David Mitchell Slade House

The second chapter of this book is written from the perspective of a divorced middle aged British man in the 80s. And he's less a character than a collection of disdainful cliches of what you expect divorced middle aged British man in the 80s to be like. Red flag.

The third chapter is written from the perspective of a college girl struggling with her weight. And as someone who has had his own weight-related struggles, it was actually kind of distressing to read David Mitchell's terrible writing with this character. Again, she's just a litany of disdainful fat-person cliches. I realise not all weight issues are the same and that I don't expect that my experience is universal but this was very plainly written by someone with an inability to properly empathise with a character beyond a bunch of superficial tropes.

Disappointing.

Our theme for our upcoming book club is, of course, haunted houses. Not my usual read…stupid people staying in a creepy old house…you get what you deserve. But this book was different - the writing was excellent and the way the stories connected kept me engaged. I highly recommend it.

This is an enjoyable little nugget! I have previously read just one of David Mitchell's books (Cloud Atlas), but know that such a short novel is unusual for him. I did not know that Slade House is a companion to Bone Clocks, which is also on my cue.

This novel is several vignettes illustrating the talents of Norah and Jonah, twins born with unusual talents that they put to horribly immoral use. The characters of the twins are not very fleshed out in this quick read. We get to know their victims much better. Mitchell does a wonderful job of painting lives in short spaces.


Slade House is a surprisingly light read coming from David Mitchell, and an engaging one. I recommend it.