Black Swan Green
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Black Swan Green Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

David Mitchell (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,482 ratings
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By the New York Times best-selling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year
A New York Times Notable Book
Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Winner of the ALA Alex Award
Finalist for the Costa Novel Award

From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new.

Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for 13-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in dying Cold War England, 1982. But the 13 chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissinger-esque realpolitik enacted in boys' games on a frozen lake; of "nightcreeping" through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason's search to replace his dead grandfather's irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher's recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons.

Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell's subtlest and most effective achievement to date.

Praise for Black Swan Green

“[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel.... The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods.... This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.” (The Boston Globe)

“[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer.... As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.” (Time)

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    13 hours and 8 minutes
  2. Author
    David Mitchell
  3. Narrator
    Kirby Heyborne
  4. Audible release date
    April 7, 2006
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B000FDJ3GE
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
Next page

Product details

Listening Length 13 hours and 8 minutes
Author David Mitchell
Narrator Kirby Heyborne
Audible.com Release Date April 07, 2006
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B000FDJ3GE
Best Sellers Rank #44,864 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#15,512 in Literature & Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#100,170 in Literature & Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,482 global ratings
Annoying missing pages
1 Star
Annoying missing pages
I'm enjoying the book so far, to the extent that I can follow it with the missing pages on the Kindle version. So far missing at least one page at locations 32 (the first page of the first chapter, for crying out loud), 458, 587; that's as far as I got before starting this review. I know to expect this kind of nonsense in free self-published books but it's wholly unacceptable for purchased books by established authors.
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Top reviews from the United States

Josh Mauthe
5.0 out of 5 stars A rich, personal, beautiful slice of 1980's life from one of the best writers working today
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2016
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And like that, I’ve read every book David Mitchell has published so far, and I have to wait for his next book with bated breath. And while I’m a bit heartbroken that I have no more new Mitchell to read, I’m somewhat glad I ended with Black Swan Green, which feels like Mitchell’s most personal book, and turns a coming-of-age slice of life in 1980’s Britain into something incredible. In other words, just another masterpiece for one of the finest authors alive today.

Like most of Mitchell’s books, Black Swan Green is composed of individual vignettes that combine to make something larger. But while many of Mitchell’s novels consist of multiple narrators, allowing him to throw his voice (narratively speaking), Black Swan Green is entirely told from the perspective of Jason Taylor, a 13-year-old boy from Worcestershire, England. It follows Jason over the course of a single year – specifically, from January 1982 to January 1983 – as he deals with bullies at school, his stammering problem, the departure of his older sister for school, fights at home, and his own desire to be something other than the typical Worcestershire boy. In other words, Black Swan Green is a typical coming-of-age story in so many ways…and yet, it feels like so little else out there, thanks in no small part to Mitchell’s rich voice. While he may be confining himself to a single narrator this time, none of that detracts from the beauty of his story, which never steps outside of its young perspective to comment on itself, instead letting the reader make the jumps for themselves. More than that, reading Black Swan Green as an adult lets us see the situations for what they are, removing Jason’s adolescent worries while reminding us constantly of how awful and overwhelming life could be at that age.

But not content to simply give us a slice of adolescent life, Mitchell plunges us back into the early 1980’s in Britain, as the Falklands War explodes and Margaret Thatcher surges in popularity. It gives the book a wonderful lived-in feel, allowing the world to come to life without ever feeling insisted-upon or forced, and gives Jason’s story an impact that a generic setting could never match. (And, of course, there’s the fact that Mitchell is clearly somewhat writing his own story here, including the stammer that shapes so much of Jason’s life; it’s hard not to feel Mitchell’s experience shaping so much of what you read.)

The result is a rich, engaging novel, one that creates a world that I happily lived in and never wanted to leave. I got angry at Jason’s bullies, savored his odd conversations with an elderly neighbor who sees beneath his surface, ached for him as I realized just how bad his home life was getting, and got caught up in his pining for girls and the excitement of his first, tentative relationships. It’s the rare adolescent story told by an adult that remembers not only the exhilaration and boundless nature of that age, but all the tension and awfulness that filled our lives.

And beyond that, there’s Mitchell’s beautiful, rich prose, which gives every supporting character their own voice, makes Jason’s commentary on the world sing without ever feeling too old, and just plain works, making the novel the rich experience that it is. You’ll know Jason Taylor by the end of this, with all of his flaws, wants, needs, and hopes, and even if the book is just a slice of his life, there’s a sense that we’re seeing glimpses of the man he will become in here – and the man we want him to become. It’s a wonderfully funny, personal, rich book from a master writer – another essential read from an author who seems to write nothing but.
8 people found this helpful
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suger booger
4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as his other works
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2013
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If it weren't David Mitchell writing this novel, I'd probably have expected less and liked it more. It's well crafted, well written, funny and interesting. That said, it's also a straightforward portrayal of growing up in a working class town in England (apparently, it's based on Mitchell's own experiences). In other words, it's nothing like Cloud Atlas or any of Mitchell's more complex and ambitious novels. Mitchell's virtuosity is in evidence, in his wonderful writing style, character development (the dad is particularly richly drawn and quite hilarious) and plot construction. Also, there are some characters that overlap with Cloud Atlas so that's fun. A good read -- but be prepared for a "memoir" type read (although crafted more tightly -- like a novel), not a Cloud Atlas.
One person found this helpful
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Patti
5.0 out of 5 stars coming of age
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024
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Jason Taylor is the smart, funny, and especially endearing first-person narrator of this gem, which takes place in a small English town in the 1980s. Jason has a stammer, which is different from a stutter, according to Jason, and it plagues his thirteen-year-old life almost as much as the bullies at school. And if these problems weren’t torture enough, his parents’ marriage is on the rocks, and his sister is leaving for college. (The prospect of a broken home is never really funny, but Jason’s mom hilariously punishes his father for his infidelity with an expensive project that backfires.) Jason’s numerous adventures fill the pages of this novel, the most telling of which, I think, is when he finds the lost wallet of his primary nemesis. Another good one is his race through a backyard gauntlet which he has to negotiate in order to join a vaunted school gang, and this obstacle course seems to be a metaphor for the many pitfalls of adolescence which he has to weave his way through on a daily basis. Jason strives for acceptance into a peer group that is obviously not worthy of him, but, along the way, he learns some valuable life lessons about love, death, bigotry, and honesty—to name a few. We also discover late in the novel that the burden of guilt weighs him down, even though he really bears no responsibility for the tragedy in question. In other words, he holds himself to too high a standard at times, and he’s a sensitive kid, writing poetry under a pseudonym in order to avoid ridicule. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, is that Jason’s narration is full of contractions, even double contractions, such as “shouldn’t’ve,” that are difficult to read. I think the author intends for these contractions to lend authenticity to Jason’s voice, but that authenticity would be easier to listen to than to read, and I think Jason would be just as authentic on the page without this distraction.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Dr. J. A. Sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly amazing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2024
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I admit I bought this because I thought it was by the other DM - well, it's not, but it was one of the best mistakes ever. I enjoyed every word - an utterly believable tale of a small boy with a stammer, plagued by bullies - and how he overcomes all his problems. Funny, sad, moving - just brilliant - I can't recommend it highly enough. I'd compare it to "Catcher in the Rye" - but it's better.
2 people found this helpful
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Thomas Wehrung
5.0 out of 5 stars Une histoire lumineuse sur le pouvoir du langage
Reviewed in France on October 6, 2019
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Excellent ! Cet auteur possède une maîtrise absolue du langage. Il se met dans la peau d'un adolescent de treize ans trouvant exactement le jargon des années quatre-vingt. Drôle et profond à la fois.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on June 16, 2016
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A Good Read!
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Oparazzo
5.0 out of 5 stars Die Leiden des jungen Taylors
Reviewed in Germany on February 4, 2015
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"Black Swan Green" tut weh, und zwar richtig, und noch mehr, wenn man sich vorstellt, wie viel Selbsterlebtes David Mitchell wohl in die Figur des dreizehnjährigen Außenseiters Jason Taylor hineingeschrieben hat. Die lieblosen Eltern und die herablassende ältere Schwester sind schon schlimm genug, aber noch schwerer hat er es in der Schule: In einem Alter, wo die Reputation unter Gleichaltrigen der Maßstab für das Lebensglück sind, würde er gerne das, was ihm körperlich abgeht, mit seiner Cleverness wettmachen, allein das verhindert seine Stotterei. Bullys machen ihm das Leben zur Hölle, die Lehrer, die das eigentlich merken müssten, mischen sich eher halbherzig ein bzw. stoßen sogar noch ins selbe Horn. Nur sein Freund Dean, Außenseiter wie er, und seine Liebe zur Poesie, die ihm den Rest geben würde, wenn sie denn bekannt würde, helfen ihm durch den Tag. Und natürlich die kleinen Tricks, mit denen er die Klippen seines Sprachfehlers umschifft, zumindest manchmal, aber beileibe nicht immer, und leider meistens dann nicht, wenn es drauf ankommt.

Die Situation spitzt sich im Laufe der Zeit so zu, dass es einem Angst und Bange wird - Jugendliche haben sich schon aus weniger schwerwiegenden Gründen das Leben genommen. Denn weil in manchen Situationen sein Gewissen doch stärker ist als sein Wunsch, anerkannt zu werden, und auch mit einigem Pech stürzt er in freiem Fall die Reputationsleiter hinunter. Man kann das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen, so geht einem Jasons Geschichte an die Nieren.

In die Sprache muss man sich etwas einlesen. Es spricht eben ein Dreizehnjähriger, nicht ganz dialektfrei, vor allem seine "Kameraden" nicht, und streckenweise gibt es mehr Apostrophe als Vokale, aber man gewöhnt sich recht schnell daran.

Es gibt übrigens ein Wiedersehen mit Eva Crommelynck, geb. Ayrs, aus dem Frobisher-Segment des "Cloud Atlas", und Hugo Lamb aus den "Bone Clocks" gibt sich hier schon mal die Ehre als Jasons cooler Cousin. Diese gegenseitigen Referenzen in Mitchells Romanen machen einen Teil ihres Reizes aus, und mit "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" muss ich noch eine wichtige Lücke schließen.
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Rick Patterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a coming of age novel
Reviewed in Canada on November 25, 2012
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Given the current buzz about bullying, particularly in the wake of Amanda Todd's suicide in Vancouver after being subjected to continuous harassment, it's striking to encounter a novel that is about almost every kind of bullying imaginable, from the dog-eat-dog world of soulless work to art criticism to family politics to, of course, the typical muck of public school hierarchies. As the dust cover announces, this is a voice similar to Holden Caulfield's in Catcher in the Rye, but it has no whining self-indulgence; instead, Jason Taylor is an utterly convincing 13-year-old persona from 1982 who describes his Worcestershire world with the eye of a poet but a documentarist's objective vision. Among other joys, this novel ends with some of the finest lines to conclude a book I've ever read. This is John Green for grown-ups.
2 people found this helpful
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