4. What did you think of the structure of the book? Full question inside

[Jen]

4. What did you think of the structure of the book? What might Mitchell be hoping to achieve through the six (or twelve) interrelated stories, each based on a specific genre: epistolary, mystery, farce, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic? What is the effect, then, of reversing the tales and going backward?

[Pip]

Interesting, Sushicat, because the Orison of Somni-451 was the part I disliked. We can agree on the post-apocalyptic episode, though. I found that the most difficult to cope with, partly because I had such a job understanding the dialect, and partly because I had the images of the movie in my head. Mitchell is playing with the reader, saying, look, how clever am I to be able to take you along with me in six different styles. The theme of man's inhumanity to man (or fabricant) is loud and clear in each episode. Although the construct was clever, I thought the interplay between the sections rather forced.

[Kristel]

I think the structure, unique stories different but connected and "nesting" is what makes this book.

[Patrick]

The nesting, which mirrors each of the stories, reinforces the theme of the history of human nature which repeats itself. The fact that each of the stories are linked with at least one element of an anterior story also reinforces this idea.