David Mitchell is probably best known for his novel The Cloud Atlas but as I observed on 31 January, has (allegedly) said he’s writing an uber-novel, so I thought I’d better start with his first book, Ghostwritten.

And although The Cloud Atlas may be Mitchell’s best-known work, Ghostwritten was (is) no slouch either. It debuted to critical praise in 1999, went on to win the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (for the best work of British literature written by an author under 35) and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.

So what is Ghostwritten about? Well, there, dear ...on Anything, Really readers, is quite a question: what is it about?

The novel comprises a series of ten interlocking sequences, told from the points of view of ten distinct characters. As the reader, one gradually becomes aware that each of the sequences  intersects with one of the earlier parts, even if only in the most tangential way. So much so that for some time I was not convinced I was reading a novel, as opposed to a set of interlinking novelets in the style of Charlotte Grimshaw’s short story collection, Opportunity. Gradually, however, those slender threads do come together, to the extent that on reaching the end of the book I was able to look back and see the delicate but still relatively linear connections that added up to a “novel.”

I realize, however, that I have told you what the novel is, rather than what it is about. I think that if I tried to tell you what it’s about, I would effectively have to tell you the story, so suffice it to say that the narrative begins and ends with an incident closely resembling the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, by a group reminiscent of the Aum Shinrikyo cult. It ends in the US with a late-night radio DJ and a self-aware, Doomsday AI. In between, the story weaves back and forth in time, following protagonists as diverse as a jazz musician, a Chinese tea house proprietor, a Mongolian ghost, and an art gallery attendant in the Hermitage (St Petersburg)—amongst others. Each protagonist’s story sequence feels complete in itself, but in the end the threads running through them do, as noted, add up to a cohesive whole.

As you’ve probably gathered from the presence of the ghost and the AI, interwoven with the more realistic sequences, Ghostwritten is something of a genre-bender. More importantly, the genre-bending worked in a seamless way, which was one of the aspects of the novel I most enjoyed—although, in fact, I enjoyed the entire read. I liked the way each sequence worked in its own right as well as being part of a larger whole, and I always enjoy the mystery of wondering exactly where that whole is taking me—so long as it does end taking me somewhere, which Ghostwritten did.

Interestingly, although I was always absorbed by the characters and the story while reading, once I put the book down I never felt compelled to rush back to it. In this sense, I would not call Ghostwritten a page turner. It’s more the kind of story that dogs your mental footsteps, so you find yourself reflecting on and wondering about it a lot—and the fact that I was “still processing” in this way may be why I never felt compelled to immediately dive back in.

If I have an internal question mark, it hovers over the book’s final sequence, which I could see was intended to link the end of the story back to its beginning. But I wondered—and still wonder—whether in fact, the story had not really finished at the end of the previous section. The fact that I remain undecided, however, suggests that I must come down on the side of trusting the author’s judgment.

Overall, as I said above, I enjoyed Ghostwritten. The writing is accomplished and while reading I was always absorbed and—also as mentioned—the story stayed with me afterward, provoking considerable reflection. I would not call it an easy read and would go so far as to describe it as unsettling in places, but it is accessible and should appeal to readers who enjoy stories as diverse as those of Nick Harkaway, Audrey Niffenegger, Charlotte Grimshaw, and Hannu Rajaniemi.

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Additional Information:

I read the UK/Aus/NZ mass market paperback edition, 436 pp, of Ghostwritten, published by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton.

I also note that Hodder & Stoughton, like my UK publisher, Little Brown,  is a Hachette Book Group company, but I purchased the book for myself rather than requesting a free copy for review.