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Overview
Overview
By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks - Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful. In this groundbreaking novel, an influential favorite among a new generation of writers, Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity. Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . . Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn't end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon. Praise for Cloud Atlas " David] Mitchell is, clearly, a genius. He writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel's every page."--The New York Times Book Review "One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is--and should be--read by any student of contemporary literature."--Dave Eggers "Wildly entertaining . . . a head rush, both action-packed and chillingly ruminative."--People "The novel as series of nested dolls or Chinese boxes, a puzzle-book, and yet--not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I've never read anything quite like it, and I'm grateful to have lived, for a while, in all its many worlds."--Michael Chabon "Cloud Atlas ought to make Mitchell] famous on both sides of the Atlantic as a writer whose fearlessness is matched by his talent."--The Washington Post Book World "Thrilling . . . One of the biggest joys in Cloud Atlas is watching Mitchell sashay from genre to genre without a hitch in his dance step."--Boston Sunday Globe "Grand and elaborate . . . Mitchell] creates a world and language at once foreign and strange, yet strikingly familiar and intimate."--Los Angeles Times
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Mitchell, David
- ISBN: 9780375507250
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 8.40 x 1.20
- Number Of Pages: 528
- Publication Year: 2004
Customer Reviews
Rating Snapshot
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Across the universe
Barbara T. - 1 year 9 months agoIn "Cloud Atlas," we meet characters -- and their heirs and forbears -- over many eras (both real and imagined). Whether sited in Europe after the Great War to pre-US-possession Hawaii to something like Japan of the future, this novel is a great read. Some suspension of disbelief is required for a novel of this scope. But if an absorbing tapestry of a novel is what you seek, this is it.
HPB Staff Review -
Look in the dictionary for "creative" and find Cloud Atlas.
Logann M. - 2 years agoCloud Atlas is a collection of stories and characters that David Mitchell weaves together forward in time and then backward, all the while leaving you confused, intrigued, and wanting a full novel of each story. How he manages to hop from setting to setting and genre to genre effortlessly is amazing and left me wanting every one of his books while knowing this one would not be equaled.
HPB Staff Review -
An audacious and complex masterpiece
Kevin W. - 4 years 6 months agoThis is an audacious and complex book that rewards repeated readings. Watching the film, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, is also helpful. At first, it appears merely clever, as Mitchell jumps abruptly between six stories, each written in a different voice and style. The section narrated by Zachary recalled Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God." It took me several pages to adapt to that narrative style. The connections between these six stories gradually becomes apparent, and the second half is more satisfying, as each characters' story is resolved. There is much philosophizing about greed and selfishness undermining knowledge and wisdom. The first time through, I did not appreciate the Cavendish story at all. Second time, not only is this the funniest section in the book, but some of his one-liners resonate with the overall theme: "Time's arrow became time's boomerang;" "Biotech Space Age cuboids now sit cloning humans for shady Koreans;" He even finds time to reference Springsteen's "Atlantic City." Ideas about reincarnation, slavery and oppression, humanity's power of destruction vs humanity's powers of love and creativity, stretch across each story. There is plenty of darkness and hopelessness in this book, yet it ends on a hopeful note. Human society does not need to consume and destroy itself. Perhaps our better natures will win out in the end. Definitely a masterpiece.
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Strange and ambitious masterpiece
Kevin W. - 5 years 3 months agoI watched the movie, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, and now I have read this book again. The second time, I read it slowly and took notes like an undergrad. I tried to match who was who as we moved from story to story, time period to time period. My favorite sections are still Luisa's and Sonmi's. The first time through, I did not appreciate the Cavendish story at all. Second time, not only is this the funniest section in the book, but some of his one-liners resonate with the overall theme: "Time's arrow became time's boomerang;" "Biotech Space Age cuboids now sit cloning humans for shady Koreans;" He even finds time to reference Springsteen's "Atlantic City." Ideas about reincarnation, slavery and oppression, humanity's power of destruction vs humanity's powers of love and creativity, stretch across each story. There is plenty of darkness and hopelessness in this book, yet it ends on a hopeful note. Human society does not need to consume and destroy itself. Perhaps our better natures will win out in the end. Definitely a masterpiece. I'm interested to check out Mitchell's other works. And, I will be watching the movie again. #SpringPicks
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A True Tour de Force!
Josh D. - 5 years 6 months agoThere is something for everyone in David Michell's "Cloud Atlas." This dazzling novel belongs to no single genre but instead it navigates between them to tell and retell the oldest story of all: good's struggle vs evil. Mystery, satire, science fiction, romance and alternate histories all blend harmoniously into this elaborate and profound piece. It deserves to be read and reread by anyone who is serious about reading important works of literature.
HPB Staff Review