Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Participants in the first post; Eavesdroppers: Angus, Mae, Monique, Tricia) Start Date: Sept 1

[Angus]

Dibaaa? Remember Autua? Hay! So in less than 3 weeks na yung discussion natin noh? And then the movie!

[Aaron Vincent]

(view spoiler)[Doesn't Robert Frobisher mentioned that the writer of the journal he's reading shares the same birthmark as him on one of his letters? I'm not sure. I'll look for it later. (hide spoiler)]

Rankings...
1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. Letters from Zedelghem
3. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
4. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After (very very close with:)
5. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
(a big gap)
6. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery

[Monique]

My ranking:

1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. Letters from Zedelghem
3. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
4. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
5. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
6. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After

YAY for Sonmi! :D

[Aldrin]

My ranking of the stories in Cloud Atlas:
1. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
2. Letters from Zedelghem
3. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
4. An Orison of Sonmi~451
5. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
6. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After

My ranking of the books in David Mitchell's oeuvre, all of which got five-star ratings from me:
1. number9dream
2. Ghostwritten
3. Cloud Atlas
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
5. Black Swan Green

[Angus]

Ranking of Mitchell's books to follow. I/We still have to read Jacob de Zoet.

[Alexa]

I love them all, so it took me a while to rank, but here goes!
1.5 Letters from Zedelghem
1.5 An Orison of Sonmi ~451 (I really couldn't choose)
3. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
4. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
5. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After
6. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery

Not sure if I should put this in a spoiler tag since I'm pretty sure people are aware of this anyway, but (view spoiler)[about the the reincarnation thing. It's not explicitly mentioned but a lot of people think that's the case with the comet birthmarks and such. Anyway, speaking of reincarnation, (hide spoiler)] I want to story-push this amazing short story because for some reason, it reminded me of Cloud Atlas. Like the whoa-ness of it, and prolly the overall theme. (It's really amazing, guys. Made me think.)

http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/thee...

[Louize]

This one's mine...
1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After
3. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
4. Letters from Zedelghem
5. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
6. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery

[Ingrid]

Letters from Zedelghem

(view spoiler)[What surprised me was the discovery of half of the journal, and Frobisher's affair with J. Hindi ko magets kung paano nakarating dun yung journal, or I probably wasn't paying much attention sa first chapter. Haha. As for the affair, well, nakakagulat lang talaga, parang biglang napasok sa usapan amidst all the composing things. :))

And yung kay Eva pala, feel ko may affair din siya talaga, pero baka ako lang yun? (hide spoiler)]
:)

[Ingrid]

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
Spoiler tag parin, kahit most of you already finished. :))

(view spoiler)[ SO AWESOME. GRABEEE. I'm assuming Luisa is still alive, since may half of the story pa near the end of the book? :))
(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Go Ingrid! You can do it! Gusto ko nga ring magreread, pero gusto ko ng bagong copy. :D

[Alexa]

Angus wrote: "Gusto ko nga ring magreread, pero gusto ko ng bagong copy. :D"

Fully Booked texted me saying they have copies of Cloud Atlas! PAGASA edition, if I'm not mistaken. :D

[Aldrin]

Blue wrote: Fully Booked texted me saying they have copies of Cloud Atlas! PAGASA edition, if I'm not mistaken. :D"

I don't like the PAGASA edition but I like its unofficial designation. Haha.

[Alexa]

Aldrin wrote: "I don't like the PAGASA edition but I like its unofficial designation. Haha."

Yes to both (not necessarily unlike, but I like the pink edition better)! PAGASA ftw, haha.

[Tina]

Ingrid: I liked Luisa Rey, too. :D Haha ganyan na ganyan din reaction ko nun!

Dami rin PAGASA edition sa Eastwood! :D

[Angus]

I might buy the PAGASA edition and the upcoming movie tie-in. :D

[Ingrid]

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish

(view spoiler)[ I didn't like this one as much as I liked Luisa Rey, haha. I don't know how he's going to get out of THERE, if he does. :)) (hide spoiler)]

[Ranee]

Aldrin, di nga, di ganun kaganda ang black swan green? yun pa man din ang copy meron ako. (dahil nung time na iyun number9dream ang hinahanap ko)

Heto ang ranking ng stories ayon sa gusto ko: ayaw kong magtag ng spoilers (tamad lang)so saka na lang ang explanation.
1. An Orison of Sonmi 451
2. letters to Zedelghem
3. Sloosha
4. Timothy Cavendish
5. Adam Ewing
6. Louisa Rey

[Aldrin]

Angus wrote: "I might buy the PAGASA edition and the upcoming movie tie-in. :D"

Not planning on collecting Cloud Atlas editions since it's not my favorite Mitchell. number9dream, though...

Ranee wrote: "Aldrin, di nga, di ganun kaganda ang black swan green? yun pa man din ang copy meron ako. (dahil nung time na iyun number9dream ang hinahanap ko)"

Don't get me wrong: I loved Black Swan Green too. It's really good. I just think it's the least good among Mitchell's books. But really good nonetheless. :)

[Angus]

Ranking of Mitchell's novels:

1. Cloud Atlas
2. Ghostwritten
3. number9dream
4. Black Swan Green

Isisingit ko na lang ang Jacob de Zoet after 11 days. :D

[H]

Tatlo pa lang nababasa ko, pero eto ranking:

1. Jacob de Zoet
2. Black Swan Green
3. Cloud Atlas

:)

[Ingrid]

An Orison of Sonmi~451

(view spoiler)[ Sci-fi? It was hard to get into like the Adam Ewing part, and I still didn't get some of the ideas kahit tapos ko na yung chapter. Information overload. :))

Seeing as a lot of you liked this chapter, I'll suspend judgment and just read on until I finish the other half. :D (hide spoiler)]

[Alexa]

New movie banners!!

http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/9/25/...

(I am so excited guise)

[Tina]

BTW guys who have Facebook, sent you a group message to organize our discussion. :D Please check! Thanks~

[Tricia]

H, you like BSG than Cloud Atlas? Why? I'm in the middle of BSG but I am still stuck haha

[Tricia]

:O the movie banners gave me goosebumps!!!!

In fairness, waging-wagi si Timothy Cavendish!

[Tricia]

BTW, late na ako. Ranking them:

1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. Letters from Zedelghem
3. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
4. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After
5. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
6. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery

[Alexa]

Tricia wrote: ":O the movie banners gave me goosebumps!!!!

In fairness, waging-wagi si Timothy Cavendish!"

DIBA? Huhu Timothy Cavendish is such a cutie patootie :((

[Alexa]

Tricia wrote: "H, you like BSG than Cloud Atlas? Why? I'm in the middle of BSG but I am still stuck haha"

For a full minute, I wondered when H mentioned Battlestar Galactica, but you meant Black Swan Green pala!!! Haha!

[Monique]

The one of Sonmi suspended in the air, with a machine hovering by, is the one that always, ALWAYS, gives me goosebumps. *shivers*

[Aldrin]

Blue: HAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Tricia]

BAKIT WALA SI ADAM EWING SA BANNERS?

[Louize]

Tricia wrote: "BAKIT WALA SI ADAM EWING SA BANNERS?"

Yeah. Saw the banners last night, and that was my question too... thinking that I'd love to collect them just for fetish reasons.

[Tina]

Oh you know what, these banners would be perfect bookmarks! =D Hmm. Resize resize lang!

[Louize]

Tina wrote: "Oh you know what, these banners would be perfect bookmarks! =D Hmm. Resize resize lang!"

Now, there you go!

[H]

Tricia wrote: "H, you like BSG than Cloud Atlas? Why? I'm in the middle of BSG but I am still stuck haha"

Hehehehe...hmmm...well, maybe I don't like Black Swan Green better than Cloud Atlas. Parang magkalevel lang sila.

[Monique]

Tina wrote: "Oh you know what, these banners would be perfect bookmarks! =D Hmm. Resize resize lang!"

For the joint discussion? Fabulous! First dibs! :D

[JL]

Just finished Cloud Atlas yesterday and it was just !@#$%%$#@!#%freakinFAbulous! I would like to re-read it soon, maybe go through the stories from beginning to end with Sloosha as the last. Would that change the reading experience? It was not an easy read, but the changes in language and style were sheer genius! Just a tiny problem, Im still having a CA hangover when I should already be reading P&P ;)

Just one question: (view spoiler)[If indeed Adam Ewing, Robert Frobisher, Luisa Rey, Timothy Cavendish, Somni and Meronym were just one singular being traversing time and incarnating, has anyone discerned a character development of any kind for this soul as each story unfolds? I for one failed to notice any kind of character evolution/devolution. So does this mean the concept of a 'meta character development' spanning the 6 stories is beside the point; everything is connected, but only as accidental aspects of each story affects the other, but the struggles and lessons of each main character remain inconsequential and moot from each other? (hide spoiler)]

My ranking:

1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
3. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
4. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish
5. Letters from Zedelghem
6. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After

[Tina]

JL wrote: "Just a tiny problem, Im still having a CA hangover when I should already be reading P&P "

Oh I know the feeling. It took me a few days before I read another book on my list. :) Mitchell marathon na? :)

[Alexa]

JL wrote: "Just finished Cloud Atlas yesterday and it was just !@#$%%$#@!#%freakinFAbulous! I would like to re-read it soon, maybe go through the stories from beginning to end with Sloosha as the last. Would ..."

(view spoiler)[We have the same question but you worded it much better than me, haha! This is not really an answer (because I'm using the structure to explain) just thoughts off the top of my head, but I think it really depends on how you interpret the Russian doll-structure that Mitchell used. I think that the comet birthmark is the only obvious thing that connects them together. I could be wrong, but I guess that this is meant to show how, despite the era or place, human (this is figurative for Sonmi) nature still reacts the same way, with greed, lust, selfishness, the works.

Robert Frobisher said something about the sextet being about overlapping soloists, with the piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello. You could read it that way, that their stories overlap each other's, but instead of evolution of characters, I think it's more along how the actions and decisions of each character reflect on and affect the other characters in the book. Like, for example, when Adam Ewing saved the slave, who in turn saved him, in the end saving his journals for Frobisher to discover and read, who gets inspired, writes the Cloud Atlas sextet, writes letters to Sixsmith, who carries his letters to be discovered by Luisa Rey, who hears and recognizes said sextet, and goes through things that results into fodder for a novel, that Tim Cavendish publishes, etc. etc. I still haven't thought about the motifs that could possibly connect these characters but I suspect there must be a common thread that withstands the difference in settings.

Okay, that was a messy explanation. Take two. Basta in short, I think the answer to your question lies somewhat in between: they may not be the same person reincarnated or something, but maybe the things that connect them to each other are not really accidental? They live their own lives but their decisions reverberate through time, so while their own struggles and lessons are somewhat independent in each story, what they do in these struggles are significant for the other characters. Like in a sextet, each note leads to another and another, chords could be independent in their own measures or movements, as are the six instruments. They could stand alone with their own sheet music and stuff, but put them together and it's a different sound altogether. Ugh. This question is crazy. I hope I make sense =)) #sabaw

I'm going to review this later, but I'm sorry if I don't make sense! I just came from an exam and my gray matter is dead. Lalala. I could be talking about a wholly different thing, haha! Nevertheless, I'm putting it out here just in case you guys could pick out something you might want to elaborate on. Hihi. (hide spoiler)]

[Tina]

And the Ateneans discuss! :D

The question reminds me of one of the CSI:NY's Mac Taylor's lines in the early seasons: (view spoiler)[Everything's connected. (hide spoiler)] Pwede rin more ominous: (view spoiler)[There are no coincidences. (hide spoiler)]

Haha j/k. But I think Blue's right: (view spoiler)[It's not really reincarnation, or even the circular aspect. The circular thing was just a writing style to illustrate the real point of how every character has a connection with the other, despite living in different times and places. I think the book is really more how a certain event/decision in one character's life has an effect in the story of the next. (hide spoiler)]

Whew. I hope that made sense. :D

[Ingrid]

AGH. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS
NAUNAHAN PA AKO NI JL
:|
:))

[Angus]

Beejay! Sobrang pareho tayo ng ranking. :D

[H]

Ako lang ba talaga dito ang hindi nagustuhan ang librong 'to??? Kakaiba... :-P

[Aaron Vincent]

Soulmates? :D

[Angus]

#TheArtOfIgnoring

[Louize]

H wrote: "Ako lang ba talaga dito ang hindi nagustuhan ang librong 'to??? Kakaiba... :-P"

Don't exclude yourself too readily; diversity is tolerated here, although not welcomed warmly. LOL ;p
OMG, I'm being a bit** this evening. Too much wine, I guess.

[Tina]

H: haha don't worry about it. There's always one person (or two or three) na odd one out sa pagiging fan, but it's okay. :p Different strokes for different folks. :) We're not holding it against you. :)

Louize: haha! Tama na wine, ninang. :p

Ingrid: Haboool! Okay lang yan! Si JL kasi wala pang pasok nun kaya maraming time magbasa. Kaya mo pa yan! :D

Naaliw ako sa pagkakaiba ng rankings natin, pero ang daming points lang ni Sonmi sa #1 ng lists. :) Ma-consolidate nga bukas. :D

[Mae]

Makiki-rank na nga din ako. :P

1. An Orison of Sonmi~451
2. Letters from Zedelghem
3. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing
4. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery
5. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After
6. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish

[H]

Haha ok lang un alam ko naman iba iba tastes nating lahat :-)

[JL]

Blue, brilliant and insightful answer! (at dead grey matter pa yan ha)

(view spoiler)[I think the spirit behind my question of overall character development is a slight itch, a need, I guess, for a deeper sense of unity underlying the 6 stories of Cloud Atlas. Upon further reflection, this habit of expecting unitive evolution was fostered by an exclusive exposure to novels with singular storylines. Heck, before Cloud Atlas, that's all Ive been exposed to. Appreciating Cloud Atlas requires a different set of inner adjustments, letting the stories linger, and letting their uniqueness and intersections create different resonances. The unity, the overall symphony thus emerges on its own, unsought. I couldn't have articulated it better than Blue:

Like in a sextet, each note leads to another and another, chords could be independent in their own measures or movements, as are the six instruments. They could stand alone with their own sheet music and stuff, but put them together and it's a different sound altogether.

that's why re-reading this would be a great pleasure. (hide spoiler)]

Ingrid, kaya mo yan :)