Our thematic book club’s
topic for September was “Welcome Fall.” Sometimes I choose something that I’ve
been wanting to read and sometimes I just browse through our digital catalogs
for things that are available based on the theme. I do that particularly to
find audio books I can listen to on my commute. This month it just so happened
I found The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de
Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell. I had previously read and loved Bone Clocks by this author.
Bone
Clocks definitely had a more horrific feel for me than this
story, but both had a fantastical epic story. As I started to listen to Jacob de Zoet, I realized I had picked
up this book on audio once before and had a really hard time getting into it. This
time, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I have to say, the title makes no sense. It’s
a linear third person historical novel of a person who does not prolong his
life in any way. Why a thousand autumns? I still don’t know.
“Nagasaki itself, wood gray and mud brown,
looks oozed from between the verdant mountains’ splayed toes. The smells of
seaweed, effluence, and smoke from countless flues are carried over the water.
The mountains are terraced by rice paddies nearly up to their serrated
summits.”
Dejima holds a
fascinating place in history just outside Nagasaki, as I learned both from this
book and a little research after reading it. It was created by digging a canal
across a small peninsula then building a long bridge, so it was linked but
easily cut off and controlled. It was used as the only trading port for the
Portuguese then the Dutch during the 200 years when Japan was largely isolated.
It was designed to keep the foreigners from mixing too much with the people of
Japan. Only Japanese citizens of a very few professions were allowed to go into
Dejima, and the foreigners were not allowed onto Japanese land at all for about
200 years. It is now a national historic site. (https://nagasakidejima.jp/english/history/
and https://www.japanistry.com/dejima/)
There’s a lot to
recommend about this book. The history portrayed seems, from my limited
reading, fairly accurate. There’s a fantastical and horrific element to it that
becomes clear as the story goes on, but it is not described graphically at any
point. The real life details, particularly surrounding the slaves lives, are
more horrific at times. The detail of the time period, the humor of interactions,
descriptions, the characters, the romance, the reality, the diplomacy — there’s
so much going on here.
The story opens in 1799,
near Nagasaki, at the House of Kawasemi the concubine, who is in labor, and it
is not going well. Aibagawa is a mid-wife studying under the local Dutch surgeon,
Dr. Marinus. Through the application of modern medicine, such as it is at that
time, she pulls off what seems like a minor miracle, leaving the local
magistrate in her debt.
After the delivery, we
fast forward several months to the entrance of Jacob De Zoet as he transcribes
the proceedings of the trial of one Daniel Snitker, Chief Clerk of the Dutch
East Indies Company on the manmade island of Dejima, near Nagasaki.
Described as a pastor’s
nephew, de Zoet is appointed the clerk in Dejima to check the books for
inaccuracies and many men are implicated is shady dealings. Of course, honesty
is not always welcome. Jacob is reviled by the men who served under Snitker —
Arie Grote, with his wild tales and ready deals, Piet Baert, Ivo Oost, and
Gerritszoon. They ably torment Jacob, who is not steeled against their tactics,
but each has a tale to tell of how he came to be there, which is revealed in
due course.
“Jacob considers telling
Vorstenbosch about the scene at breakfast but sees nothing to be gained. Respect, he thinks, cannot be commanded from on high.”
There is also the matter
of the De Zoet Psalter, a book of hymns, hidden in his room. It was supposed to
be sealed up with all the other Christian artifacts in a barrel and surrendered
to the Japanese government until they left again. If it is discovered, there
will be hell to pay.
Jacob is pretty much just
tolerated by the local people but he makes himself useful to the interpreters to
whom he teaches a more full understanding of the Dutch language. Ogawa Uzaemon
is one of these interpreters who plays an important role in the story.
Orito Aibagawa returns to
the story, chasing a monkey absconding with and amputated leg. Jacob is
besotted on first meeting her. He tries to befriend Dr. Marinus in hopes of
making contact with her but is repulsed, at first.
Jacob is further rewarded
for his honesty by being placed in a position of servitude to those who hate
him. He is, generally speaking, a good guy, and he does manage to make friends
over time, both with other Europeans and local people. How he does this is part
of the curiously wonderful story.
After her father dies somewhat
unexpectedly, her stepmother sells Orito off to temple that holds a terrible
secret which only begins with
drugging the women who go there as sisters. This is an incredibly simplistic
explanation of this small part of the plot that has huge ramifications and
tendrils branching throughout the story.
Each of the characters in
the huge cast are well drawn and introduced at the appropriate time, so that
the reader is not overwhelmed. The intricacies of the situation are well portrayed
and as the plot unfolds, it blooms outward into a story of epic proportions
told through well detailed scenes from several different perspectives.
The story progresses
through various twists and turns until Jacob becomes proves why he deserves to
be the title character.
This book easily
encompasses a trilogy but is presented in one volume for continuity. I
appreciate that as it provides a transportive experience.
The reading on the audio
version bothered me a little bit as the characters often sounded from Great
Britain rather than the people of Nagasaki. A larger cast would have helped the
listener more fully envision the story. Or, perhaps, if the female actor had
been Japanese, that would have been sufficient. Still, listening to it on audio
in the car was vastly entertaining and took me on a long journey as the novel
is huge, around 900 pages. The pronunciation of Dutch names was very helpful to
this reader.
I really enjoyed this
story and turned around to pick up another immersive tale by Mitchell for next
month. I highly recommend his writing.
