Reviews - Cloud Atlas | The StoryGraph

5.43k reviews for:

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell

3.99 AVERAGE

_esca_'s review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Hugely, hugely enjoyable, and so wonderfully clever that I can't help but love following all of the threads it dangles. Some sections were definitely harder work to get through than others, but all came together to make a thoroughly worthwhile story with a lot to say.

tper's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

flokat's review against another edition

3.75

challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

snowbike's review against another edition

3.0

I really loved some parts and trudged through others. I think it would be an interesting movie for sure. A fun, loose intertwining of multiple stories. The very different styles of the different stories was compelling.

krillson's review against another edition

4.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is a good book, but I'm not quite sure I understood it all. The format of 6 different narratives, each being loosely related, was certainly interesting but I felt it lacked the profundity that it seemed to evoke in other reads. Each story was for the most part good, except I found the middle one about the post-apocalyptic Hawaii a bit tedious to get through, although I think that is more due to my dislike of the choice to spell out the accent rather than imply it, which also showed up in the Somni chapters. Each of the stories focused on the idea of independence and exploitation, repeated in varying contexts including colonialism, capitalism, and interestingly enough, a retirement home. The Somni and the Luisa Rey sections were my personally favorite, but at the end of the day the structure just didn't click for me.