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    Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)
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    Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)
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    Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)
    Audiobook7 hours

    Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)

    Written by David Mitchell

    Narrated by Johannes Steck and Doris Wolters

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Japan, Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts: Der junge Jacob de Zoet kommt mit einer Gruppe Handelsabgeordneter aus Niederländisch-Indien auf die Insel Dejima im Hafen von Nagasaki. Obwohl verheiratet, verliebt er sich bald unsterblich in die Hebamme Orito Aibagawa. Ihre Verbindung steht aber unter keinem guten Stern, denn Ausländern ist es verboten, das japanische Festland zu betreten. Weiterer Ärger droht, als Jacob sich gegen seine Vorgesetzten stellt und sich weigert, das gefälschte Verzeichnis einer Schiffsladung zu unterzeichnen. Aber auch Oritos Schicksal nimmt eine schreckliche Wendung ... Ein spannender und aufwühlender historischer Roman über die Liebe, gelesen von Doris Wolters und Johannes Steck.
    LanguageDeutsch
    PublisherAUDIOBUCH
    Release dateAug 23, 2013
    ISBN9783899646702
    Unavailable
    Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)

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    Reviews for Die tausend Herbste des Jacob de Zoet (gekürzte Fassung)

    4/5

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    • 3/5
      A good tale well researched and well told if a little long. Perhaps it might have been better as two or three shorter stories. There's certainly enough material. The second novel on the run I've just read set in Japan in a similar period both told from the point of view of visiting Europeans to a closed, hostile society. One written by a Japanese author the other by an American. In essence they both give a similar picture of society at the time. But the former has more emphasis on character and individual, the latter on plot and structure. Both informative and enjoyable though,
    • 4/5
      An absorbing historical novel.

      Most of the action takes place in Dejima, off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1799-1800, and culminates in an actual historical event. Dejima was an artificial island built as a center of Japanese/Dutch trade, and was constructed for the reason that foreigners were not permitted to live on Japanese soil. Creating a canal between the mainland and a peninsula solved this problem to the satisfaction of the Japanese.

      The title character is a young clerk for the Dutch East India Company looking to make his fortune, at least to an extent that would enable his marriage to his sweetheart back home. Complicating this are his innate honesty and his immediate attraction to a young Japanese midwife.

      The storyline takes a somewhat fantastic turn that involves a cult claiming the ability to bestow immortality through horrific means. The actual historical event I mentioned actually took place in 1808, but was moved by Mitchell, presumably for dramatic reasons, to 1800.

      The book is well plotted, but doesn't take you on the path you expect, and there are numerous well-drawn characters, many of an earthy and bawdy nature. I particularly liked the crusty and unconventional Dr. Marinus. There's just the right mix here of adventure, terror, humor, and yes, fun. Yet there's enough ambiguity to satisfy the literary-minded who want some questions to chew on when the book is finished.

      In the final analysis: a cracking good read!
    • 5/5
      I was already a fan, but David Mitchell's newest feels like a major step forward. It combines some of the complexities and esoteric-ism of his earlier work (Cloud Atlas) with the sure-handed narrative of his more recent (Black Swan Green) and wraps it all in an impressively researched work of historical fiction.

      The story follows an ambitious young clerk entering the strange world of a Dutch East India trading post just outside of Nagasaki in 1799. It's an odd no-man's-land that seems like the edge of the world and Jacob has been tasked with ferreting-out the perpetrators of institutional corruption. As such, he doesn't make many friends among the hands (a rogues gallery), officers, interpreters, and warlords that frequent the docks and warehouses.

      Meanwhile, he tries to acclimate himself to the culture shock of his new environs, the rough edges of his new colleagues, and the forbidden attraction he feels for a disfigured midwife.

      Mitchell does a great job of exploring the nooks and crannies of human character and behavior during love, war, and commerce. Within its gritty realism it evokes the best bits of David Liss, Lisa See and even a little Patrick O'Brian. A great read!
    • 4/5
      As always, immensely satisfying. Everything so textured, nuanced and rich - plot, characters, mood and setting. Language mesmerizing. I wouldn't have minded a bit more Jacob and Orito, but then that wouldn't be David Mitchell, would it?
    • 3/5
      I've tried twice to finish this novel and I just cannot. It is too character-dense and I do not want to create a Cliff's Notes of Characters just to enjoy my nighttime reading. Such a shame, since what I did read between the introduction of yet another character of the hundreds (slight exaggeration) was great.
    • 4/5
      Jacob is a young Dutch clerk assigned to the trading post in Nagasaki, Japan with the Dutch East India Company. Japan is a closed empire and he is one of a handful of Europeans working at the Dejima outpost in the bay. His accounting uncovers rampant corruption used to line the pockets of company employees, which gains him no friends among his colleagues. While stationed at Dejima, the company goes bankrupt so he is stranded in Nagasaki. the British attempt a take over of the Dutch post and Jacob wins the day against unbelievable odds. No, really that whole thread of the story is unbelievable, as is the plot line about Jacob's Japanese love interest.
    • 4/5
      This is a beautiful descriptive story of Imperial Japan in 1799 - shortly after Japan has opened up its borders to trade with Europe. The title character, Jacob de Zoet, is a young clerk of the Dutch East Indies Company who is hoping in the next 5 years to make his fortune in Japan so that he can return to the Netherlands and marry his fiancee. Jacob is bright, resourceful and honest but his plans are changed when he falls in love with the Japanese midwife Orito.

      I really enjoyed this audiobook. The imagery is amazing - the combination of very descriptive prose with a strong narration made me feel like I had been transported to ancient Japan. On the surface this was an excellent historical novel with well-researched details and a pretty complex plot. But I have the feeling that I might have been missing something with this book. The author is David Mitchell and yet the story seemed like a very conventional epic novel. From reading the reviews my interpretation of this book seems to be pretty superficial and perhaps there is a much deeper message or theme to this novel. But, as far as historical fiction goes, this book was great. Maybe I'll give it another try to really figure out what I'm missing.
    • 5/5
      David Mitchell can do no wrong as far as I am concerned. Like an actor who you never recognize because each role is so different, Mitchell's books share nothing except a fascinating slate of distinct characters and a fresh world view that completely engulfs the reader. His books are hard to put down. I loved the Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
    • 5/5
      Well crafted. I don't want to ruin a minute of it for a single person. I had a man walk up to me on the street after seeing this book in my hand and inform me that it was the "best book he had read this summer."

      3 chapters from the end was the best chapter I have *ever* read in a book. It was a very duh-Duh-DUH-DUN moment. Worth every moment of me struggling to get thru nautical discussions of ships fighting at sea.

    • 2/5
      Reads like a film script. The dialogue is four-dimensional, fantastic. The rest of it is stage direction.
    • 4/5
      The story of a Dutch businessman at the Japanese trading port of Dejima around 1800. I found the first half of this book nice to read, but difficult to get into, if that makes any sense. The writing is quite enjoyable, but I didn't really care much about the characters until I got to the second half, when the story really took off and became a suspenseful page-turner.
    • 4/5
      Historical fiction at its best. Thoroughly researched, fascinating setting, interesting characters, and it reads very well, too. Thoughts about the clash of cultures.
    • 3/5
      Audiobook. There are many things to admire about this book. I recently read Endo's Silence which is set perhaps a century earlier and more directly takes up the story of Christianity in Japan. This book comes at Christianity more sidewise but is more directly investigating the money piece, the wish to colonize. The central western characters are mostly Dutch, which means the whole English story is also approached sidewise. The story is loosely strung along the lifeline of Jacob de Zoet. He is one of those characters you want to be a hero but isn't quite, a bit of a grey cypher you can write a story on. A good sidewise hero for a mostly sidewise book. And I like the way the plot sprawls. Divided into several parts. The story keeps on going. Has continuing story lines but deflects the grand line, the crescendo that is sustained throughout. More peaks and valleys. That said, there is too much hung on the "love" story for both Jacob and his Japanese parallels. And the evil folks here are just way too evil. I don't know enough about Japanese history to know if there is a kernel of history here. But this in some places start feeling like Valdamor is at the heart of the story. And that's a bit too much.

      Endo is definitely much better. But this was fun.
    • 5/5
      David Mitchell is a master. I can't wait to read his newest.
    • 4/5
      Mitchell succeeds in this historical novel much in the way that he has in each of the other genres he has tackled. A good (if slow at the beginning) story and finely wrought characters combine for a satisfying read. A tale of how fate can seem to rob us of certain types of decisions. Full of gritty detail, it is romantic without being sentimental.
    • 4/5
      After reading 'Cloud Atlas,' I wanted to read something else by Mitchell, and this is the one that showed up on paperbackswap!

      Describing it to someone last night, I said: "Well, it starts off historical, gets a little bit fantastic, becomes absolutely horrific, but mostly it's historical."

      Set in 1799, the titular character, Jacob de Zoet, is a Dutch trader who's been sent to Japan in hopes of making his fortune and winning permission to marry the woman he loves. But across the world, with a five-year term of employment, a lot can happen.

      The book is exquisitely researched - the background is more than believable, and the writing is wonderful. However, Mitchell doesn't let any literary pretensions hold him back. As I said, some of the stuff here is straight out of a sensationalist supernatural horror novel (and I loved it.)
      He also writes a lot of random details that are gross just for their gross-out factor... "earthy," one might call it, and that I could do without.

      Overall, though, I really enjoyed the book. The ending/epilogue was really well done, too... it had a plot that was slightly hard to manage without screwing it up, I thought, and Mitchell did an excellent job.

      Definitely planning on reading more from this author.
    • 2/5
      Very well written. If I were an author and maybe an English teacher, or a house wife. I would probably enjoy this book a lot more. However, I did not find the story interesting. I didn't really like the title character either. This was my first David Mitchell novel. I am still planning on reading Cloud Atlas. Hopefully that book will combine his superb writing with an intriguing plot.
    • 5/5
      enjoyed a lot - less convoluted as a plot than his earlier works, but very atmospheric and funny.
    • 3/5
      I read a book very quickly and then re-read it to capture all the details I missed. Thousand Autumns is an interesting insight of Dutch Christian man in Japan in late 1700's. The story weaves between relationships of the characters and countries. I enjoyed the story and found the characters well developed. Especially the lead characaters Jacob and Orito. I also found it very difficult to read quickly due to the nature of the writing and at loss to explain why. Although I enjoyed it, I will not re-read which is unusual for my style of reading. It will be a nice book to stumble upon in my library in the future.
    • 2/5
      This is an historical novel largely set on the island of Dejima, the Dutch trading post, off of Nagasaki in the year 1800. It is plot driven. The characters are either good or bad. They are shallow and do not grow with time. The plot is unbelievable. The situation and its peculiarities and exoticisms are great fun.
    • 3/5
      First of all: David Mitchell is an author who is very good with words. In this book,as well as in Black Swan Green, I was at times amazed at the writing. However, the story about Jacob de Zoet in Japan did not really work for me. There were good parts, but there were also a lot of parts that dragged on, or that didn't really add to the story. If you like Mitchell's work and historical fiction, read this book. If you don't, you might want to skip this one.
    • 2/5
      One word - irritating.I must begin this review with by acknowledging my utmost respect for the narrators, Jonathan Aris and Paula Wilcox, who struggled nobly through the myriad of Dutch and Japanese names that must have been nigh impossible to read in hard copy. Unfortunately, in contrast, remembering all these names, without the ability to backtrack a few pages to check them out, was also impossible, and even half way through the book, there were still numerous characters whose identity baffled me. I think this book will join Wolf Hall as a book that I would never have struggled to complete if I hadn't been listening to the narrated Audible version. In spite of this, however, it was an endurance rather than a pleasure and the final sentance was a relief.The main part of the book covers just a few years at the turn of the 18th century, when a lowly clerk woos above his station and is rewarded with a 5 year stint working for the East India Company in Dejema, Japan. - A resoundingly successful way of removing unsuitable suitors! This lowly clerk is Dutchman, Jacob de Zoet of the title, and he seems to be pretty much the only honest character amongst a cast of thousands. The intruige and double crossing that he meets on arrival in Dejima made for difficult reading and seemed to be the main feature of the early chapters. Again he chooses an unsuitable love interest, more frustration for the reader.The middle section introduces us to a shrine inland from Nagasaki, where all is not as it should be. Without giving away too much, all I can say is that this was the more readable part and probably the only section that gripped me at all.Finally, the British ship arrives, under Dutch flag. Maybe all's fair in love and war but that did seem particularly despicable!Jacob de Zoet shows his true colours, his final years are rushed through (thankfully) and we can all go home.So, I have learned a little about Japan and its history in the early eighteenth century. I did find the Japanese customs and laws interesting, but underhand double dealing does not interest me at all and unfortunately, a lot of the book centred around the schemings of the Dutch.There was also a fair bit of overly poetic writing and sentances intertwined with other sentances over long, laborious passages.I loved Black Swan Green but The Thousand Autumns is barely 2 stars for me, and it only gets that because I reserve one star for books I abandon.
    • 4/5
      This was a book I started about three times before I got completely immersed. Once I was there I was in. Japan in the 1800's trading with the Dutch is not a time in history I'm at all familiar with. What I'm trying to say here is that the place, the people, the language, the customs all came to life in such an intense way. I'm heading out to get another David Mitchell. This book went to amazing places!
    • 5/5
      Complex and involving. I really couldn't tell where the story was going, but I really enjoyed the ride. Very, very good.
    • 5/5
      The breadth and depth of subjects Mitchell covers is astounding - Dutch and Japanese culture, botany, sailing...Very pithy characters and dialogue, so that you feel you are there amongst it. Not entirely sure about some of the plot elements, but those are more than made up for by the rest of the book. Very enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those slow, simmering reads that creeps up on the reader... or I just developed a fascination when the whole British/Dutch trade wars surfaced. Overall, an interesting glimpse into a cloistered Japan, but I still find Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha to be the better read, IMO, although the theme of 'prisoner' in all it's forms that runs through this one was rather interesting to note.
    • 5/5
      Wow. I loved this book. It started slowly and I was a little worried, since I wasn't crazy about Mitchell's previous book, Black Swan Green. But about halfway through the first section, I was completely hooked and I could hardly stand to put the book down last night. (It didn't help that I stopped reading at the end of the second section, which ends on an ominous note.)

      I must admit that I read the third (and final) section very quickly this morning, not so much because I was eager to have the book done with as because I was very very concerned about a particular character who did not reappear for pages and pages.

      This book isn't what I expected--after the slight Black Swan Green, I thought that Mitchell would give us another experiment with voice and form, more like Cloud Atlas or number9dream. This book is a yarn. It's a yarn with a theme, though. In some ways I think that the story is so compelling that it becomes easy to miss what Mitchell is saying about tribalism and ethnicity and religion.
    • 4/5
      This is a big book and I wasn't sure whether I'd like it. But I mostly did. It's flawed in places - too much description but it was interesting. I half read it and half listened in audio and the audio was more enjoyable - it seems to work better to listen to. The best section is the central monastery chapters. Better than I expected although most of the rest of my reading group hated it.
    • 4/5
      The meandering story line of Jacob DeZoet was captivating. Mitchells writing is unlike most other contemporary writers, beautifully done. There are so many threads, like mitchells other works. I was shocked by some, moved by others. One tip, don't worry about trying to keep all of the characters straight, just go with the flow and those that are important will distinguish themselves.
    • 2/5
      I'm a dissenting view on this one, I'm afraid. Gave Mitchell another try after not thinking much of Cloud Atlas, and I think it'll be a while before I try him again. While I thought Cloud Atlas was all style and no substance, this forgoes the style and is flimsily and unconvincingly written (at one point the character thinks of himself as 'Jacob de Bonehead' - the thoughts of an 18th century Dutchman, really?), and constantly spoonfeeds the reader in incredibly irritating fashion. It is full of action, which is a problem: no time is given to go into the characters' interior lives in enough depth for them to become interesting, so it's hard to care about much of what happens to them - Jacob de Zoet in particular is a bland character who I found it impossible to get behind. A case in point - when Jacob is trying to get a friend of his to introduce him to the Japanese woman he has fallen in love with, who has a badly burned, scarred face, the friend mocks him for being a sappy imperial type who just wants to rescue the poor stricken maiden with his intensely patronising affection - and this is, for the next 500 pages, all he is, inasmuch as he is anything. The love story that could develop drowns in a not-very-interesting Dutch corruption story and a standoff with the British that both take up far too much time, and the whole thing is pretty unengaging. Frustratingly, the last few lines of the book were nicely done, and could have been the end of a very moving story - there just wasn't one ahead of them. There isn't much of anything, really, except an exotic setting and a different time to our own.