Oh man, I don’t know what to say about this one. I loved, could not put down, the first (according to my Kindle) 87% of it. It ticks all my geek boxes: a serious and well-written piece of literature that touches on significant world issues but also has fantastical/magical elements, mystery and enigmatic prophecies. To be honest, it’s pretty surprising to me that a non-post colonial book with this much magic in it would be longlisted for the Booker, all things considered. And as a little bonus gift for me, we first meet the main/most frequently-recurring character as a punk-loving runaway teen in the 1980s named Holly. I mean, come on! To misquote Friends, this book could have been called “Be Your Own Wind-Keeper, Holly”!
The plot is somewhat complex and I won’t attempt to give a comprehensive summary, since part of the joy of it is the way it gradually unfolds from straighty-180 fiction to full-blown fantasy. True to Mitchell’s style (cf Cloud Atlas), the novel consists of a series of separate narratives with interactive elements, stretching from the past to the imagined future. The Holly character appears in each of them, as a person of varying significance.
The real problem starts with the final section of the book. It’s set in the year 2043 and it’s a real fucking downer. Peak oil has most definitely been hit, climate change has wreaked havoc, and since electricity and internet availability are both scarce commodities, the world has shrunk back to a series of loosely-connected rural communities with scant medical supplies that are terrorised by roving brigands. All of this would be bearable (it is, after all, basically what we encounter in The Lord of the Rings) if the more exciting elements of the book were still building to a climax. Unfortunately, the denouement takes place in the penultimate section, and the final one exists primarily to tie up loose ends (and remind us of one of the more depressing reasons why I choose not to have children). So here’s my offer to you, friends: if you choose to read this novel, I will give you the option of not pushing through to the end, and will fill you in on what happens to all of the characters in the final section. You’re welcome.