Ken-ichi's review of Cloud Atlas > Likes and Comments
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Hmm. Aren't we giant apes ourselves?
Thanks for the review. I've just begun Cloud Atlas and am looking forward to the rest of it.
Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite books EVER. Mitchell has a new book coming out this month, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I have an ARC on my bedside table that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. You might also want to check out Black Swan Green if you haven't already. One of the characters from Cloud Atlas makes a cameo appearance.
Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with Mitchell's books. Reading De Zoet made me want to re-read Cloud Atlas. I'd forgotten how funny Frobisher was!
i've had this book on my shelf for awhile but haven't gotten around to reading it. i guess i will start now :)
david mitchell is the greatest living novelist. i just finished the thousand autumns of jacob de zoet, and it confirmed this fact to me. Cloud Atlas has to be my favourite. like you I want to reread it but have lent it out...
Brilliant and the segment in the British Assisted care had me peeing myself with laughter; then, whip around to such thoughtfullness of what is self? freedom? So many metaphors rich very rich.
So happy to find so many like-minded admirers of David Mitchell here. I also reviewed Cloud Atlas. Ken-ichi, you hardly need anyone to "explain it" to you, as so many of these comments confirm. Not only do you "get" Mitchell, you articulate with clarity what he's all about. BTW, I believe the journalist in the 21st C. section of Atlas has a cameo appearance in Ghostwritten.
Fantastic book and I agree with Ameet's comment that David Mitchell is the greatest living novelist. His command of the language is beyond belief and his imagination soars. I discovered him with "Black Swan Green" which I think is a small gem. I wept at both the endings of BSG and cloud Atlas because of the beauty and hope for humanity Mitchell envisions, despite our cruelty and follies.
Carl, I don't think you will regret it. It's a dense, concentrated reading experience, but all the the separate stories do hang together and I think the ending speaks for itself...please post after you read.
"As usual, my attempts to explain it to people have met with polite nods and changed subjects, but let me try: the book is like 6 perfect little novellas, arranged as Russian matroyshka dolls, and as you read, you bore in, and bore back out. Each doll is a different period in time, the outermost being in the early 19th century, the latest being somewhere around 2200 (I think). Four of the six are out and out genre pieces: historical maritime fiction, crime novel, dystopian scifi, and post-apocalyptic scifi, with all their various tropes rendered with loving affection. But they are just written, so, well that they are simply irresistible."
Nailed it.
I've been searching the web for this book and couldn't find anything for less than $50 bucks. I was so depressed. But then I almost fell to the floor when I found a sole copy in my local book store. After I purchased it, I immediately began to devour it. I've only just begun, but I can already tell just by Mitchell's prose that I'll be adding all his books to my list of must-reads. Your review is very, VERY well stated. I'm adding you to follow your reading lists for sure.
In this review you say: "ultimately, the nakedly deliberate messages about humanity's will to power and our capacity for empathy re-re-re-re-re-reiterated in the second half". May I highlight here that about 90% of all stories ever told have a message about human will to power and capacity for empathy? This book is "posing" as a profound book when it is not, it is simply what it is, 6 stories put together, the sum of which is not better than each of them.
Ok, two critiques there. The first is that the themes of power over and empathy with other human beings are almost universal in fiction and therefore not profound, or at least not interesting. My response is that while 90% of books can be *read* from the perspective of these themes, there are relatively few books that address them explicitly, especially in contemporary literature. I find most contemporary novels hardly even have any distinguishable subjects aside from "life sucks" and "relationships are complicated," which are fine but not quite the same as power and empathy. Visit from the Goon Squad is very much about empathy and connection, but doesn't really address the idea that petty con jobs and genocide might arise from the same instincts. I admit that I'm not as well-read as perhaps I should be, but in my experience there are very few novels address these themes directly. Maybe you can provide some counterexamples?
Your second critique is that the structure of this novel doesn't serve a narrative or rhetorical purpose, which I think is pretty interesting. Is it *just* 6 stories stuffed inside each other turducken-style (thanks for the image, A.O. Scott), or is this oven-roasted chimera something more? Ok, stretching the turducken a bit far there. So I think the fact that there are multiple stories serves a few purposes. It forced me to think about how they relate, aside from the pseudo-mystic stuff like the birthmark or reading stuff from the last story. How does some guy on a 19th century boat relate to an old folks home or a cloned fast food slave? It also demonstrates different kinds of dominance and empathy, and the different scales at which they operate: personal, institutional, racial, global. Regarding the structure, I think it emphasizes that these themes transcend the gulfs between each story. Mitchell's novel ghostwritten is *very* similar to Cloud Atlas but is a linear sequence of sort-of-related stories. By the end I had sort of forgotten what had happened in the beginning, or at least didn't see how it connected. By comparison, in the second half of Cloud Atlas I kept remembering the future, so to speak, which lead to a lot of fun, simple "aha!" moments ("that's where the orison came from!") and the more important thematic connections.
Even if grouping these stories didn't create something greater than their sum, I thought they were all individually awesome. When I was reading The Windup Girl, which also involves an Asian clone slave, I was *praying* that it would eventually get half as good as the Sonmi chapter in this book. It didn't. At least not for me.
Anyway, to each his own!
I guess. Well you are giving me food for thought, which is always nice. I have the Windup Girl on my to-read list, sounds intriguing. Later
Thank you for such an insightful and yet succinct review. Love your writing -- "mimetic acrobatics," x6 reiterated...
I absolutely loved how you compared the stories to the Russian matroyshka dolls. That is a really good point! Tomorrow I have to present this book in my english class in university. I'll use that term, hope you don't mind. :)
I sincerely doubt that was an original metaphor, so use away. I think A.O. Scott's turducken comparison might be my new favorite way to describe this book, though.
I strongly agree with the themes mentioned above and in your review. This was one of my favorite books first and is now my favorite movie. When I read it the first time, the main theme that I connected through out the book was the predatory nature of humanity, not only to those around it, but to itself. So in response to your 'spoiler' comments, I think that Frobisher ultimately was consumed by Ayrs, music and himself. (This section also had the most change in the movie from my perspective but I really liked it still.)
RE: your spoiler comments. The Frobisher/Ayrs relationship is still an exploitative one, albeit mutually so as others have commented. It's still the same theme, just modulated differently.
And this modulation, or degree of exploitative asymmetry, if you will, really drives the ethos of each story: everyone using each other (Frobisher/Ayers/Jocasta) vs abject evil (Goose, Sonmi's discovery of Xultation), vs true humanity (Auta), vs compassion under duress (Zachry and Meronym; Luisa Rey and her luck).
Can't wait to the see the movie when it's out on DVD.
About the spoiler/Ayrs-Frobisher section - because, war. Right? I mean, he wants to be creative (music) instead of destructive (marching off to war like his brother) and he gets kicked out of the family and rejected by great swaths of humanity. (I paraphrase.) War is the subjugation. Slavery, corpocracy, war, same-same?
Hm, hadn't thought of that. I'm sure Mitchell appreciated the backdrop of the war, but he never went so far as to demonize Frobisher's brother or give Frobisher some kind of anti-war motive that superseded his self-interest and love of music, which is sort of what I would expect if he was trying to cast that story in the same harsh moral light he used for the Sonmi story, where the good guys and bad guys are unambiguously good and bad. The war's an interesting wrinkle, though!
No, not to demonize the brother, certainly. It wouldn't be the brother demonized, it would be the corporations/governments/powermongers who make war. Soldiers as fabricants, you might say... not as much about criticizing people who are just trying to live & survive or who get drafted (lots of humanity) but rather to criticize the system that sets up such destruction and lauds it as good or productive, like slavery and the corporate evils as well. It's another way to think about the wasting of a life, and then with all those gravestones and he can't find for sure which grave to lay the flowers on -- that kind of parallels the fabricants in the "womb," a kind of nameless group being used for the benefit of others.
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Hmm. Aren't we giant apes ourselves?Thanks for the review. I've just begun Cloud Atlas and am looking forward to the rest of it.
Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite books EVER. Mitchell has a new book coming out this month, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I have an ARC on my bedside table that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. You might also want to check out Black Swan Green if you haven't already. One of the characters from Cloud Atlas makes a cameo appearance.
Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with Mitchell's books. Reading De Zoet made me want to re-read Cloud Atlas. I'd forgotten how funny Frobisher was!
i've had this book on my shelf for awhile but haven't gotten around to reading it. i guess i will start now :)
david mitchell is the greatest living novelist. i just finished the thousand autumns of jacob de zoet, and it confirmed this fact to me. Cloud Atlas has to be my favourite. like you I want to reread it but have lent it out...
Brilliant and the segment in the British Assisted care had me peeing myself with laughter; then, whip around to such thoughtfullness of what is self? freedom? So many metaphors rich very rich.
So happy to find so many like-minded admirers of David Mitchell here. I also reviewed Cloud Atlas. Ken-ichi, you hardly need anyone to "explain it" to you, as so many of these comments confirm. Not only do you "get" Mitchell, you articulate with clarity what he's all about. BTW, I believe the journalist in the 21st C. section of Atlas has a cameo appearance in Ghostwritten.
Fantastic book and I agree with Ameet's comment that David Mitchell is the greatest living novelist. His command of the language is beyond belief and his imagination soars. I discovered him with "Black Swan Green" which I think is a small gem. I wept at both the endings of BSG and cloud Atlas because of the beauty and hope for humanity Mitchell envisions, despite our cruelty and follies.
Carl, I don't think you will regret it. It's a dense, concentrated reading experience, but all the the separate stories do hang together and I think the ending speaks for itself...please post after you read.
"As usual, my attempts to explain it to people have met with polite nods and changed subjects, but let me try: the book is like 6 perfect little novellas, arranged as Russian matroyshka dolls, and as you read, you bore in, and bore back out. Each doll is a different period in time, the outermost being in the early 19th century, the latest being somewhere around 2200 (I think). Four of the six are out and out genre pieces: historical maritime fiction, crime novel, dystopian scifi, and post-apocalyptic scifi, with all their various tropes rendered with loving affection. But they are just written, so, well that they are simply irresistible."Nailed it.
I've been searching the web for this book and couldn't find anything for less than $50 bucks. I was so depressed. But then I almost fell to the floor when I found a sole copy in my local book store. After I purchased it, I immediately began to devour it. I've only just begun, but I can already tell just by Mitchell's prose that I'll be adding all his books to my list of must-reads. Your review is very, VERY well stated. I'm adding you to follow your reading lists for sure.
In this review you say: "ultimately, the nakedly deliberate messages about humanity's will to power and our capacity for empathy re-re-re-re-re-reiterated in the second half". May I highlight here that about 90% of all stories ever told have a message about human will to power and capacity for empathy? This book is "posing" as a profound book when it is not, it is simply what it is, 6 stories put together, the sum of which is not better than each of them.
Ok, two critiques there. The first is that the themes of power over and empathy with other human beings are almost universal in fiction and therefore not profound, or at least not interesting. My response is that while 90% of books can be *read* from the perspective of these themes, there are relatively few books that address them explicitly, especially in contemporary literature. I find most contemporary novels hardly even have any distinguishable subjects aside from "life sucks" and "relationships are complicated," which are fine but not quite the same as power and empathy. Visit from the Goon Squad is very much about empathy and connection, but doesn't really address the idea that petty con jobs and genocide might arise from the same instincts. I admit that I'm not as well-read as perhaps I should be, but in my experience there are very few novels address these themes directly. Maybe you can provide some counterexamples?Your second critique is that the structure of this novel doesn't serve a narrative or rhetorical purpose, which I think is pretty interesting. Is it *just* 6 stories stuffed inside each other turducken-style (thanks for the image, A.O. Scott), or is this oven-roasted chimera something more? Ok, stretching the turducken a bit far there. So I think the fact that there are multiple stories serves a few purposes. It forced me to think about how they relate, aside from the pseudo-mystic stuff like the birthmark or reading stuff from the last story. How does some guy on a 19th century boat relate to an old folks home or a cloned fast food slave? It also demonstrates different kinds of dominance and empathy, and the different scales at which they operate: personal, institutional, racial, global. Regarding the structure, I think it emphasizes that these themes transcend the gulfs between each story. Mitchell's novel ghostwritten is *very* similar to Cloud Atlas but is a linear sequence of sort-of-related stories. By the end I had sort of forgotten what had happened in the beginning, or at least didn't see how it connected. By comparison, in the second half of Cloud Atlas I kept remembering the future, so to speak, which lead to a lot of fun, simple "aha!" moments ("that's where the orison came from!") and the more important thematic connections.
Even if grouping these stories didn't create something greater than their sum, I thought they were all individually awesome. When I was reading The Windup Girl, which also involves an Asian clone slave, I was *praying* that it would eventually get half as good as the Sonmi chapter in this book. It didn't. At least not for me.
Anyway, to each his own!
I guess. Well you are giving me food for thought, which is always nice. I have the Windup Girl on my to-read list, sounds intriguing. Later
Thank you for such an insightful and yet succinct review. Love your writing -- "mimetic acrobatics," x6 reiterated...
I absolutely loved how you compared the stories to the Russian matroyshka dolls. That is a really good point! Tomorrow I have to present this book in my english class in university. I'll use that term, hope you don't mind. :)
I sincerely doubt that was an original metaphor, so use away. I think A.O. Scott's turducken comparison might be my new favorite way to describe this book, though.
I strongly agree with the themes mentioned above and in your review. This was one of my favorite books first and is now my favorite movie. When I read it the first time, the main theme that I connected through out the book was the predatory nature of humanity, not only to those around it, but to itself. So in response to your 'spoiler' comments, I think that Frobisher ultimately was consumed by Ayrs, music and himself. (This section also had the most change in the movie from my perspective but I really liked it still.)
RE: your spoiler comments. The Frobisher/Ayrs relationship is still an exploitative one, albeit mutually so as others have commented. It's still the same theme, just modulated differently. And this modulation, or degree of exploitative asymmetry, if you will, really drives the ethos of each story: everyone using each other (Frobisher/Ayers/Jocasta) vs abject evil (Goose, Sonmi's discovery of Xultation), vs true humanity (Auta), vs compassion under duress (Zachry and Meronym; Luisa Rey and her luck).
Can't wait to the see the movie when it's out on DVD.
About the spoiler/Ayrs-Frobisher section - because, war. Right? I mean, he wants to be creative (music) instead of destructive (marching off to war like his brother) and he gets kicked out of the family and rejected by great swaths of humanity. (I paraphrase.) War is the subjugation. Slavery, corpocracy, war, same-same?
Hm, hadn't thought of that. I'm sure Mitchell appreciated the backdrop of the war, but he never went so far as to demonize Frobisher's brother or give Frobisher some kind of anti-war motive that superseded his self-interest and love of music, which is sort of what I would expect if he was trying to cast that story in the same harsh moral light he used for the Sonmi story, where the good guys and bad guys are unambiguously good and bad. The war's an interesting wrinkle, though!
No, not to demonize the brother, certainly. It wouldn't be the brother demonized, it would be the corporations/governments/powermongers who make war. Soldiers as fabricants, you might say... not as much about criticizing people who are just trying to live & survive or who get drafted (lots of humanity) but rather to criticize the system that sets up such destruction and lauds it as good or productive, like slavery and the corporate evils as well. It's another way to think about the wasting of a life, and then with all those gravestones and he can't find for sure which grave to lay the flowers on -- that kind of parallels the fabricants in the "womb," a kind of nameless group being used for the benefit of others.
NOW I know why I added you - for some serious insight!