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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a hard book to rate. I found the first half of the book super hard to get into, but the cliffhangers kept me interested enough to continue. The second half went much faster. Overall it was just ok. Some of the characters were very unlikeable. My favorites were Luisa and Sonmi.
Cloud Atlas is a delightfully puzzled and richly imagined story, if perhaps a bit too overwrought. The narrative follows six characters at different points in time and space, who share one soul-- this reincarnate theme is the generally obfuscated but one of the few factors legitimately linking the characters.
Each of five stories is interrupted mid sentence and a new story picked up until the sixth unfolds entirely and the earlier narratives are seen through to their ends. The style is clever though at times feels clever for clever's sake rather than producing a meaningful stylistic relationship to the narrative. Each story features at least one callback to another story, which again feels winking rather than contributing.
But, like my favorite Taylor Swift song, style can be plenty compelling all on its own.
Each of five stories is interrupted mid sentence and a new story picked up until the sixth unfolds entirely and the earlier narratives are seen through to their ends. The style is clever though at times feels clever for clever's sake rather than producing a meaningful stylistic relationship to the narrative. Each story features at least one callback to another story, which again feels winking rather than contributing.
But, like my favorite Taylor Swift song, style can be plenty compelling all on its own.
A set of 6 interlaced stories. The center story with Zachry and Meronym and the surrounding stories of Sonmi are the most interesting. But all are very detailed descriptions and characters. Cf. George Saunders
6 interconnecting stories, travelling back and forth in time, and not chronological. The writing style matched the time period the story was set. all this means a long, dense read (500+ pages). I enjoyed it but took me a while. The second Adam Ewing story in particular dragged on for me. Maybe one day I’ll re read with a better understanding now completed
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