Product Description

January, 1982. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor – covert stammerer and reluctant poet – anticipates a stultifying year in his backwater English village. But he hasn’t reckoned with bullies, simmering family discord, the Falklands War, a threatened gypsy invasion and those mysterious entities known as girls. Charting thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, this is a captivating novel, wry, painful and vibrant with the stuff of life.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2567 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

The Times
'Luminously beautiful'

Review

‘David Mitchell is dizzyingly, dazzlingly good…BLACK SWAN GREEN is just gorgeous.’

( Daily Mail )

‘A delight to read from beginning to end’

( Sunday Express )

'Luminously beautiful'

( The Times )

'I do hope to read a better British novel this year, but I can’t honestly say that I expect to.'

(David Robertson, Scotsman )

‘Mitchell is just about the best writer operating in Britain today...a novel that, like each of its predecessors, sticks in the back of your head for weeks after you’ve finished it.’

( Arena )

‘Spry, disconcerting and moving. It is also extremely funny even - or especially - at the blackest of moments.’

(Kate Kellaway, Observer Summer Reads )

‘Intricate and beautiful’

( Time Out )

‘Hugely touching and enjoyable’

(Rachel Cooke, Observer Summer Reads )

‘It is the best kind of contemporary fiction’ 

( Times Literary Supplement )

'Rich and strange'

( Guardian )

‘That very rare thing, a realistic first novel written by a master of his craft.'

(Christina Patterson, Independent )

‘All the drama and inadvertent comedy of the onset of adolescence are brilliantly laid bare…a deceptively easy read, at times uproariously funny’ 

( Evening Standard )

Sunday Express
‘A delight to read from beginning to end’

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Customer Reviews

Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
I was already a fan of David Mitchell when this was released, but the title gave away little about the contents of the book. I bought this (fatefully) without reading a review or even the books blurb, but on the strength of the fact that i've loved Mitchell and what he has written before.

Not to be dissapointed, this is a world away from the dreamy fiction he has laid down for us before. A vivid and real look at the life of teenage Jason, in the village of Black Swan Green during the falklands war, and the struggle with the horrors of the real world most of us experienced during our adolecent years. Divorce, bullying, war, money, and *gasp*...girls all seem to toch on the life of Jason, along with some beautiful moments alone or with his so called friends.

Im tempted to comapre it wth other stories of teen angst laid down in "secret diaries" or with "growing pains", but the absolute pleasure of reading this book is in a world of its own. Remember betamax? school discos? penny sweets? parkas? raleigh choppers? get a hold of this and breathe in every word.

vivid
David Mitchell is an outstanding author. This book captures brilliantly the early 1980s in a way that brings memories of that time flooding back. Anyone who was in their teens at that time will immediately connect with the main character and his account of the transition into adolescence is believable and devoid of sentiment.
If you have not yet discovered David Mitchell you are in for a treat as you have other great titles to look forward to as well. If you have read his stuff, then you will be waiting impatiently for his next book!

Mitchelltastic!
This David Mitchell guy is an artist. The stories he tells are so different from each other and yet obviously come from the same beautiful soul. I love all the work of this master storyteller, but I think Black Swan Green may be his masterpiece so far. It was one of those books that I didn't want to put down and yet I didn't want it to end, and when I finished it I just wanted to start over again. He captivated me, as usual, but this time the emotions he evoked were stronger than ever. I love love love this novel and can't recommend it highly enough.