Curiosities

First Lines of the New David Mitchell

By C. Max Magee posted at 11:34 am on February 4, 2010 6

Here are the first lines of the new David Mitchell novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, forthcoming in July: “‘Miss Kawasemi?’ Orito kneels on a stale and sticky futon. ‘Can you hear me?’ In the rice paddy beyond the garden, a cacophony of frogs detonates. Orito dabs the concubine’s sweat-drenched face with a damp cloth.”



  


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6 Responses to “First Lines of the New David Mitchell”

  1. Magali Mantooth
    at 12:23 pm on February 4, 2010

    What terrible first lines! I would not read any further than this.

  2. Sam Anderson
    at 12:51 pm on February 4, 2010

    Boy, those syllables are working very hard…

  3. TGIF | Like Fire
    at 9:52 am on February 5, 2010

    [...] at the Millions, the first few lines of the eagerly anticipated (at least by me) new David Mitchell novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob [...]

  4. gladly
    at 11:37 am on February 5, 2010

    There’s a full excerpt at the book’s website. It’s a little grisly, but it made me want to keep reading.

  5. Matt
    at 12:46 pm on February 5, 2010

    Dear Gladly,

    God bless you.

    M

  6. Excerpt from THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET. « Condalmo.
    at 1:01 pm on February 5, 2010

    [...] (via, in the comments) [...]

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