A Cloud Atlas Sextet of Stark Contrasts (Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Date:	29/06/05 (538 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clever links, Absorbing at times, Some good finales

Disadvantages: Plods at times, Central story is hard to read

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.

David Mitchell is an author I hadn’t tried before. Born in 1969 and hailing from the West Country, his first novel “Ghostwritten” published in 1999 promptly won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a writer under 35. Subsequently “Number9dream” was shortlisted for the Booker prize as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Having previously lived in New Zealand, David Mitchell now lives in Ireland.

Cloud Atlas is a sextet of inter-linked stories. Starting with the 19th century adventure of “The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing”, the short stories interweave to form a broad, rambling canvas spanning decades and continents with a recurring theme of inherent prejudice and ignominy.

The book opens with “The Pacific Journal..” and is written in the first person about the voyage to the South Pacific islands of the American Notary, Adam Ewing. Ewing's diary entries build to tell a tale of discovery and hardship aboard the good ship “Prophetess”.

“Letters from Zedelghem” is the second story featuring the brilliant but flawed Robert Frobisher. Having been cut off from the family fortune and fleeing his native England to seek better times in Europe, Robert documents a series of letters to his former lover, Rufus Sixsmith. Set in the 1930s, Frobisher sets himself up as an aide to Vyvyan Ayrs, a brilliant composer who has become a decrepit recluse. What follows is a story of rotterdom and intrigue as Frobisher does anything he can to eke out an existence.

“Half Lives – The First Luisa Rey Mystery” is set in the late 70s/early 80s and centres around the subterfuge surrounding a report about Swannekke B nuclear plant. Luisa Rey is a reporter striving to reveal the truth about the report produced by the eminent scientist – Rufus Sixsmith – whilst the shadowy figures of the Corporation are trying to silence her by any means.

“The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish” heralds a change of pace as the publisher of the title finds himself holed up in an old folks’ home, kept there against his will. This one has more than a touch of “One Flew Over The Cookoo’s Nest”

“An Orison of Somni~451” is set in the future as an archivist hears a fabricants confessions. Sentenced to die, the fabricant tells a tale of lies and deception highlighting the plight of synthetic servants who live to serve and dream synthetic dreams of retiring to a Nirvana that isn’t quite what it seems.

Lastly, “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin After” is the story of a Hill Billy and his encounter with an explorer from another world and their discoveries out in the Big Country.

For me, this is a book of stark contrasts. On the credit side, you have to take your hat off to the amazing variety of writing styles used to string this book together. The 19th century Pacific journal has that authentic austerity that takes the reader into a world of sea-splashed tea-clippers and hard-nosed jack tars whilst the style employed in
“An Orison of Somni~451” is given a more futuristic feel by a revisionist approach to English with clipped words like “xcact” used to denote a language that has moved on with a focus on technology more than anything else (it is set in a Sony-centric Korea). Mitchell is clearly a very bright man indeed to have gone through so many different formats employed in just one book. Not only that but the first 5 stories have an initial part with the Sloosha’s Crossin’ tale being an all-in-one in the middle and the first 5 featuring again in subsequent finales to give the book, one big cyclical feel.

The stories themselves are gripping at times. I particularly enjoyed the humorous shenanigans of Timothy Cavendish whilst the interview dialogue of the Somni~451 story was a literary parable of oppression and slavery (a theme that recurs through more than one story). Even the initial saga of Adam Ewing had a twist in the tale that I didn’t see coming. Of course, the links between the stories are clever and discreet, keeping the plot entwined whilst moving through the various paces of the different stories.

Mitchell's powers of characterisation are strong. Curiously, he doesn’t particularly build a pen-picture of his characters with description but uses the story and dialogue to form an image in the reader's mind. It was easy to build an empathy with many of the figures used in the various stories and it’s the level of detail and authenticity of the language used that triggers the mental image of the principal protagonists.

There were aspects that I didn’t like so much. I found certain aspects of most of the stories plodding and laborious. I guess I could see where Mitchell was going for the most part but he did labour the point at times as plot threads meandered to a climax. Both the Adam Ewing story and the Somni~451 had this about them even though they both got stronger as the story emerged. Probably the lowest point of the book was the centre-piece “Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin After”. To be brutally honest, I simply couldn’t follow the story for the most part. Written in a kind of country sub-dialect, an example would be “Us f’gotten slaves was bein’ drained by hunger’ n’pain an’ the mozzies from the slopin’ pond now an’ we was envyin’ that Hawi boy diresome…” Whilst the reader can make sense of this example I’m sure, I found it difficult to keep translating the type of language all the way through and found myself just desperate to finish this particular story and move on. Alternatively, it could have just been me being thick.

"Cloud Atlas" is a general interest read that doesn’t appear to fall into any one particular genre. The closest would be adventure for those looking to pigeon-hole one of the most unusual books I’ve read in a long time. Yes, I did enjoy it for the most part but Mitchell is not a writer I would put up there as one of my favourites. This is a challenging read and it took me a while to finally get through it. I can see why it would have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize as it is a cranial affair. I can also understand why so many people have bought and read it. All I can say is don’t believe the hype.

Thanks for reading

Marandina

pp.529
ISBN: 0-340-82278-3
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
RRP: £7.99

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