Book of Clouds
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Review
The plot, indeed, is not really the driving force in this debut- it's more the imaginative depiction of Tatiana's relationship with Berlin, its history and its ghosts that is impressive. --Seven Magazine
Like Sebald's elliptical work, Book of Clouds blurs the line between fact and fiction. But Aridjis is less interested in the mechanics of plot than in conjuring mood and atmosphere. --The Independent on Sunday
`Influenced by magical realism and the cool prose of modernism, first-time author Chloe Aridjis the best from each to make a work of literary psychogeography. ... a poetic study of life in Berlin: dreamlike and impressionistic, but far from directionless' --The Herald, December 6, 2010
Like Sebald's elliptical work, Book of Clouds blurs the line between fact and fiction. But Aridjis is less interested in the mechanics of plot than in conjuring mood and atmosphere. --The Independent on Sunday
`Influenced by magical realism and the cool prose of modernism, first-time author Chloe Aridjis the best from each to make a work of literary psychogeography. ... a poetic study of life in Berlin: dreamlike and impressionistic, but far from directionless' --The Herald, December 6, 2010
Book Description
A stunning debut novel inviting comparisons with Haruki Murakami and Paul Auster
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'Book of Clouds' is not a long novel, nor does it contain the obvious 'traditional' plot. Instead, it is a novel about the resonance of the past, in which Tatania, a foreigner living in Berlin, is haunted by events in the spaces they occurred. Along the way, she takes a job with an elderly academic, has a half-hearted affair, and becomes interested in a mentally disturbed woman who seems virtually to represent Berlin as a city dogged by psychosis.
I found the author's light, unhurried style bewitching and intriguing, although I felt the characters were a little too distant. Not a novel for anyone who demands a cracking yarn, rather a read to be savoured.
I found the author's light, unhurried style bewitching and intriguing, although I felt the characters were a little too distant. Not a novel for anyone who demands a cracking yarn, rather a read to be savoured.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was immediately attracted by the book's title and cover, and when I saw that it was set in contemporary Berlin, simply bought it. And was not disappointed. It is a very meditative, leisurely, poetic, astute, observation of today's Berlin through the eyes of Titiana, a young mexican woman who comes to live in Berlin for as long as she will enjoy it. She is a very solitary, sensitive being and settles a little awkwardly in a vast and indifferent metropolis. She works for a recluse historian, typing down his recorded stories of the city, alone all day and hardly meeting anyone at all. Yet she does not decline the timid courtship of a young man (student of meteorology and lover of clouds) but seems certain that it will lead nowhere, as it does. This is not under any circumstances your usual novel, but more a glimpse of a possible life in a different city, tasting it, trying it, loving it and hating it sometimes in equal measure. It is beautifully written and certainly gives the reader an appetite for more by the same author. The book feeling very autobiographical, I hope that Chloe Aridjis will share more of her poetic adventures with us soon.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
'Book of Clouds' is a short, lyrical book, with prose that verges on poetry. Tatiana, the novel's Mexican narrator, lives in Berlin. Her tale is a meditation on the isolation of a living in a big city. Despite her somewhat bleak existence, Tatiana's Berlin is lovingly drawn. Anybody who is familiar with the city will recognise the sights and sounds that Tatiana depicts. Reading this book caused many fond memories to come flooding back.
Other than Berlin itself, `Book of Clouds' follows three main characters - Tatiana, her employer, an ageing historian, and Jonas, a meteorologist with a passion for clouds. As one might expect from a Book of Clouds, it has an ethereal quality to it. It deals with life's intangibles, and is filled with staccato vignettes of city life that tantalise and hint of deeper secrets.
Much of the book deals with the transience of life. Everything is malleable, shifting and shrouded in fog. Tatiana's Berlin, a city of deep historical significance, is only fixed in the present. The novel asserts that as we move forward in time, our perception of history changes. Inalienable truths become blurred around the edges and, with the passage of time, what was once certain becomes shrouded in doubt. So too the future of the city; as easy to predict as it is to forecast the weather.
Some readers may not find `Book of Clouds' to their taste. There is a frustrating lack of plot, and sometimes conversations or scenes come to an abrupt halt, never to be picked up again. (Much like cloud formations that disappear, never to be recreated.) But there is much to love here. The central theme of the isolation of living among millions is compelling, as are the peculiar people in Tatiana's life. Using her narrator's atypical existence, the author accurately depcits the human condition, which makes for absorbing reading. 'Book of Clouds is a startling debut; Aridjis is an author with a bright future ahead of her.
Other than Berlin itself, `Book of Clouds' follows three main characters - Tatiana, her employer, an ageing historian, and Jonas, a meteorologist with a passion for clouds. As one might expect from a Book of Clouds, it has an ethereal quality to it. It deals with life's intangibles, and is filled with staccato vignettes of city life that tantalise and hint of deeper secrets.
Much of the book deals with the transience of life. Everything is malleable, shifting and shrouded in fog. Tatiana's Berlin, a city of deep historical significance, is only fixed in the present. The novel asserts that as we move forward in time, our perception of history changes. Inalienable truths become blurred around the edges and, with the passage of time, what was once certain becomes shrouded in doubt. So too the future of the city; as easy to predict as it is to forecast the weather.
Some readers may not find `Book of Clouds' to their taste. There is a frustrating lack of plot, and sometimes conversations or scenes come to an abrupt halt, never to be picked up again. (Much like cloud formations that disappear, never to be recreated.) But there is much to love here. The central theme of the isolation of living among millions is compelling, as are the peculiar people in Tatiana's life. Using her narrator's atypical existence, the author accurately depcits the human condition, which makes for absorbing reading. 'Book of Clouds is a startling debut; Aridjis is an author with a bright future ahead of her.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautiful, dreamy writing, but not much of a plot
A very quiet, meditative book about a Mexican woman adrift in Berlin. Tatiana is alienated from her family and her friends, cut off from the rest of the city, uninterested in... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Andrew Blackman
Less than the sum of it's parts
This is an odd, thin, quiet book, told in the first person by a young jewish mexican girl living in berlin - sounds intriguing, doesn't it? Read more
Published 10 months ago by nuffsaid
Sebald meets Murukami
Rare for a first novel to be written with such understated confidence. Put Sebald in a blender with Murukami, and you get a sense of Aridjis's style and concerns. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ellie
poetic and unusual
This is a very special book. At times I wished for a bit more plot, at times I wished it were a little longer -- but this is without doubt one of the most unusual novels, not just... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2009 by Lawrence Thursk
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