Ghostwritten
- 436
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
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About the book
Ghostwritten is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, Britain, the US and Ireland. It is written episodically; each chapter details a different story and central character, although they are all interlinked through seemingly coincidental events. Many of the themes from Ghostwritten continue in Mitchell's subsequent novels, number9dream and Cloud Atlas, and a character later appears in The Bone Clocks.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 132 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 47% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 13 | 10% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 119 | 90% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Abandoned at page 106. Some of the writing is lovely but the loosely connected short stories thing very rarely works for me, and I'm bored.”
“This is my third Mitchell, and I can honestly say that he really does know how to carry the narrative(s). While his debut is much closer to Cloud Atlas (the first book I read) than my personal favourite The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet…”
Frequently asked
How long is Ghostwritten?
It has 436 pages — longer than 50% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
