the world. Caspar's breed live in a host country that is never their own, and use its culture and landscape to learn, or stave off boredom."

"I know eleven languages, but there are some tunes that language cannot play... Sometimes language can't even read the music of meaning."

"On John's side of the bed was a John-shaped hollow. I rolled into it, the cosiest place on earth."

"Hives of life rumbled on the other sides of the floor, walls and ceiling. The tenement across the alley was so close that our window frames seemed to share the same glass."

i am always sad when i finish a book. more so, when it's one by david mitchell (or haruki murakami, whose influences can be found in mitchell's writing). ghostwritten was mitchell's first novel, and it was surprisingly difficult to get a hold of. when i saw it in the bookstore a while ago, i immediately picked it up!

like cloud atlas, ghostwritten consists of nine different stories. some of the chapters (themes and characters) were particularly enjoyable. i have to say that i was a little disappointed with the ending though, which leaves you somewhat hanging and with several questions unanswered. in that sense cloud atlas is much better thought out. regardless, i enjoyed the book, and mo muntervary, bat, zookeeper, noncorpa and the tea shack will stay with me awhile.