Book Review
Apr. 15th, 2018 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariCloud Atlas
by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas is really six interconnected novellas in one. The first is the travel journal of Adam Ewing, an nineteenth century businessman traveling back to San Francisco from the southern Pacific islands. The second is the letters of Robert Frobisher, a struggling young composer who is serving as the assistant to an aging and infirm composer. The third is a mystery-thriller set in 1970s California centering around journalist Luisa Rey's work on a dangerous coverup at a nuclear power plant. The fourth is an early twentieth century farce about a publisher who finds himself accidentally immured in a prison-like retirement home. The fifth is a sci-fi tale about Sonmi 451, a clone in a dystopian corporate-ruled future Korea. The sixth and final novella is a post-apocalyptic adventure set in Hawaii and owing a lot to Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. THe tales are presented in a kind of arch form, with the first five each told in two parts, with the sixth in its entirety in the center: 12345654321.
Despite having six different stories, this book hung together really well Mitchell does an absolutely amazing job of forging links between and across the stories that are meaningful and sometimes wonderfully subtle. Each story is also really good on its own, with interesting plots and great characters. The structure of the book also enhances each story and its connections to the others - it's not at all disjointed or confusing, but instead gives each story and its characters more resonance with the whole.
by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas is really six interconnected novellas in one. The first is the travel journal of Adam Ewing, an nineteenth century businessman traveling back to San Francisco from the southern Pacific islands. The second is the letters of Robert Frobisher, a struggling young composer who is serving as the assistant to an aging and infirm composer. The third is a mystery-thriller set in 1970s California centering around journalist Luisa Rey's work on a dangerous coverup at a nuclear power plant. The fourth is an early twentieth century farce about a publisher who finds himself accidentally immured in a prison-like retirement home. The fifth is a sci-fi tale about Sonmi 451, a clone in a dystopian corporate-ruled future Korea. The sixth and final novella is a post-apocalyptic adventure set in Hawaii and owing a lot to Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. THe tales are presented in a kind of arch form, with the first five each told in two parts, with the sixth in its entirety in the center: 12345654321.
Despite having six different stories, this book hung together really well Mitchell does an absolutely amazing job of forging links between and across the stories that are meaningful and sometimes wonderfully subtle. Each story is also really good on its own, with interesting plots and great characters. The structure of the book also enhances each story and its connections to the others - it's not at all disjointed or confusing, but instead gives each story and its characters more resonance with the whole.
