Reviews - Der Wolkenatlas | The StoryGraph

5.43k reviews for:

Der Wolkenatlas

David Mitchell

3.99 AVERAGE

adventurouspotato's review against another edition

3.5

challenging slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

godspeed to any ESL speaker who tries to read this

Content Warnings

mattyb2851's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It’s very difficult to put this book into a box. I loved it, thought it was prescient. And I think it’s depressing how real these fictional lives are portrayed. Awesome work of sci fi. If you read this and are confused, KEEP READING. It will click, and you will think Mitchell is a genius.

maritzw's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

zifk's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

ramarsi's review against another edition

4.5

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sounddust's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Some thoughts I had while reading this:

What the heck is going on?

I can’t understand half of what this one character says.

Do I even like this? Maybe I should just start reading something else.

I may actually love this?

This is incredibly ambitious, and David Mitchell is crazy versatile in terms of writing style and genre, because this is all over the map.

Is this one of the most powerful/profound last few pages of any book I’ve read? Probably.

Overall - a bit complex and difficult at times where it can lose you here and there, but overall a wild ride that makes you think deeply about life and human nature.

jennysjw's review against another edition

4.5

The distinctive voices and styles are phenomenal. Somni-451’s narrative was my favorite, but Timothy Cavendish’s was hilarious. I also really like how Mitchell has a sense of humor about his story.

Spent the fortnight gone in the music room, reworking my year's fragments into a 'sextet for overlapping soloists': piano, clarinet, 'cello, flute, oboe and violin, each in its own language of key, scale, and color. In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor: in the second, each interruption is recontinued, in order. Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished.