Tag Archives: Black Swan Green

This is one book that I can describe as having grown on me.  I was not overwhelmed with it after the first couple of chapters and its subtle advance of plot and character snuck up as Jason, over the course … Continue reading → Continue reading →

First of all, this following episode reminds me a bit of Steve Ersinghaus’ piece, Stoning Field, in the interaction of boys and the underlying theme of war: Here was a bent glade I knew from when us village kids used … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I would almost say that the underlying theme in this novel is struggle and change.  Jason, through the space of a few months (summer and now into the school year) faces some challenge in each of the chapters and we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

One thing that Mitchell seems to be quite good at doing is bringing in bits of Jason’s thoughts that the reader can well relate to from past experience: Teachers’re always using that "in your own words."  I hate that.  Authors … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is a relationship here between the chapters that Mitchell uses as stages both in the maturing of his character and the setting within which the character is placed to face a challenge.  From a childish worry of being accepted … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A little gem: (Talking with some people’s like moving up higher screens in a computer game.) (p. 158) I believe Jason’s referring to his growing relationship with Madame Crommelynck, but since he has just described his parents’ current state to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I love this, it’s as representative of the thought process of children, in carrying an idea a step further and further until it becomes another question of sorts, while at the same time, it is a worldly view and comment … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A couple of real nice exposures of change of attitude and time by Mitchell, keeping the descriptions fairly close yet far enough apart to denote a difference in Jason’s first and second visits to Madame Crommelynck: Inside smelt of liver … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is an underlying theme to this novel, and that is the war in the Falklands that has affected England and comes home to Jason with the death in combat of the older brother of a friend. The ongoing war … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A few nice phrases used to establish an unspoken fact.  Here, the common knowledge of Moran’s father being an alcoholic, yet the way it is handled carefully by others: "Does your old man ever get pissed? Moran asked.If I said … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mitchell appears to use the chapters as episodes, focusing on an incident unrelated to the previous but consistent with a linear timeline as each refers to something happening in the prior chapter.  It seems that Jason faces a new problem … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There are mixed feelings about this book; after finishing the first chapter I see much I like yet there’s an ambivalence and I question the rave reviews I seem to recall when it came out. First of all, I must … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mitchell draws the characters well, and in the reflections of the protagonist (Jason–we know this because his mother has addressed him at some point) we do get some nice stuff: Nobody’d be out on the frozen lake, I’d suspected, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mitchell appears to get the voice of a twelve year-old going on thirteen down pretty well as he interacts with his family and friends.  The setting is in England but the family life and the boyhood games of the 1980’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

William Gay is a hard act to follow and I felt that sense of disappointment as I went through my shelves to select my next reading.  I’m in the mood for language, yet what besides a few that I’m saving … Continue reading →