Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Browsing through amazon I chanced upon the novel ´Cloud Atlas´ by David Mitchell, a British author (born in Southport in 1969) hitherto unknown to me, the word ´bizarre´ in one of the critiques made me order it although the number of pages was not given as it usually is. Shock, horror!, when the book arrived, 529 pages in small print! Without any introduction I find myself reading ´The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing´, an ´American Notary of Letters & Law´ written on his return trip to San Francisco from a South Pacific island where he was on business. The language is quaint (we´re in the first half of the 19th century), ´I hurried thitherwards´ . . . ...  Read the complete review

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but we all invariably do. And this one has a quite stomach-turningly hideous jacket: shades of brown, turquoise and maroon combine in what was hopefully the last project of some cover-art executive before they locked him up for crimes to the visual senses. Not only is it unfeasibly ugly, it's also cumbersomely large. If these are the sorts of things that would put you off reading a book, then Cloud Atlas isn't for you. However, if you are bloodyminded enough to wrap it in newspaper, and only dip into it at home with some large contraption you have build in your shed with which to hold the damned thing, then ...  Read the complete review

There was a time when short stories were in vogue. Those halcyon days of Poe, Lovecraft, Conan Doyle and the like were entertaining ones for a Victorian readership who could tolerate a tale told in short form. More recent attempts to re-invigorate this art form have come from Stephen King (with the awful “Hearts in Atlantis” by example) and the successful Clive Barker debut affair “Books of Blood”. I guess having read a number of reviews praising “Cloud Atlas” in the press as well as having the weighty vote of approval from This Morning’s Richard & Judy then I felt curiosity bound to try it out. After all, this book was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2004. ...  Read the complete review

Cloud Atlas was first released in 2004, and I had been wanting to read it for quite a while before I finally got the chance to. I didn't actually know much about it however, so when I finally got to sit down and start reading it I was a bit surprised by the way it's written, Cloud Atlas is divided up into six different stories, each completely different from each other, but all having something that links the following story to the previous. There are five stories that are split into two parts, the first half of each is written and then there is the sixth story in its entirety in the middle, and then the other five follow on, giving their conclusion. The ...  Read the complete review

I picked this book up from the library mainly because of the cover (shallow, I know!) and decided to take it home after reading that the book would be a tale of 6 inter-connected stories that span from the 19th century to the post apocalyptic future'. I feel my first warning should be that, whilst the book does indeed span the time it mentions, it's the smallest of threads that keeps these 6 stories connected. The first story tells of Adam Ewing and his voyage from an island with Maori locals to his home town of California. He's ill, and there is a 'blackie' stow-away but apart from this, not a great deal else happens. The story stops mid sentence and we are ...  Read the complete review