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10. What did you think of the book? Does it belong on the list? Place your reviews here.
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Jen
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Mar 01, 2016 03:44AM
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5 Stars and a heart
I love this book and yes it should be on the list no doubt.
The story is told from the point of view of 6 different narrators in 6 different times we start at the earliest chronologically and move forward to the latest before heading back again in reverse order.
Each story is interrupted half way but cross reference in the next story forward on the scale so we know the final outcome for the character but often in a cryptic way and not how we got there.
When we reach the furthest point forward in time we then descend again through all the previous narratives tying up all the loose ends until we end with the beginning narrative.
The storys are all intriguing in their own rights but the cross overs make the story telling exceptional.
I love the cyclical nature of the book we move to life on earth far removed from our own current life on earth but the final narrative the furthest in the future is so much like the first the furthest in the past that it appears life has come full circle.
In fact one of the narrators comments on this by saying that in 10 years he will be doing the same thing again.
It also contains my favourite quote "A half read book is a half-finished love affair"
I love this book and yes it should be on the list no doubt.
The story is told from the point of view of 6 different narrators in 6 different times we start at the earliest chronologically and move forward to the latest before heading back again in reverse order.
Each story is interrupted half way but cross reference in the next story forward on the scale so we know the final outcome for the character but often in a cryptic way and not how we got there.
When we reach the furthest point forward in time we then descend again through all the previous narratives tying up all the loose ends until we end with the beginning narrative.
The storys are all intriguing in their own rights but the cross overs make the story telling exceptional.
I love the cyclical nature of the book we move to life on earth far removed from our own current life on earth but the final narrative the furthest in the future is so much like the first the furthest in the past that it appears life has come full circle.
In fact one of the narrators comments on this by saying that in 10 years he will be doing the same thing again.
It also contains my favourite quote "A half read book is a half-finished love affair"
Mod
I may sound like a broken record but I love David Mitchell and Cloud Atlas was the book that started my love affair with him. He is officially my author crush.
I was blown away when I first read Cloud Atlas. It was unlike anything I had ever encountered before and I loved every minute of it. I found it to be superbly written, engaging, innovative in structure and reading it was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I love reading his other books and seeing how they all fit together.
Jen wrote: "5 stars and a heart
I may sound like a broken record but I love David Mitchell and Cloud Atlas was the book that started my love affair with him. He is officially my author crush.
I was blown awa..."
Apparently there is a new book coming soon....
I may sound like a broken record but I love David Mitchell and Cloud Atlas was the book that started my love affair with him. He is officially my author crush.
I was blown awa..."
Apparently there is a new book coming soon....
I read this a while ago and this is my original review.4 stars
This is a collection of five stories that intersect each other and connect together. Each story has a different writing style and clear three dimensional characters. I liked how this tale was constructed differently even though I found the middle story to be particularly boring. I did enjoy the rest of the tales.
Mod
I may sound like a broken record but I love David Mitchell and Cloud Atlas was the book that started my love affair with him. He is officially my author crush.
I w..."
Which one? I know he's coming out with a new story but hadn't heard about a new book yet. I admittedly stalk his author page and twitter account.
Its a short story called My Eye on You featuring a character from the Bone Clocks have not been able to find it anywhere yet so if you do let me know :)
Thanks, Pip! An interesting article, and art that's hard to look away from. How cool would it be to have your own beautiful work inspiring a short story by David Mitchell?
I really need to read this short story!!
Mod
me too!
Thanks Pip. I get the Guardian newsletter so I saw this article when it came out and needless to say I am very excited to be able to read it.
5 StarsDefinitely belongs on the list, just for the structure alone. It remains unlike anything else I have ever read.
Mod
Read from December 24, 2011 to January 10, 2012
Format Paperback (edit)
Review I listened to the audio by Scott Brick (Narrator), Cassandra Campbell (Narrator), Kim Mai Guest (Narrator), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator), John Lee (Narrator), Richard Matthews (Narrator). The narration was well done. It is a story that spans many centuries, each section going forward is interrupted and the next begins. It has been described as nesting Russian dolls. The middle story completes itself and then the reader progresses back through the years to the first story told by Adam Ewing. The theme is of ‘man abusing and using others’. There is a morality aspect in the stories, mostly in the first section and there is science. The story can also be described as dystopian and reminded me of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Owell’s 1984 and We by Zamyatin. The author references Melville and others in the story. Italo Calvino was an interpretation for the layered plots only Mitchell makes the return journey.
I enjoyed the book, the narration was good but I found it hard not to be distracted. I think this is a book to listen to while actually holding and reading along. The diction can be challenging (like A Clockwork Orange). By listening to the book it was harder to catch the connections between the stories but then some reviewers have criticized the book as failing to create the connections so maybe it wasn’t just me.
When I ordered this book on interloan I was asked if I would like the video, too, and it was a mistake to watch this first. I found it impenetrable and confusing because actors played multiple roles and I could not make the connections. It took me three attempts to watch it right through. So when I began the book on a plane trip I was gobsmacked that it began in our own Chatham Islands. In the movie I thought it was set in the Amazonian jungle and the Tom Hanks section, Sloosha's Crossin', was in the same place.I was quite enthralled with the first four stories and marvelled at Mitchell's command of such divergent styles, reminiscent of the way Italo Calvino did something similar in "On a Winter's Night A Traveller", but, predictably, once I reached the futuristic Orison of Sonmi~451, Mitchell lost me. The next section, Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After was as impenetrable as the movie and the book got set aside for a couple of weeks. By the time I returned I found it difficult to pick up the threads of the first sections, apart from The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish, which was so memorable. The return through the stories was an interesting concept, but I was not entirely convinced that the connections held together. The birthmark was supposed to be significant but exactly what it signified was lost on me.
So I am rating it three stars, rather than the four I had originally thought it might earn. Mitchell is an interesting author and I would be interested in reading something else he has written. May even wish to up my rating on further reflection
Mod
Six interlocking stories, embedded within each other like matriochkas, using different narrative styles and carrying one or many objects from one story to the other. A big (and somewhat pessimistic) reflection on human condition and how history often repeats itself in various ways. I am undecided as to whether the movie is better than the book or vice versa; but both are quite good.
Rating: 4 StarsRead: October 2016
This was unlike anything I have every read. The book integrates a number of otherwise dissimilar genres and styles. The writing is great and the whole thing is very cleverly executed with the nested stories and cyclical nature. It is not, however, an easy book to read. In the beginning, I had a difficult time "getting into" the book and piecing together the interconnections between the individual stories. By the end, most (but not all) of it fit together for me. So, basically the concept blew me away, but I think I may have missed a little something in the underlying storyline. Some parts I loved, some were just okay. I definitely think it belongs on the list due to its originality and overall quality of writing.
At first I wasn't sure how to rate or review this book properly . I was kind of intimidated by the length and some other reviews. I will say that it didn't read like a 500 page book, and after all, it was a good book. I gave it 4 stars.
