Awesome / The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

• A number of characters get their moment to shine, and Mitchell even gets one as a writer with his truly staggering "Gulls..." passage towards the end of the book.
  • Jacob stands his ground twice in spectacular fashion; once when he refuses to sign off on Vorstenbosch's theft and flushes his future down the toilet in the process and a second time when he stands his ground in the middle of cannon fire rather than flee. The former earns him the respect of the traders, the latter the respect of the Japanese.
  • Magistrate Shiroyama and his Chamberlain's magnificent Thanatos Gambit on Enomoto, dying like pefectly dignified badasses and taking the immortal monster down with them.