Books › Ghostwritten
Ghostwritten
First published 2000 · 464 pages
A dizzying, genre-hopping puzzle box that spans the globe to reveal the invisible threads connecting humanity.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like watching a master illusionist at work, where every seemingly random sleight of hand is part of a grand, breathtaking design. The narrative moves at a brisk, restless clip, leaping across continents and genres from a tense thriller in Tokyo to a poignant ghost story in Mongolia, to a slick corporate satire in London. The prose is remarkably chameleon-like, completely shedding its skin to inhabit each new narrator with startling authenticity. Beneath the eerie, atmospheric surface of these fragmented lives lies a profound, philosophical warmth. It is a deeply expansive experience, designed for readers who delight in literary puzzle boxes and the dizzying, awe-inspiring realization that every human action ripples across the globe.
- Mood
- expansive
- restless
- eerie
- atmospheric
- Tone
- inventive
- philosophical
- empathetic
- wry
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- global interconnectedness · the butterfly effect · fate and coincidence · human isolation · the search for meaning
- The writing
- Chameleon-like and highly textured, shifting effortlessly between distinct voices, dialects, and genres to inhabit each new narrator.
- The arc
- Moves from a sense of fragmented, restless isolation into a dizzying, awe-inspiring realization of profound cosmic connection.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love ambitious literary puzzles, genre-bending narratives, and sprawling stories that weave disparate lives into a single tapestry.
Content notes
- terrorism
- suicide
- violence
- cult dynamics
About the book
The tales of nine very different characters in nine different cities that "don't end, [but] scarily morph and transmute into each other as we travel through them in the company of a crazed cult member, a corrupt lawyer, a Tokyo jazz aficionado, an art thief, a New York late-night DJ."--Booklist.
Description from Open Library.
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