From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell

Start date: October 15, 2012

Finish date: October 15, 2012

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Jennifer

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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What Members Thought

Oct 16, 2012 Ruth rated it liked it

Torn between 3.5 and 4 stars. I liked it a lot, but I wasn't crazy about it. After I realized what was going on in terms of structure, I kept asking myself why he did this. What advantage did he gain? What keeps it from being just a gimmick? ...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, recentfiction

An amazing book, particularly in terms of structure. It is structured unlike any book I've ever read, and that doesn't mean that it's obscure. Linked stories, in a way, but also returning stories. Genre experiments, theme echoings. Just amazing. The book I read on the cabin porch at Juniper while snowed in and unable to do any hiking to my favorite swimming lakes (which were nearly frozen over). Pages I want to return to 82, 212, 218, 380, 445, 449. The book is brilliantly written all the way th ...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Katy rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Of all the books I've read this year CLOUD ATLAS has been my favorite. It was an exhilarating read, funny, imaginative, provocative, and entertaining. Although a work of fiction perhaps even science fiction, it struck me that the underlying theme connecting the stories was an examination of the possibility of goodness - of doing good or being good. What makes some people good even at great personal cost?
I loved the gossamer threads with which Mitchell however tenuously connected his unusual cha ...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Susan rated it it was amazing

Was afraid this one might not hold up as well on a second reading, but it did.

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Jan 22, 2008 Smarti rated it liked it

Shelves: romaneab2000, 1001-books

Das ist jetzt schwer: ich hätte sowohl zwei als auch sechs oder zehn sterne rechtfertigen können, denke ich. Der Wolkenatlas ist sicherlich eine außergewöhnliche Leseerfahrung. Eigentlich ist dies kein Roman, sondern vielmehr eine Ansammlung von sechs Kurzgeschichten. Hätte ich dies vorher gewusst, hätte ich mir das Buch wahrscheinlich nicht "angetan". Ich bin nämlich überhaupt kein Fan von short-stories: kaum hat man sich eingelesen, sind sie auch schon vorbei! Genau das hat mich auch hier gene ...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Mary Anne rated it really liked it

The transitions in this book remind me of moving the tuning dial of an AM radio, and the static between the stations. The stations, of course, are of vastly different formats: some classical, some sports, some all talk.

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