Cloud Atlas

A Profusion of Allusions

Cloud Atlas is difficult to describe. It is hard to explain what the book is about, precisely. It is a book about what makes a story, and it is a book about what it means to be human. Ultimately, it is a book that forces the reader to question what is reality. It is a postmodern tour de force, laden with literary allusions. For example: Sonmi-451 is a clear reference to Bradbury's classic 'Fahrenheit 451', and her story parallels themes explored in '1984'. Similarly, Zachry's tale of Sloosha's Crossin' is much like Russell Hoban's 'Riddley Walker'. From Frobisher's letters, to Luisa's quest for truth... from Smith's journal and his final question at the end, 'Cloud Atlas' is a brilliant novel that intertwines stories and styles across centuries, continents, and cultures. The stories are relatable and terrifying, and all speak volumes about human nature and its relationship to stories. It is not a novel that you can say is 'about' something, in terms of plot. It's far more thematic. It's about humanity's relationship to one another, to stories, and its quest for truth and the definition of reality. An excellent read that blew me away.

9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

Cloud Atlas

There are books that just¿grab you by the throat and pick you up and slam you over the desk time and time again and leave you all disheveled, with a weird tingly feeling in the nether regions and the idea that you have just had your mind blown.

This is such a book. Or at least it was for me. Imagine taking Italo Calvino¿s ¿If on a winter¿s night a traveler¿ concept and actually wrapping it up. Those of you familiar with the Calvino novel know that he took essentially like¿ten stories and started telling them to you before it is somehow hopelessly interrupted and another story is started. Here, Mitchell writes what some people have referred to as a Russian Doll of a novel. You know those dolls you can open up at the middle and then there is another doll inside of it, and then you open that one up and HEY! another doll and then you open up that one and WTF!!! yet another doll and so forth? Yeah, this is sort of like that.

There are six stories, all of them spanning about a century and a half in history, maybe a little bit more. Six stories that may seem entirely unrelated, though, as you read into them, you begin to see just how tightly interwoven they all are. There are subtle references and some very overt ones, but part of the joy in this book is reading foreshadowing and not even knowing it because it applies to another story you have not even started.

The stories, even separated from the over all work are all very intriguing, each with its own challenges. Some thrilling, some amusing, some gripping, some outright wild, Mitchell switches gears on you better than an F-1 racer and he leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, unlike Calvino, he takes you to the end, and then bothers to come right back and give everything else a respectable wrap. The only thing is, the very first story, which takes place just before the turn of the 20th century, as are all of the other stories, is written in a era-specific fashion. Be prepared to learn a whole new vocabulary. I literally had to sit by the computer in this one and look stuff up. But after that, the language becomes a lot more familiar¿that is until you get to the stories that are told in the future and then even a dictionary won¿t help. A buy, hands down.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

For a little more effort, a great read

Don't be frightened off by reviews citing the book's 'experimental' nature. While not perfect, in 'Cloud Atlas' Mitchell moves seemlessly from voice to voice and finds a way to make six very different narratives almost equally engaging. Yes, there is a momentary sense of frustration when moving from one truncated section to the next (one even ends mid-sentence), but it's easy to get past this once sucked into the next thread. Mitchell drops enough breadcrumbs in the first half of the book to imply a reward for enduring the interuptions, and indeed he delivers on several levels: the literal linking of the narratives (whether they be manuscripts or sci-fi holographs), the philosophical/spiritual implications of reincarnation or distant relation, the unfortunate consistency of human oppression, and the dependence of all fiction (including history) on what has been created before. A tad of environmental preachiness here and there where the narrative itself would have sufficed evinced a few sighs here, but none of consequence. And some of the homages may be mistaken for derivative writing (Melville, Orwell and Huxley foremost), but in fact they form the basis for a more profound relation than that between the six narratives themselves, as 'Cloud Atlas' itself admits to being admits to being another legend drawn from legends. Mitchell has used a technique similar to that of Italo Calvino in 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveler' and pushed it beyond creative novelty. He infuses the novel with a rational, integrated plot structure that, beyond giving the reader a feeling that in the end it all 'makes sense,' itself adds a deeper layer of meaning.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

One of my favorites

Teen. A Very interesting premise of 6 stories nested in one another, all in a different genre. Intertwined stories going from the past to the near future, to the apocalyptic future - all detailing man's greed and how the selfish nature of humanity leads to a downfall. If you appreciate a variety of books, this one is a great read with strong characters and a sense of humanity underlying the stories.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Style and Context

Mitchell is a Shakespeare of style, which is one way to describe his dramatic uses of different writing styles that encapsulate the cultural periods and classes from which they emerge. Usually this correlation of style and context seem organic: for instance, readers assume that a certain eighteenth-century writer would naturally speak or write in a distinctive way. But when a plot travels across cultures and across historical periods and into imaginary futures, only a grand dramatist and a great intelligence can create styles that seem so natural to these fictional worlds. It's one thing to seem to reproduce letters written from Colonialist ship travels in the 19th-century Pacific. It's another skill entirely to create a post-Apocalyptic language for civilization's last remnants. Mature post-modernism, although not profound. Delightful.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

How do you describe the indescribable?

While away at a company retreat, I often felt speechless when my co-workers would come up to me and say 'Whats the book about?' After many attempts of describing 'Cloud Atlas' to an array of people, I eventually fell back to the most simplisitc answer and yet poignant description of the book. I sheephishly responded with a non-delibrate patronzing remark 'It's a Novel'. To fully understand Cloud Atlas, you have to fully engross yourself with the letters of a sinister Robert Frobrisher, you have to get inside Adam Smiths mind bending torture, you need to sit shotgun with one Luisa Rey, you need to escape with one insistent and hilarious brit, Timothy Cavendash. Serve and volley the grand scientific question of our age (cloning) with Sonmi, and to be whisked away with Zachary and Moreynmon on an epic adventure through the blue skies, filled with white clouds. This my dear friend is the only way to describe something so treasured as this ingenuis literature. And for all you Passing souls who passed through this journey already, well you know what I mean when ask 'How do you describe the indescibable?'

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A true page turner, brilliant and exciting

Cloud Atlas is made up of 6 stories and each one will have you wanting to read more. Just as you get into each story and the suspense builds, the next story begins and you have to wait until the story finishes at the end. This book is kind of an undertaking. It's definitely worth it, but it's a long book and the stories are very different. It also takes time to get into each story as it is set up and you get used to the characters. I think that while I enjoyed Cloud Atlas greatly, this particular of distinct stories covering the sands of time (i.e. Gods of Men) is not something I will partake in again. I tend not to like short stories because as soon as you get into the story, it seems to end abruptly - that is to say the endings can leave you shortchanged. Having said all that, this book will leave you wanting to find out what happens in each story and *incredibly* surprised at the turns of events.

Phenomenal. Best book I read in 2011. Connects the past, present

Phenomenal. Best book I read in 2011. Connects the past, present and future in unique way. A scary real fiction

V

Join Thunderclan at: red jersey, all results

We are always on!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Most unusual and highly entertaining!

Here is a collection of vaguely linked stories that come together in a universal truth. Absolutely enthralling!

Amazing and Indescribable

I haven't ever read anything that I enjoyed so much, both as philosophy and as a novel. I'm not sure I can even describe it, but I loved it. I finished it, then immediately turned back to the first page to read it again, I liked it that much.

To bree

This is from Thomas and yes real you know how i say were dating were gone you loser really youve been chaten with other peeps goin out!!!!!i think were done

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Tinycloud

(( I tinycloud i need a clan but first im having my kits at lily. 5th result... help! ))

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Nevaeh bree

Hey i have not talk to u in a while

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hello?

Hello. I'm Silverstripe, I'm a beautiful silver-gray she cat. I was born in StormClan but I ran away and started LightningClan. But LightningClan has been destroyed. I am wondering if I can join CloudClan.

*~Silverstripe~*

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Narapelt

Hello is moonstar here

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

willowleaf

willowleaf-hello,krestlepaw. meet me at selena gomez first result. we will do some training.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Coming from an English teacher ...

This was recommended by a brilliant friend. It is by far one of the most amazing, creative, unforgettable books I have read of late. Read it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing

Quite possibly the best thing i've ever read. A how to manual for writing with balls. Read it.

Read it now

I mistakenly got the impression that <i> Cloud Atlas </i> was about someone's sailing trip, so I was reluctant to read it. While, travel across the ocean plays an important part of the story(ies), I could not have been more wrong about the subject matter of the book. The theme of this book is the development of a character's ethic through a device that at once mystical, symbolic, structured and unique. I cannot emphasize enough how original this story is. Some have compared it to Byatt's <i>Possession</i> or Robinson's <i>Year's of Rice and Salt</i>. I admit the similarities. However, the parallels are much more complex, clever, fascinating. Mitchell not only build six separate stories-within-stories, but does so using different genres of writing. There are twists one does not expect. Each story inspires the next in a way that is deeply satisfying. For me, this novel gains a place of the shelf next to <i>Master and Margarita</i> as a truly original, deeply meaningful work of beauty. My only comment is that reviewers should just stop using the metaphor that the book is a series of nested dolls. Please, is it possible you could use a metaphor the author himself doesn't use? Please. Read this book. It's a work of beauty.