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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
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
I had to sit with my thoughts on this book for a while. This book was extremely well-written and each interconnected story had its own genre and it felt like the stories were really written in the voice of each character. This did mean the stories set in the distant past or the far future were more challenging to read because of the use of different language, but they all paid off in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder
Moderate: Suicide
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Things that were good:
-The writing style differences were pretty neat. There was definitely some of the author's own voice in each of them, but still, well-differentiated.
-A few of the interactions between stories were excellent, very subtle. Others were punch-you-in-the-face obvious
Things that were not excellent:
-The stories felt generally disjointed, and each one was rather mediocre. I get that the point of the book is that they overlap, but I wanted stronger stories. They were so plot-centric, generally, that it almost sounded like a new author's work--"this happened. And then this happened. He was cool. This happened next." Boringly constructed.
-Characters were poorly fleshed out, did not read like real people
Mostly, I think I would like the book better if I hadn't seen the movie first. The movie was way more engaging, and I generally liked it more. I don't know if I can say that about any other book/movie.
-The writing style differences were pretty neat. There was definitely some of the author's own voice in each of them, but still, well-differentiated.
-A few of the interactions between stories were excellent, very subtle. Others were punch-you-in-the-face obvious
Things that were not excellent:
-The stories felt generally disjointed, and each one was rather mediocre. I get that the point of the book is that they overlap, but I wanted stronger stories. They were so plot-centric, generally, that it almost sounded like a new author's work--"this happened. And then this happened. He was cool. This happened next." Boringly constructed.
-Characters were poorly fleshed out, did not read like real people
Mostly, I think I would like the book better if I hadn't seen the movie first. The movie was way more engaging, and I generally liked it more. I don't know if I can say that about any other book/movie.
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
as a non english native, some pov were hard to read but I loved the plot and all the interconnections
adventurous
mysterious
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
A novel of nested stories ascending and descending that explore the brutalities of war, slavery and greed. It is reminiscent to Hyperion in a lot of ways, but truthfully the strings connecting the stories are weaker, to my mind. I think the most fascinating thing about this novel is the shifting genre, style and voice - it’s obvious that Mitchell’s command of these elements are unmatched.
My favorite of the year: narratives nested in narratives. Poignant stories, poetically articulated, expertly crafted. Read it!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas deserves the accolades that have been heaped upon it. It’s well-written, compelling, bewildering, and entertaining. The postmodern novel is written like a Russian nesting doll, with each story wrapping around the one in-between it, with through lines of theme and symbol wound into each story. At the same time, the book is dense and difficult to find sense or obvious meaning in these through-lines.
Most compelling was the skill with which Mitchell adopts different voices and writing styles to accommodate the vast time and place differences in his stories. The book is a marvel for this reason alone, glorious prose aside.
This book has been written about enough that I won’t belabor the issue with another review. Instead, two quotes I like.
“I we believe that humanity my transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races and creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable, & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will comet o pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Torturous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president’s pen or a vainglorious general’s sword.” (508)
“Exposition: the workings of the actual past + the virtual past may be illustrated by an event well known to collective history, such as the sinking of the Titanic. The disaster as it actually occurred descends into obscurity as its eyewitnesses die off, documents perish + the wreck of the ship dissolves in its Atlantic grave. Yet a virtual sinking of the Titanic, created from reworked memories, papers, hearsay, fiction–in short, belief–grows ever more “truer.” The actual past is brittle, ever-dimming and ever more problematic to access + reconstruct: in contrast, the virtual past is malleable, ever-brightening + ever more difficult to circumvent/ expose as fraudulent.” (394)
Worth a read, but a long one (that was, for me, difficult to get into).
Most compelling was the skill with which Mitchell adopts different voices and writing styles to accommodate the vast time and place differences in his stories. The book is a marvel for this reason alone, glorious prose aside.
This book has been written about enough that I won’t belabor the issue with another review. Instead, two quotes I like.
“I we believe that humanity my transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races and creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable, & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will comet o pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Torturous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president’s pen or a vainglorious general’s sword.” (508)
“Exposition: the workings of the actual past + the virtual past may be illustrated by an event well known to collective history, such as the sinking of the Titanic. The disaster as it actually occurred descends into obscurity as its eyewitnesses die off, documents perish + the wreck of the ship dissolves in its Atlantic grave. Yet a virtual sinking of the Titanic, created from reworked memories, papers, hearsay, fiction–in short, belief–grows ever more “truer.” The actual past is brittle, ever-dimming and ever more problematic to access + reconstruct: in contrast, the virtual past is malleable, ever-brightening + ever more difficult to circumvent/ expose as fraudulent.” (394)
Worth a read, but a long one (that was, for me, difficult to get into).
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes