The stories aren’t strong enough to stand on their own, but it seems Mitchell is utterly convinced of their addictive properties. Unfortunately, Cloud Atlas takes on a little too much. Mitchell is a master at literary ventriloquism adopting a unique narrative voice for each of these storylines. The novel is, however, ambitious, tackling six storylines and attempting to connect them into a sort of profound meaning. We say “apparently” because all in all, the book wasn’t the best, and we made it to the end. Just when you were considering putting the novel down for good, it apparently starts to get rather interesting. Put simply, it has a way of starting off boringly, only to grip most readers. The most common complaint and praise regarding Cloud Atlas is just as intertwined as the plot lines themselves. Praises for David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas Book It connects the characters, intertwining fates and showcasing how souls drift across time, connecting everything. Finally, there is a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii, during the last days of history.Īs if this isn’t enough, the narrative goes back through the story in reverse to it starting point. Next up is a Korean superstate where Neo-Capitalism has gone haywire. He finds himself in trouble with one of his clients, who just so happens to be a gangster. From there, readers are taken to present-day England, with vanity publisher-Timothy. She gets caught in a web of murder and greed. Then, the plot suddenly jumps to 1931 Belgium, with a bisexual composer who suddenly finds himself in the house of a Maestro.įollowing that is the West Coast, 1970s, with the troubled reporter by the name of the Louisa Ray.

Oddly enough, he’s being treated for a rare species of brain parasite. Mitchell first takes readers to 1850, with an American notary voyaging home to California. Readers went into it expecting adventure and an addicting plotline.īut is that what they really found? Cloud Atlas Book Summary It clearly shows in the plot of Cloud Atlas, which is composed of six independent storylines, intertwined together at the very end.īased upon all this information, one would expect Cloud Atlas to be jaw-dropping. The author himself has lived in Italy, Japan, and Ireland, to name a few places. Originally published in 2004 by Random House, the film adaptation by the same name was released in 2012. David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas has won several awards including the British Book Award for Literary Fiction, and the Rudy and Judy Book of the Year.

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