Cloud Atlas in What's the Name of That Book???

Jan 17, 2012 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: distant-lands

**okay - i have actually written a "review" for this book, all you early bird voters! feel free to take back your picture-votes if you hate my words (and by "feel free," i mean "don't you dare!!")**

why have i never read this book before??

observe:

do you see how it is wedged into a teetering, lode-bearing stack of books??

removing it was a tricky business, indeed, but i succeeded, and i am finally reading it. so thank you for badgering me about it, internet, because so far, i am really enjoying it! ...more

321 likes · Like · see review

Jun 18, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, readbooks-male-author-or-illust, zz-4star, 1-also-at-librarything, bookclub, novel, speculative-fiction, groups-buddies, historical-fiction, z2009

This book takes a very dim view of human history and of human beings, although in each story challenges to this viewpoint do happen.

This book consists of what I thought of as 6 novellas or long short stories. They’re all interconnected into one big novel. The first five stories, all in chronological order, are told in part and after the sixth and final story, the rest of the book goes backward and finishes up the first five tales to their conclusions, so that story one starts and finishes the bo ...more

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Apr 08, 2020 Philip rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jordabecker-book-club, jordabecker-fuzzy

"Come now, what's a reviewer?" I reasoned. "One who reads quickly, arrogantly, but never wisely..." (p. 149)

And how, Mr. Mitchell. And how.

I didn't know anything about Cloud Atlas going into it, and I was happy that way. It goes without saying that if you're reading a review of a book you didn't read, you're playing a dangerous game - whether that person is including spoiler tags or not. And you know this. You KNOW this. But here you are, tempting fate anyway.

Cloud Atlas is a number of interwove ...more

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Jun 10, 2010 Otis Chandler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. An interesting book in terms of it's structure: 5 distinct stories that cascade into each other in subtle ways, then wind back out. This way of doing the structure was unique, and certainly very cool to see the subtle way they were tied together. But in the end it was kind of gimmick and probably not necessary.

I generally don't try to summarize novels in my reviews, but in this case there was so much going on that the exercise was helpful.

Story 1: The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing. Later reveal An interesting book in terms of it's structure: 5 distinct stories that cascade into each other in subtle ways, then wind back out. This way of doing the structure was unique, and certainly very cool to see the subtle way they were tied together. But in the end it was kind of gimmick and probably not necessary.

I generally don't try to summarize novels in my reviews, but in this case there was so much going on that the exercise was helpful.

Story 1: The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing. Later revealed to be a journal in other stories. A story about a rather weak-willed protagonist, who is constantly taken advantage of by others (the ships captain, Dr Goose). Interesting side story about the peaceful native Moriori tribe and how they were taken advantage of.

Story 2: Robert Frobisher. Perhaps my favorite story - about a penniless young musician who as a last-ditch attempt apprentices himself to an old master musician, Vyvyan Ayrs. The story is told through letters to a friend, Sixsmith, who appears in the next story. The story is about how Frobisher, the apprentice, goes from being overjoyed to have a job to being resentful that the master is using him and stealing his stuff. Robert sleeps with VA's wife the whole story, but ends up falling in love with the daughter in a cruel twist of fate.

Story 3: Luisa Rey. Modern age story about a young journalist hot on the heels of a big scandal involving an energy company. Sixsmith is an engineer who leaks the story to her, and also has the letters from story #2. Classic detective-esque story, with lots of people willing to kill to protect their secrets and power.

Story 4: Timothy Cavendish. Modern age story about a book editor who gets a smash hit, then the author's mafia-esque family get's on his case and he's on the run. He lands in a old-persons home/prison. This story is kind of a nightmare, and is revealed to be a movie in the next story.

Story 5: Somni 451. One of favorites, for how different it was. Set in the far future in an asian country, humans have genetically created clones that serve as slaves. This lower class is regarded as unintelligent and controlled with drugs - but our protagonist, Somni, breaks through and becomes self-conscious. The scary thing is I can easily see this happening! Told as recollections in an interview.

Story 6: Sloosha's Crossin'. Story of Zach'ry and Meronym in post apocalyptic Hawaii. Somni is now their deity. Story of the Valleysmen people and their struggle for freedom against neighboring tribes.

All six stories were very graphic and real, and had extremely good character development. Mitchel could with a single sentence describe someone that you understood in a way I can't describe here.

I wish the stories had more themes in common so I could say what I learned from this book. Though I suppose if I had to put my finger on it, the major theme was freedom and slavery. Ewing was under the control of Dr Goose and the ship captain, Frobisher became an unwilling servant to Arys, Luisa Rey needed to find the truth in order to free herself from the corporate villians, Frobisher was a prisoner bent on escape in a nursing home, Somni was literally a slave in her society and focused on freedom, and Zach'ry's people were captured and enslaved. All the stories touched on various ways people can "enslave" and control other people for various reasons.

I suppose the point is human beings are all greedy and will try to control other human beings, but if we are strong we can survive and find a way to free ourselves. Sounds good anyways, so I'll stick with that - but am interested to hear what other people thought.
...more

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Jul 06, 2010 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, california, hawaii

Very impressive.

2 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2007 martha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: year-2005, 5-star-favs, apocalypses-dystopi

Amazing. Fantastic. Many other superlatives. Read it.

[2005 review.] This book is awesome. One of the best I've read in ages, or at least one of the most innovative. This is a fascinating, thinky, complex, unusual book and I've had tons of great discussions about it with friends already, which is one of the marks of a good book, imho. The book is made up of six interlocking stories in different eras and genres, and there are all sorts of subtle and interesting thematic threads tying them together ...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Debbie is on Storygraph rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, science-fiction, 2012, epistolary

It took a bit to get into this book, mainly because the language of Adam Ewig's journal was a bit hard to get used to, and there didn't seem to be much of a plot going on. Once I got through the first bit, and I enjoyed it a lot more and really started appreciating the "nesting dolls" style of storytelling. I'm a bit unsure of my interpretation of events is what Mitchell intended, but I saw each story as taking place in different worlds, but that they could still very much be in the same. I saw ...more

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Jan 07, 2009 Michelle rated it did not like it

Shelves: bookclub, could-not-finish

Bizarre.

I made it to page 186 and couldn't go further. This book has so many great reviews, and I wanted to enjoy it, and it would have been good to finish it seeing as it's for book club - but it's just not worth it. I'm movin' on! ...more

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Aug 22, 2019 Martine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: calibre

I expect this will be required reading for literature classes within the next 25 years. I feel like I won't fully appreciate it until I google and read English lit master's theses that dissect it! ...more

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