Tick-Tock Go "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell

I’m a huge David Mitchell fan, but this latest is definitely one of his best.

It’s written in a similar style to Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten, in that the narration breaks periodically and is picked up in a different time and place by a different character. However, this book is set apart in that it focuses on one person, Holly Sykes’, life and so every narration eventually runs into her.

What I find is really great about Mitchell’s books is that characters keep recurring in them, so every book feels like another window into this special universe that the author has created. As though all of his characters are running around and he just zeroes in on a few at a time. Just in The Bone Clocks there’s a character from Black Swan Green, a few from Cloud Atlas, and one major one from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

This one’s more science fiction-y than before, with the fifth narration centering in on a battle between souls who get reincarnated but retain their memories (this is rather similar to that one section of Ghostwritten, for those of you keeping track) and those who steal other souls to never age. I feel like I should reread the book to fully understand it, but I’m pretty lazy.

Another reason to reread is all of the interesting tidbits throughout the book as the reader and Holly try to figure out what the hell is going on. Characters pop up briefly and then return much later, and hints are spread throughout. It’s rather similar to Cloud Atlas in that sense.

One thing I haven’t quite figured out are the images. The maze becomes fairly obvious, but each section has its own, and some seem to be less relevant than others. Also the little clocks in the upper corners of the page go through one hour in the first section, two hours in the second, and so on. Not sure if there’s a bigger meaning to that than meets the eye.

The overall message of this book probably has to do with time. There’s clocks everywhere, “the bone clocks” refers to us mere mortals, and the good guys in that war are called the horologists (studiers of time). If I had to guess at the actual message, it’d probably be something along the lines of enjoy it while you can because it doesn’t last forever (unless you use evil means). Many characters die young and civilization turns into a chaotic anarchy in the 2040s, so you never know when everything’s going to turn to shit.

If you can take obscure science fiction that’s never totally explained (personally I thrive off of doing a little literary detective work) then you will probably enjoy this book. And I would highly recommend reading the rest of David Mitchell’s repertoire, as that can only enhance the experience.