Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

15 reviews

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, Infidelity, Colonisation, Slavery, Genocide, Medical trauma, Racism, Gun violence, and Child death

balfies's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Cloud Atlas is famously structured like a matryoshka doll with six very different stories, with the protagonist of each tale a reincarnation of the previous story's narrator. Mitchell's ability to craft distinct voices through genre and form is admirable, and he interweaves then with variable success. Some stories are obviously stronger than others - I really got into the Luisa Rey mystery and the clone ethics in Sonmi-451's neo-Seoul uprising.

It also gave me a lot to reflect on the process of adaptation, as I'd seen the Wachowskis' 2012 film version which is far weaker in narrative structure. 

Feel like I need all of the strands of this to settle in me properly before I can navigate their meaning. Overall enjoyable prose, but I found the philosophy tenuous and purpose slightly unclear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Racial slurs, and Slavery

marissasa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Cloud Atlas is a long, sweeping narrative with each chapter about a different person who is a reincarnation of the previous chapter's main character and the ways they are all interconnected despite existing in different eras experiencing wildly different situations. The theory was very cool to me and I was intrigued by the way that the book doesn't spell out any of the world-building sci-fi elements clearly, leaving the whole reincarnation idea up to interpretation for the most part. However, out of the 6 main characters, 4 were white men whose stories really paled in comparison to the 2 women's chapters. Luisa and especially Sonmi-451 carried this book in my opinion. While their chapters were engaging, action-packed, and full of social commentary, I felt the other chapters dragged on and were far less memorable. I even felt like the first character we were introduced to was by far the least interesting, which made it tough to read since his chapters were the very first one and the last one. Although I liked the premise I just wanted more in the execution from this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Body horror, Sexual content, Biphobia, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Violence

auggiet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

beautiful !! some parts were slower than others depending on your preference of story telling and genre, but as a whole this book far exceeded my expectations after seeing some not-so-great reviews. the commentary on cyclicality and self-destruction on historical scales and in individual instances feels like something ive been trying to put into words myself for a while now. definitely a book that ill be thinking about for a long time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug use, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Death, Vomit, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Xenophobia, War, Drug abuse, Racism, Car accident, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Dementia, Grief, and Gun violence

katepowellshine's review against another edition

3.5

The book is clearly an impressive literary accomplishment, with the various voices and eras woven together, but it's far too cynical for my tastes. There's enough of that in the real world. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, Death, Genocide, Murder, War, and Violence

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I appreciate this book for the skill of the author, and the super original and genuinely well executed idea. HOWEVER, this book took me way too long to read like omfg it was a SLOG to get through, especially because the voice/style of the writing changes with every single part. Really smart, super cool, but maybe just not one that I would reread tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Rape

frogggirl2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This reads like a series of loosely connected short stories and, like any short story collection, some pieces are better than others.   It feels quite disjointed at first but as you go along the connections become more and more apparent.

The writing is great.  There's a lot of substance here, but, for me there's just too much content.  This point has been made more clearly in other works.  The waters here just get too muddied - there's just too many plots to effectively convey the thesis.

**Also, a lot of racism, indicative of the period and disavowed by the book, but unpleasant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Addiction, Self harm, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

jrtiger's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

In order from most to least favorite story and my favorite characters from each: 
1. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery: Luisa Rey, Napier, Sixsmith
2. An Orison of Sonmi-451: Sonmi
3. Sloosha’s Crossin’ An’ Ev’rythin’ After: Meronym
4. Letters from Zedelghem: Eva
5. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing: Autua (obviously)
6. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (idk)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, and Racial slurs

freedryk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Violence, Drug use, Suicide, Mental illness, Gun violence, Murder, and Misogyny

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Colonisation, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cannibalism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Car accident, Murder, and Racial slurs