David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas

[Freewheeling Andy]

I bought this on the basis of the name alone, and the fact that it was half-price and looking prominent as I walked into Waterstones on Gower Street, a few months ago.

It was a good thing that I hadn't spotted that it had crept on to the Richard & Judy Book Club thingy, because it would have driven me away, running and screaming.

Which would have been the wrong thing to do.

The book is an amazing layered onion of stories within stories within stories, moving forward in time, and then backwards again, bookending each other. I found it an ingenious and thoroughly worthwhile mechanism, not just the pretentious nonsense that you usually get with postmodern writing devices.

I think it works because each of the stories is, itself, a proper, interesting, well written story, and easy to read.

The book starts as the diary of a traveller in the south pacific in 19th century; moves through the letters of a feckless early 20th century dilletante; on to a 1970s eco-thrillier; and into a hilarious tale of a modern publishing executive; on to a semi-dystopian future world run by the Koreans; and finally into a basically post-apocalyptic world in the distant future. It covers a rise-and-fall-of civilisation, and each of the stories links in to the other stories, often with very similar themes.

I can imagine that the plot devices would really wind some people up, and be found to be very annoying, but to me, the book works brilliantly, and explored some very big themes about truth and civilisation without being particularly pompous about it.

I heartily recommend it.

[Debbie]

I totally agree!

This is one of the best books I have read this year. It has won a lot of prizes which are all very well deserved!

Debbie

[Philip Stein]

Yes Cloud Atlas is a modern classic all right. Mitchell's sheer imaginative verve is just amazing (and appalling if you're a frustrated writer yourself) - he literally uses up in one novel, six ideas which could have been entire novels in themselves. The boy has talent to burn.

Having said that, I did feel that the whole was not really any more than the sum of the parts. The links between the sections - each character is reading or viewing the text of the story before - and between the characters - they all have this birthmark, so they're all (what?) related or reincarnated? - were not particularly strong, and he would have done better I think to leave those out and just let the six stories sit inside one another, and leave us to work out the linking theme of oppression and abuse of power.

My preferred summing up phrase for the book when I read it was 'cumulative nimbleness.' Which is, like, an extremely contrived pun, right...

[Freewheeling Andy]

Hehehe! Lovely pun.

I really liked the very contrived but very tenuous connections between the layers. That was, to me, one of the real delights of the book. The connectedness of the stories gave you a pointer to the connected themes. If they'd stood alone it would just be a colleciton of short stories; if the links had been stronger it would have been clunky.

[Renniemist]

It took me a long time to read this book, but I am glad that I did. As others have remarked Mitchell’s imagination is amazing. The characters were great. I found myself laughing in the section about Timothy Cavendish. The language at times was very difficult, but definitely worth persevering with.

I will certainly read other books by David Mitchell.

[TammyRich]

I loved this book too and will also count is as the best book I have read this year. I agree that the number of different writing styles showed Mitchell to be such a talented writer. He is so imaginative in creating such a variety of worlds and I was especially impressed by his futuristic world and the post apocalyptic world which took a bit of getting your head round due to the colloquial dialogue used to tell the story. I was not expecting the stories to start going backwards again and was so delighted when they did as I had been frustrated when they had cut off in the first half.

I will definitely read him again. In fact I keep requesting his latest book Black Swan Green on ReadItSwapIt website. It is set in the 1980s and the character is exactly the age I was at the time. I read an extract in the Guardian and was impressed. I also think it is on the Booker long list.

[Freewheeling Andy]

BlackSwanGreen is great, too. Very different to Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten, but wonderful.

[Acesare*]

Ok. You convinced me. Just bought this for £2 (new!) on eBay. A curse on you all!

[Freewheeling Andy]

You do know that I'm on a mission to convince everyone to read this book, Ace. I take no responsibility. It's now beyond my control...

[Maureen]

I am more than half way through - and enjoying it - peeped in here to find clues about the birthmark thingy - it keep cropping up and I am thinking I missed something.....

[NiceguyEddie]

It's possibly the best book I have ever read. It was a huge shock that it failed to win the Booker. My guess was the fact that Chris Smith headed the panel had an influence on the winning book. Un-PC, but what the hell, Cloud Atlas would have won in any other year.

[Maureen]

It is a fave with a lot of people. We should have nominated it for the reading circle...

[Polka Dot Rock]

It is a fave with a lot of people. We should have nominated it for the reading circle...

That's a really good idea! I'd love to read it along with other people...

[Freewheeling Andy]

I know I'm repeating myself (yet again), but the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it's the best book of the 21st century so far. Only vaguely challenged by other books by David Mitchell. How it failed to win the booker is beyond me. My only problem with Cloud Atlas is that someone has my copy and I don't know who.

[NiceguyEddie]

I know I'm repeating myself (yet again), but the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it's the best book of the 21st century so far.

I think I would agree.

[NiceguyEddie]

It is a fave with a lot of people. We should have nominated it for the reading circle...

What's the reading circle?

[~V~]

What's the reading circle?

It's a monthly book read on here. People nominate the book they'd like to be read, then everybody votes and that book may be enjoyed by all who then wish to partake

[NiceguyEddie]

It's a monthly book read on here. People nominate the book they'd like to be read, then everybody votes and that book may be enjoyed by all who then wish to partake

Ok. Thanks. What's the current one?

[Echo]

We read Lady Chatterley's Lover for July and we're going to be reading Anne of Green Gables for August.

[NiceguyEddie]

Well count me..... er out.

I didn't like The Rainbow (studied it for my degree) & I don't fancy the other at all.

Maybe August?

[Maureen]

Steve ,have a look here, you can see what we read during the past months, and how it goes....
http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20

Meanwhile, I think I'd nominate Cloud Atlas for Sept - As PDR says, it will be fun to read and discuss.

[Polka Dot Rock]

I'll second you!! :mrgreen:

[pontalba]

I'll second you!! :mrgreen:

Me too! I loved this book! :D

[NiceguyEddie]

Meanwhile, I think I'd nominate Cloud Atlas for Sept - As PDR says, it will be fun to read and discuss.

Oooh... I'll have to read it again. I don't often re-read a novel (there's too many unread books to read), but I'll happily make an exception for this one!

[Maureen]

Wow that's already 4 votes, and I guess, perhaps, hopefully, if pressed, Andy will be the 5th one.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Same as Eddie, I'd be more than happy to re-read Cloud Atlas, for all kinds of reasons. Particularly as I've now read the other Mitchell books and can play with spotting all the inter-linked references and stories and characters.

[Kylie]

I bought this book recently after reading the recommendations on here. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

So, when do September nominations open? Do we even need to bother voting? :lol:

[Paul]

Cloud Atlas is a book I read some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed. I would be glad to vote for it and join in a discussion. It has some of the best chapters I have read anywhere.

[Liz]

Would any of you say that it would be better to read his books in order of publication, or whether it would be ok to just read Cloud Atlas first?

[pontalba]

Liz,
I can only say Cloud Atlas is the only Mitchell I have read so far, two others in the tbr stack though. So hopefully order doesn't matter. :mrgreen:

[Paul]

I have only heard that there are portents or trial runs of some aspects of Cloud Atlas in earlier books, but nothing at all to suggest that they were necessary background for reading Cloud Atlas.

[NiceguyEddie]

I have only heard that there are portents or trial runs of some aspects of Cloud Atlas in earlier books, but nothing at all to suggest that they were necessary background for reading Cloud Atlas.

I've read Ghostwritten, and there are a lot of similarities with Cloud Atlas, e.g. a series of short stories and various interweaves. I've not read number9dream, so I can't say anything on that one, other than wasn't it shortlisted, or at least longlisted for the Booker?

Black Swan Green is totally different; a traditional novel and semi-autobigraphical as I understand it.

[JudyB]

Black Swan Green is . . . semi-autobigraphical as I understand it.


I hadn't realised that. It reminded me a bit of The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe.

[Maureen]

I was happy that the stories had a second part to them, as it was rather frustrating to reach the end of the chapters mid-story the first time round. The author is brilliant - so many different types and styles of writing in one book - which however worked so fantastically. Will definately be reading some more Mitchell.

[JudyB]

I was happy that the stories had a second part to them, as it was rather frustrating to reach the end of the chapters mid-story the first time round. The author is brilliant - so many different types and styles of writing in one book - which however worked so fantastically. Will definately be reading some more Mitchell.


Yes I liked that once I got used to it - ie. realised that at some point the story would continue - I thought it was a very effective technique.

[Gyre]

I have this book, I have started it twice, really need to get myself moving. x

[Freewheeling Andy]

The order you read the books doesn't matter at all - indeed, the books are basically independent. It's just fun that characters from one book crop up in other books, so the composer from the music section of Cloud Atlas is referenced in Black Swan Green; and one of the kids in BSG shows up in, I think, Ghostwritten. And there's a dodgy Mongolian who's in both Number9Dream and Ghostwritten. It's a sort of inter-weave of stories but there's no dependency.


Black Swan Green is totally different; a traditional novel and semi-autobigraphical as I understand it.

Superficially true, definitely. But I think actually it has similarities - in that it still plays with structure. There are 13 chapters, each sort of independent, in each of the 13 months during which the author is 13. And each of the stories still works around similar sorts of themes of redemption. It certainly feels more traditional, but even within traditional narrative Mitchell is doing similar things to Cloud Atlas or Ghostwritten.