I couldn't get very far in this book, because it felt so fake and forced. The writing was so flat, and it didn't feel like there was any real emotion behind it. It just seemed unrealistic and I didn't find it as interesting as the descriptions I'd read. Disappointing.

I wanted to like this book, since the premise of it sounded interesting to me. Unfortunately, it was mostly fluff, with lots of unbelievable plot points, ridiculous coincidences, and characters who didn't feel real. Disappointing.

A really lovely story, well-written and well-detailed.

Ugh. Although this story seemed to have potential, especially in its interesting parallel between the characters and the play. But it ended up being just frustrating and full of unpleasant characters, and the ending was just stupid.

Very disappointing. It sounded potentially interesting, but it really fell flat. I disliked all of the characters, especially some of the main ones, which made it difficult to keep reading. The author doesn't really give you a reason to care for the people or what happened to them. It just happened and here it is, and not in a very well-developed way.

I wanted to like this book, especially because the premise seemed to have a lot of potential and was interesting in theory. Unfortunately, I don't think the author did well with it all, taking on a bit too much and not doing much with it after all.

A lot of the writing was overly detailed, and I found myself just wanting things to move on more quickly. It was also a bit repetitive, especially in focusing on the characters' thoughts and some of what they said. I didn't feel like they were real enough as people, going over the same things in their heads, or saying the same thing someone else had said later.

The biggest problems seemed to be with where the story followed the premise of an undelivered letter and an unfiled story. I thought they'd be a lot bigger than they were, and then they just felt tacked on like afterthoughts. And in too precious of a way to really have made use of them.

Overall, I was just disappointed with this book. The story had so much potential to be interesting, but the execution was just lacking.

I had a hard time settling into this book, with some of the flowery language turning me off at first. ("...a cacophony of frogs detonates?" Really?) But I kept at it, and I ended up really enjoying the story, at least for the most part.

Jumping right into a Dutch trading settlement on the edge of Japan, the book mostly focuses on Jacob De Zoet, a clerk brought in to sort out corruption in the books. From his perspective, we learn about a time in history I wasn't fully aware of, and it's all quite well-researched to make it seem quite realistic.

The perspective does change from time to time, following some of the secondary characters. Unfortunately, some of this includes jumping back and forth in time, which was a bit disorienting. It took some work to follow the dates and realize the time jumps, which was a bit tedious.

Additionally, there was an awful lot of story-telling by the characters, which fits with the environment but was a little tiresome as well. I wanted to be shown things, not just told about them. The story kept up at a really good pace for most of the book, though towards the end it sort of coasted along towards the end.

Overall though, I would recommend this book, though it is a lengthy read and takes a bit of work to get through. I enjoyed it enough to pursue some of Mitchell's earlier books, which I'd only heard bits about.