Horrible People

[mtvessel]

Jan 2019
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell – Sceptre, 2014
* * *
This historical outing is the third that I have read by this author, and compared to the previous two (Cloud Atlas and Number9Dream) it is relatively conventional, which is probably why I found it less interesting. It is not without merit, however. The setting is fascinating, the characters are well-delineated, and he plays games with viewpoint that most authors would not dare to do. I also liked the obvious thematic links to his previous works - the Japanophilia of Number9Dream and the thriller-like power plays of Cloud Atlas.

The setting is Dejima, an artificial island constructed in the harbour of Nagasaki that was the sole port of exchange between Europe and Edo-period Japan. Three nationalities are represented: the merchants of the corrupt and dying Dutch East India Company, the assorted officials and interpreters of the Japanese regime, and the commander and officers of a British warship. Of these, the Dutch and the Japanese are by far the most important. The titular Jacob de Zoet is a young and naïve but clever accountant sent to audit the books after the previous chief of the company in Dejima was caught profiteering. His mission is complicated when he meets Aibagawa Orito, a disfigured young woman who is studying with Doctor Marinus, the colony's resident physician, and promptly falls in love. Of course their liaison can never be, and events soon conspire to separate them.

To say any more would, I think, be getting into spoiler territory, but suffice to say that the genre melange that I always associate with Mitchell is very much present, including elements of political thriller, heist movies and even a hint of the supernatural. The characters are strong and memorable, from the cheery rogues Ivo Oost and Arei Grote who work in and profit from the Dutch warehouse, to the sinister Abbot Enomoto (boo hiss) and the English captain John Penhaligon, who is a martyr to gout. I particularly liked the fact that the Japanese and Dutch characters felt like products of their respective cultures, rather than an English take.

Unfortunately, as with Mitchell's previous books, most of the people in power are horrible and duplicitous and the ones you care about are weak. Mitchell likes rubbing his readers' noses in the fact that fairy tale endings where virtue, love or justice triumph are not the historical norm, which is fair enough, but also, frankly, a bit of a downer.