Cloud Atlas
 

I just saw the preview of the movie Cloud Atlas. Someone showed it to me without me knowing what it was. It was an awesome movie trailer, but it mentioned at the start that it was from a best-selling novel. All the way through I thought that it must be one brilliant novel.

When the title came up I almost gasped. So this is Cloud Atlas?!

I own Black Swan Green having purchased it in a discount book store a week ago but had been interested in Cloud Atlas also. Would have scooped it up if it were on the shelves that day.

But after that preview, I feel I have to read this book. Who's read it? Is it amazing?

I mentioned it in the reading recs thread, but yes I'm interested too!

Having just read Black Swan Green by the same author and liking it, I can say without knowing too much about Cloud Atlas that it looks very different from BSG. But the film looks really interesting and I'd love to read the book first.

I don't have a lot of space left to squeeze in extra books with the tight fit of what's still left on my challenge list for the year, but if I can I hope to fit this one in.

For what it's worth, I read Cloud Atlas, then ran out to get Ghostwritten and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. In short, one great book that makes you want to read another and another. Definitely recommended, though a slight warning might be worthwhile: don't give up if these novels seem a bit slow or confusing at first.

Reading Cloud Atlas right now. It is fascinating, and so well written. The way Mitchell is able to change his whole style at will is astonishing. Can't wait to keep reading.

Black Swan Green was the first book of his I read, about a year and a half ago. I found it awe-inspiring how Mitchell subtly changed his character's thought processes during that one year period, his 13th year, in which he matured from a boy into a young man.

I've also read Ghostwritten (brilliantly written, but I confess I didn't "get" the ending), No.9Dream (mesmerizingly surreal). Have yet to read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet but it's on my list. Have become a huge fan of David Mitchell.

P.S. If anyone can recommend similar authors, please do! I'd throw out Margaret Atwood as a similar writer.

Reading a review of the recent movie Atlas Shrugged, Pt 2 made me think of this book which perhaps shows the ultimate consequences of the kind of selfishness that Rand champions.


“Why fight the 'natural' (oh, weaselly word!) order of things? Why? Because of this―one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas