History Literature / Ghostwritten

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Nine major characters including minor/supporting characters in each story. Double when some of it even appears in the other story.

''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel by Creator/{{David Mitchell|Author}}, published in 1999. The story is made up of nine loosely connected short stories ranging from Japan to New York. Most of the stories take place around the turn of the 21st century, although two of the stories begin early in the 20th century. Each part functions on its own as a complete story, but the events of the stories interlink and overlap countless times.

->"We're all ghostwriters, my boy... We all think we’re in control of our own lives, but really they're pre-ghostwritten by forces around us."

[[quoteright:289:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6819_4269.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:289:''Who was blowing on the nape of my neck?'']]

->“We’re all ghostwriters, my boy... We all think we’re in control of our own lives, but really they’re pre-ghostwritten by forces around us.”

The nine narrators are, in order: a cult member living in Okinawa, UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}; a record-shop clerk and saxophonist living in UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}; a corrupt British businessman in UsefulNotes/HongKong; a tea shack owner living on a Holy Mountain in UsefulNotes/{{China}}; a “noncorpum” entity in UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}}; an art thief in [[UsefulNotes/TheCityFormerlyKnownAs St. Petersburg]]; a drummer in UsefulNotes/{{London}}; a quantum physicist in Clear Island, UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}; and a late-night radio DJ in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, ''Ghostwritten'' discusses many themes, including the role of chance and fate in life.

%%* CruelAndUnusualDeath
%%* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DarkerAndEdgier: Perhaps the least heartfelt Mitchell's works. Most of the main characters aren’t all that likeable and the narrative doesn’t hold anything back.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Perhaps the least heartfelt than Mitchell’s later works. Most of the main characters aren’t all that likeable and the narrative doesn’t hold anything back.

->“We’re all ghostwriters, my boy... We all think we’re in control of our own lives, but really they’re pre-[[TitleDrop ghostwritten]] by forces around us.”

* CruelAndUnusualDeath
* DarkAndTroubledPast

* FreakOut: When the well-meaning noncorpum entity in the fourth part attempts to talk to his hosts, several of them believe they are hearing voices and go insane.

* GainaxEnding
* GenreBusting
* {{Jerkass}}

* MindScrew

* PostModernism

* ShoutOut: The noncorpum entity in the fourth part is implied to have once resided in the body of Jorge Luis Borges.

* TitleDrop: Uttered by Tim Cavendish as he and Marco discuss honesty in the ghostwriting of autobiographies.
* ViolenceIsDisturbing