RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

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BCCJillster

RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

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07/06/06 12:04 PM

BCC ZEN BOOKIE COOKIE
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RATE BLACK SWAN GREEN by DAVID MITCHELL
Look out for flying dissent!

BOOK BUNCH RATING TABLE

Rating	Recommend?	Grade
Fabulous	Exceptional: Probably will be an all-time favorite	5
Excellent	Among year's best	4
Really Good (Better than Average)	A good solid read; I'd recommend to most	3
Fair to Good read (Average)	An OK read, worth the time but just fair; would recommend to some but not all	2
So-so	Barely finished--several quibbles	1
Boring	Didn't finish it	0
Aggravating	Wanted to THROW it across the room (Dorothy Parker's Rating	-1

Jill
Reading: Book Thief, and Tyrannosaur Canyon by Preston
Finished:Eleven on Top, Book of the Dead, Black Swan Green, 2 Minute Rule; East of Eden by Steinbeck

TIMSHEL: "thou mayest"

BookChatCentral: bookchatcentral@comcast.net

murraymint11

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#1

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07/06/06 01:21 PM

BCC Bookaholic

Mmmmmmm....
I really liked Jason's voice, and the structure, so I'm going to give it a solid 4. Well done David Mitchell for following up Cloud Atlas with something completely different.

Jane
UK

Currently Reading:
Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

Recently Read:
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Small World by Martin Suter
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

My Stitching Albums

BCCJillster

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#2

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07/06/06 02:56 PM

BCC ZEN BOOKIE COOKIE
Administrator

Guess I'll go with a good 3. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I realized at the chat that I still remember more about Cloud Atlas (from a couple of years ago?) than I do about this book after 2 weeks LOL

I do think he did a great job capturing Jason's voice and angst and decency.

Jill
Reading: Book Thief, and Tyrannosaur Canyon by Preston
Finished:Eleven on Top, Book of the Dead, Black Swan Green, 2 Minute Rule; East of Eden by Steinbeck

TIMSHEL: "thou mayest"

BookChatCentral: bookchatcentral@comcast.net

muchado2

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#3

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07/06/06 03:28 PM

BCC BookieMonster

My rating is a solid 4 - good, enjoyable read that brought back memories of the pre-teen/teen years.

I've already recommended to parents w/ kids in this age range.

Currently reading: Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass by Isak Dinessen

Recently read:
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
12 Sharp (new Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Book of the Dead by Preston & Child

wernoclue

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#4

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07/06/06 05:13 PM

BCC ZEN Bookie MASTER

Well, I can only give it about a 2.75, splitting hairs as always. I was thinking along the lines of 3, but that's defined as "really good, better than average" and I really feel "average" defines it better. Although, like Jill, I liked it fairly well while I was reading it, very little has stayed with me.

Karen

Currently Reading:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

Recently Read:
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

xmaystarx

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#5

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07/06/06 06:55 PM

BCC BookieMonster

I'm going to add my 3. I'm sorry I missed the rescheduled chat, looks like it was a good one.

*~* Courtney *~*

Currently reading: Black swan green and Shipping News

KScribe

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#6

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07/06/06 10:08 PM

BCC Frequent Poster

I think I'd give this one a 4 --- I loved the style of the book. I think Mitchell was excellent at capturing the teen's voice and thoughts, and the structure reflected a teen/child's view of the world as isolated incidents without seeing "the big picture" of interconnection which adults see. I will definitely read more of Mitchell's work in the future.

Kevin WIP's: Chatelaine -- Mystery IX, and Persian Iris Garden; Drawn Thread -- Toccata No. 2; Prairie Schooler Mini RR My stitching pictures Currently reading: The Stolen Child To be read: Harry Potter; The Book Thief

butrfli425

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#7

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07/07/06 12:38 AM

BCC Bookaholic

A 4 for me! I'm so glad I read this one AND got to go to the chat! I think Mitchell did such a good job portraying the awkward age of 13 - I found Jason very believable, and the story compelling.

Vanessa

}}!{{

Currently reading Black Swan Green

kathylaz

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#8

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07/07/06 09:21 AM

I'd give it a very solid 3 too. The voice was spot on, as they say, and I really felt the agony of young Jason's adolescence. I also thought he did a bit of growing up too, and it was a very interesting development.

kathy
Listening to Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson, and struggling to keep up with the book choices in this group

booksalot

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#9

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07/07/06 12:18 PM

BCC BookieMonster

Ok, y'all know I had my problems with this book. Giving Mitchell full credit for being a marvelous wordsmith, I'm just not the right audience for his books. I'll rate this one 2.5. All things considered I'm actually not that far off the pace of the group's average.

Anne in Austin

CR: Five Smooth Stones; Water for Elephants
RR: The Book Thief; In a Sunburned Country; Love in the Time of Cholera; The Poe Shadow
Still hoping to finish: Middlemarch; Don Quixote

dlee10

Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#10

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07/07/06 02:09 PM

BCC BookieMonster

I guess I am just not Mitchell's audience either. I didn't like the unfinished feel to the chapters at all. 2

someonegetchristine

> Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#11

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07/09/06 02:23 AM

BCC BookieMonster

2. I'm at odds with those of you who liked the voice in BSG, because it irritated me in parts. I felt at times it was too old and sharp-eyed for a 13-yo. Mithcell's use of cutesy and smart phrasing robbed the story of its simplicity and candour.....a bit like an adult prodding a child to say something using their words rather than letting the child self-express, as a result the anecdotal current became contrived in my view.

jodijoy

Re: > Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#12

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07/11/06 07:52 AM

BCC ZEN Bookie MASTER

Certain things were spot on -- the adoloscent angst, the mixture of knowledge and naivete, and the "politics" of being a teenager. While there were bits and pieces (Mrs. C, the teacher at the end) that I did like, but I didn't really "believe" all of it. It seemed too knowing and smart. I give it a 2.5

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. Bertrand Russell

BCCJillster

Re: > Re: RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

#13

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08/24/06 06:17 PM

BCC ZEN BOOKIE COOKIE
Administrator

for 12 readers, average = 3.1

Jill
Reading: Stolen Child
Finished: Snow Blind by PJ Tracy; Can't Wait for Heaven, Flagg; 12 Sharp, Maisie Dobbs, The Book Thief (great) and ...I forgot LOL

TIMSHEL: "thou mayest"

BookChatCentral: bookchatcentral@comcast.net

chrome3D

black swan green

#14

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04/28/08 09:23 AM

I´m intrigued by this one. I will rate it some day.

chrome3D

#15

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04/28/08 09:28 AM

It seems Cloud Atlas is not rated here. Maybe you started this rating thing later.

Anyway, I give Cloud Atlas 4/5. Too much went beyond me but it was capturing.
-----------------
EDIT: After reading Black Swan, I give 4,5/5 to Cloud Atlas.

Last Edited By: chrome3D 06/02/08 09:05 AM. Edited 1 time.

chrome3D

Black Swan Green

#16

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06/02/08 09:04 AM

I really liked this. A lot went beyond me as I´m not british. There was a lot of references to british culture/pop-culture and some of them too obscure for me. Mitchell´s style was already familiar to me from Cloud Atlas and I liked the similarity of the style, while the subject material was totally different. It was funny to think of it as a continuation of Cloud Atlas, as there were same characters here and there. It was a bit strange to think that this was his 4th book as it felt more like someone´s 1st. Subject material seemed to be drawn from autobiographical sources. I´m not ashamed to say that it had lot of connections to my own life. I was 11 when the story of the book happened. Not a masterpiece but I liked it a lot.

4/5 (in my slightly overrated scale)

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RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

RATE: BLACK SWAN GREEN 6/06

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