The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

With precise diction and purpose David Mitchell again has written a novel worthy of winning more prizes than it did. Mitchell's love of Japan and his characters can be read throughout the book. I would recommend this to everyone in to contemporary literature and even more so for the people into historical novels.

The life of a young Dutchman, Jacob de Zoet, goes to the trading post of Dejima close to Nagasaki in the Japanese Empire for the hopes of some extra cash. As a clerk he hopes to make some money so he is worthy of marrying a woman he loves back in Zeeland (the Netherlands). He finds out soon enough that in the Dutch East India Company in the tail of the 18th century honesty and diligence are not always considered virtues by his superiors, peers or subordinates. Corruption and fraud is what keeps the company a float. And his report digging up dirt on all his superiors predecessors is not wholeheartedly welcomed.
Through events like these the intelligent clerk learns to be a shrewd diplomat and not to blindly the virtues of his superiors.

I think I'll leave it at that. The book is to intriguing and intricate.. just read it yourself. Mitchell is an artist.