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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unfortunately, with a busy week I haven’t been able to write my review for Cloud Atlas with the usual expediency. In fact I have finished another book in the time before writing this. I wanted to take some time to examine the book, read about it, and adequately close-off my thoughts about it.
The book is closer to a collection of loosely-connected short stories than a novel, with each story starting in a different time. In this way the reader moves forward in time, until reaching what is possibly the end of civilisation, at which point the book starts cycling back through the stories in reverse order. In each of the first iterations the story ends at a tantalising moment, and in the reverse cycle we get the ending to a story. Here is a rundown of the stories:
• The journal of an American travelling through Pacific Island colonies in the late 1800s, interacting with the residents of New Zealand and Polynesia.
• Letters sent from a smooth-talking swindler and musical prodigy about his time spent composing in Belgium with one of the world’s great composers in 1935.
• An industrial-espionage thriller about a plucky journalist who stumbles upon the cover-up of a nuclear facility’s lethal flaws, set in California in the 1970s.
• An account of a publisher who is mistakenly imprisoned in an old-people’s home, set in present-day Britain.
• A dystopian depiction of the life of a clone/slave in Korea, working in a corpocratic society where “fabricants” are bred for servitude. She “ascends” beyond her programmed needs and is studied in a university.
• A tale told by one of those left after “The Fall”, where society has crumbled and humanity has dispersed. Set on a Hawaiian island and detailing one of the last civilisations’ attempts to survive in the face of barbarism.
The stories are nested, in that each account is subsequently read by the following protagonist. There is some hint at the idea of reincarnated souls, pointed to with the mention of a specific birthmark that the protagonists share; although it felt like an afterthought on Mitchell’s part as the idea seems undeveloped to me. *
The amazing thing about going through these stories is Mitchell’s ability to completely inhabit the voice of whoever is telling the tale, and to jump between styles of prose to match the story. The best example is “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”. In keeping with its tone as a thriller, the writing becomes pulpy, fast-paced, and a bit silly. It’s miles away from the preceding “Letters from Zedelghem”, in which a feckless prodigy’s arrogant letters read as though completely real. Certainly, each story was captivating in its own right, and shows a virtuosic versatility when you finally pull you head from the pages.
My Dad got me this book for Christmas and it came with a strong recommendation.
*I have since read that Mitchell explicitly states in interviews that the characters are reincarnations of the same soul. Having spent an hour reading about the book and in particular summaries and salient points of the individual plots, I have come to understand the themes better, and how some of the stories parallel each other in very interesting ways. It almost makes me want to read it again! I retract my statement about the idea being undeveloped.
The book is closer to a collection of loosely-connected short stories than a novel, with each story starting in a different time. In this way the reader moves forward in time, until reaching what is possibly the end of civilisation, at which point the book starts cycling back through the stories in reverse order. In each of the first iterations the story ends at a tantalising moment, and in the reverse cycle we get the ending to a story. Here is a rundown of the stories:
• The journal of an American travelling through Pacific Island colonies in the late 1800s, interacting with the residents of New Zealand and Polynesia.
• Letters sent from a smooth-talking swindler and musical prodigy about his time spent composing in Belgium with one of the world’s great composers in 1935.
• An industrial-espionage thriller about a plucky journalist who stumbles upon the cover-up of a nuclear facility’s lethal flaws, set in California in the 1970s.
• An account of a publisher who is mistakenly imprisoned in an old-people’s home, set in present-day Britain.
• A dystopian depiction of the life of a clone/slave in Korea, working in a corpocratic society where “fabricants” are bred for servitude. She “ascends” beyond her programmed needs and is studied in a university.
• A tale told by one of those left after “The Fall”, where society has crumbled and humanity has dispersed. Set on a Hawaiian island and detailing one of the last civilisations’ attempts to survive in the face of barbarism.
The stories are nested, in that each account is subsequently read by the following protagonist. There is some hint at the idea of reincarnated souls, pointed to with the mention of a specific birthmark that the protagonists share; although it felt like an afterthought on Mitchell’s part as the idea seems undeveloped to me. *
The amazing thing about going through these stories is Mitchell’s ability to completely inhabit the voice of whoever is telling the tale, and to jump between styles of prose to match the story. The best example is “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”. In keeping with its tone as a thriller, the writing becomes pulpy, fast-paced, and a bit silly. It’s miles away from the preceding “Letters from Zedelghem”, in which a feckless prodigy’s arrogant letters read as though completely real. Certainly, each story was captivating in its own right, and shows a virtuosic versatility when you finally pull you head from the pages.
My Dad got me this book for Christmas and it came with a strong recommendation.
*I have since read that Mitchell explicitly states in interviews that the characters are reincarnations of the same soul. Having spent an hour reading about the book and in particular summaries and salient points of the individual plots, I have come to understand the themes better, and how some of the stories parallel each other in very interesting ways. It almost makes me want to read it again! I retract my statement about the idea being undeveloped.
After having put this one down for quite some time I've finally finished it. The fact it took me so long was not because I didn't like it, in fact I loved the story, but because I found it to be a difficult read at some points. Had reading Cloud Atlas been easier I would have given a five star rating.
An absolute wonder of story structure. Not always the easiest read, especially in the sections that lapsed into dialect (but seriously, language drift!), but absolutely worth it (just as the movie is damn well worth it, too).
challenging
reflective
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
Cloud Atlas might be the rare book where the movie is better. It's time for two reviews in one!
Cloud Atlas the novel is structured as six nested stories set across a span of hundreds of years of past and future. We follow main characters that are loosely connected via a "transmigrating souls" motif and who find themselves in the midst of situations that highlight that old standby theme, the human condition.
The book is in places a slow or slightly dry read, and I found myself at times wishing I was on to the next story. It was also difficult to follow the themes that author David Mitchell was trying to develop with the book's storylines clamshelled the way they are. Overall, the novel left me wondering both why someone thought to produce a film from this book and how they could possibly pull it off.
But pull it off they did. The film cuts a lot of the fat out of the book. And while someone who hasn't read the book might find the film difficult to follow for the first 45 minutes or so (and beware: it clocks in at nearly three hours total), the stories then begin to intertwine in a much more noticeable and elegant way on the screen. The screenwriters even added in some story elements that make particular stories (namely, the farthest past one and the farthest future one) both more sensical and more powerful.
In short: The film spells out "the message" more clearly than does the novel, and the visual nature of the on-screen medium tremendously aids the storytelling. My advice would be to rent the movie (primed with the understanding that it's lengthy yet worth it; engrossing after a point), and then if you are so compelled, read the book.
Cloud Atlas the novel is structured as six nested stories set across a span of hundreds of years of past and future. We follow main characters that are loosely connected via a "transmigrating souls" motif and who find themselves in the midst of situations that highlight that old standby theme, the human condition.
The book is in places a slow or slightly dry read, and I found myself at times wishing I was on to the next story. It was also difficult to follow the themes that author David Mitchell was trying to develop with the book's storylines clamshelled the way they are. Overall, the novel left me wondering both why someone thought to produce a film from this book and how they could possibly pull it off.
But pull it off they did. The film cuts a lot of the fat out of the book. And while someone who hasn't read the book might find the film difficult to follow for the first 45 minutes or so (and beware: it clocks in at nearly three hours total), the stories then begin to intertwine in a much more noticeable and elegant way on the screen. The screenwriters even added in some story elements that make particular stories (namely, the farthest past one and the farthest future one) both more sensical and more powerful.
In short: The film spells out "the message" more clearly than does the novel, and the visual nature of the on-screen medium tremendously aids the storytelling. My advice would be to rent the movie (primed with the understanding that it's lengthy yet worth it; engrossing after a point), and then if you are so compelled, read the book.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The humor was witty and the plot twists were fantastic and I'm glad that I own this book because I have a feeling it may be relevant in different ways with each reading. Truly some souls are meant to be intertwined.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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:
Yes