Black Swan Green

Black Swan Green

UK First edition cover
Author David Mitchell
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Semi-autobiographical, Bildungsroman novel
Publisher Random House
Publication date
 April 2006
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 294 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN 1-4000-6379-5 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC 61513194
823/.92 22
LC Class PR6063.I785 B58 2006

Black Swan Green is a semi-autobiographical bildungsroman written by David Mitchell. It was published in April 2006 in the U.S. and May 2006 in the UK. The novel's thirteen chapters each represent one month—from January 1982 through January 1983—in the life of 13-year-old Worcestershire boy Jason Taylor. The novel is written from the perspective of Taylor and employs many teen colloquialisms and popular-culture references from early-1980s England.

Mitchell has the speech disorder of stammering,[1] "I’d probably still be avoiding the subject today had I not outed myself by writing a semi-autobiographical novel, Black Swan Green, narrated by a stammering 13 year old."[1]

Black Swan Green is currently being adapted for Ruby Films and Channel 4 by Tony Marchant.[2]

Plot summary

Chapter 1: January man

Jason Taylor is a 13-year-old with a stammer in the small village of Black Swan Green in Worcestershire. The first chapter starts with a rule Jason's father has: "Do not set foot in my office" and Jason breaking that rule to pick up the phone. It also introduces Jason's older sister Julia, friend Dean "Moron" Moran, popular boy Nick Yew, Gilbert "Yardy" Swinyard, Ross Wilcox and his cousin Gary Drake, golden boy student Neal Brose, tomboy Dawn Madden, Mervyn "Squelch" Hill, bully Grant Burch, local legend Tom Yew and "less shiny legend" Pluto Noak. Jason secretly publishes his poems in the Black Swan Green Parish magazine under the alias "Eliot Bolivar". Jason breaks his grandfather's Omega Seamaster De Ville, a valuable watch. Also, after an accident on an iced-over lake, he meets a mysterious old woman rumoured to be a witch.

Chapter 2: Hangman

Jason goes into more detail about his struggles with stammering. He refers to this mental block as "hangman". He's scared to stand up and speak during the school's weekly rhetoric session, but is saved by a call from his South African speech therapist, Mrs. De Roos.

Chapter 3: Relatives

Introduces Jason's relatives who come for a visit, including cool, 15-year-old cousin Hugo Lamb (who reappears in Mitchell's later novel The Bone Clocks), who convinces Jason to try his first cigarette.

Chapter 4: Bridle path

A fight between Burch and Wilcox ends with the former breaking his right wrist. Jason encounters Madden, a girl he has a crush on. She treats him like a dog. Escaping up a tree, Jason witnesses Tom Yew, on leave from the Navy, make love to Debby Crombie.

Chapter 5: Rocks

This chapter explores Jason's perspective on the growing British instability in the Falklands War and arguments between his mother and father. Tom Yew is killed when his ship, the HMS Coventry, is bombed by Skyhawks. Eventually, a ceasefire is declared. He also finds the key of mortality in his back pocket.

Chapter 6: Spooks

Jason's mother takes up an interest in running an art gallery part-time. Jason finds an invitation to join the Spooks, a local secret society made up of Noak, Burch, Swinyard, Peter Redmarley and John Tookey. Jason and Moran are challenged with making it through six back gardens in 15 minutes. Jason makes it with ten seconds to spare, but his friend Moran is injured when he falls through a greenhouse.

Chapter 7: Solarium

Jason receives an invitation from the publisher of his poems. The real benefactor is revealed to be Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck (a much younger version of whom also has a part in Cloud Atlas). She conducts sessions with him, offering constructive criticisms of his poems. Crommelynck is soon extradited as a result of her husband's financial scams in Germany.

Chapter 8: Souvenirs

Jason is taken to fish and chips by Danny Lawlor, a man who works under his father at Greenland. He later meets his father's boss, Craig Salt. Jason's mother takes over as manager of Yasmin Morton-Bagot's gallery, La Boite aux Mille Surprises. Jason and his mother prevent a trio of girls stealing items from the store. His mother decides to take him to see Chariots of Fire, an act which gets noticed by people from his school.

Chapter 9: Maggot

Wilcox and Drake make fun of Jason for going to the cinema with his mother. Wilcox starts calling him "maggot", a name which grows within the school. Jason meets Holly Deblin, who tells him, "You're not a maggot. Don't let dickheads decide what you are."

Chapter 10: Knife grinder

A gypsy knife grinder visits Jason's house, offering his services. Jason does not let him in. Jason and his father attend a village meeting to decide what to do about a proposed gypsy encampment. After several speeches, a fire alarm is pulled, causing minor panic. Moran's father reveals to Jason that his grandfather was a gypsy. Through a series of events Jason finds himself in the gypsy camp.

Chapter 11: Goose fair

Jason finds Wilcox's lost wallet, containing six hundred pounds, at the fair. After some encounters in the fair ground he decides to give it back. Wilcox breaks up with Madden and finds her sleeping with Burch. In shock, Wilcox steals Tom Yew's Suzuki and crashes it, losing part of his right leg.

Chapter 12: Disco

It is learned that Jason's father lost his job. Jason crushes Brose's calculator in a vice. After being taken to the Principal's office, Jason reveals that Brose has been running an extortion scheme intimidating other boys in his year for money. Brose is expelled. It is learned that Jason was kicked out of the Spooks. Miss Lippetts delivers a class about secrets and the ethics of revealing them. During the dance, Jason kisses Deblin. He reveals to his father that he broke the watch and his father reveals that he's been having an affair and is divorcing Jason's mother.

Chapter 13: January man

Taking place two weeks later, Jason reminisces around the village one final time before leaving. The mystery phone calls were from Jason's father's mistress, Cynthia. He has stopped writing poems for the parish magazine.

Critical reception

In 2007 the book received recognition as a Best Book for Young Adults (Alex Awards) from the American Library Association.[3] It was shortlisted for the 2006 Costa Book Awards, longlisted for the 2006 Booker Prize and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. It was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Time Magazine's Best Books of the Year, American Library Association Notable Books for Adults. It was shortlisted for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.

Allusions/references to other works

The book contains references and characters from other works by Mitchell, as is characteristic of his novels:

References

  1. 1 2 "Lost for words", David Mitchell, Prospect magazine, 23 February 2011, Issue #180
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  3. ↑ American Library Association (2007). "2007 Best Books for Young Adults". Retrieved 2011-02-03.
  4. ↑ Mitchell, David (2007-05-26). "Dénouement". The Guardian. London.
  5. ↑ "David Mitchell: The Massive Rat". The Guardian. London. 2009-08-01.
  6. ↑ "The Book of Other People". The New York Times. 2008-01-08.

Reviews

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