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jennicjul 's review for:
Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell
Fascinating, challenging read. Starts with a 19th C. South Pacific travelogue, then moves in segments through 1930s France, 1970s California, early 2000s England, a future corporatocratic horrorscape in South Korea, and a "return-to-tribal-living" post-apocalypse in Hawaii -- then it swings back through each segment until we're at the travelogue again. Most of what kept me compelled was A) Mitchell's dizzying prose, and B) whether or not he was going to be able to stick the landing tying all this together. In all, he is saying some interesting things about structures of power, and the kinds of futures we can envision for humanity, though the threads get a little scrambled with the eventual reveal that these segments aren't even taking place in the same REALITY; one takes the form of a novel manuscript in the segment following, and then that segments is revealed to be a film ... and all that meta-meta stuff leaves for some wiry loose ends regarding thematic consistency.
In all, it didn't feel quite as brilliantly cohesive as The Bone Clocks, but I still really enjoyed it.
In all, it didn't feel quite as brilliantly cohesive as The Bone Clocks, but I still really enjoyed it.