1. What do you think Cloud Atlas is about? Full question inside

[Jen]

1. What do you think Cloud Atlas is about? Is this a cautionary tale...a prognosis...a diagnosis? In Mitchell's tales, what do humans seem bent on doing to one another...and why? With little left at the end, what, if anything, remains?

[Pip]

I think it is about human nature and how bleak it can be. All the stories involve people mistreating others, and the links between the stories could be interpreted as the recurring exploitation of some by others no matter what the milieu.

[Kristel]

I think "reincarnation" is a major theme in the book. The recurrences through the nested stories. Human nature stays the same over the various time periods.

[Patrick]

Kristel wrote: "Human nature stays the same over the various time periods."

I fully agree with this. It's also a slightly pessimistic view on human nature and how it does not necessarily progress or become wiser, as we all tend to believe.