Cloud Atlas [Hardcover]

I was expecting to hate this book. I forced myself to try it because people had gone on about it so much, but I really didn't like the descriptions I'd heard: 500-plus pages, visions of a dystopian future, a fractured timescale with six loosely-linked narratives each nested within the previous one, and so on and so on. It just reeked to me of a self-regarding author determined to show the judging panels of literary prizes how terribly clever he was, and with no interest whatsoever in whether anyone normal would actually be able to read the thing.

Well, I was completely wrong. I thought it was absolutely terrific. Interesting, thoughtful, readable and - most surprisingly of all - page-turningly suspenseful and exciting quite a lot of the time. I thought it had a lot of thoughtful and thought-provoking things to say about exploitation and the abuse of power, and about the possible consequences of both humanity and inhumanity. The different voices are really well done, with the historic and present-day(ish) ones sounding absolutely authentic and the future ones chillingly believable both in the language they use and what they say with it. The stories are involving, occasionally humorous, sometimes sad and sometimes extremely touching. For example, the few paragraphs when a character in a train passes some of the places of his youth and sees them much changed are really affecting, I thought, even though the character himself is thoroughly odious.

I doubt whether many people, if any, will read this review among the hundreds of others here, but if you do I would urge you to try the book. Plainly quite a few other reviewers hated the book and did find it as terrible as I expected to. You may hate it too, but you won't have lost much. On the other hand, you may be surprised to find it as enjoyable and rewarding as I did. It's worth the risk - if you do find it's for you, you'll never forget it.

With the mixed reviews, that is the question!

This is a big read. Quite long, and filled with connections, but it is very rewarding.

So, read it if you have the time and the mental energy. On holiday, for example. Do not get this book and think you can do 20 pages a night and just dip into it. It will need your time.

It will also need your patience. I found it hard to get into, and nearly gave up during the first part. Just as I was getting into the first part, it finished and the second part started and I felt like I was starting again.

But keep going and you will get to the point where it all starts to come together.

I would also suggest that you find out as little as possible about the plot. Let the plot reveal itself. Don't read the reviews that give it away and don't surf around looking for comment and insight into it. Let the intricateness reveal itself naturally.

If you have the time and patience you will find a wonderful book.

I have just finished reading 'Cloud Atlas' for the first time, and I have to admit to being dazzled by Mitchell's gift for writing in a multitude of genres and creating plausible and interesting characters. This is a novel that is essentially six novellas (or lengthy short stories), each set in a different time and written in a completely different voice. They are connected by often fairly tenuous narrative links, such as Luisa Rey's reading of Robert Frobisher's letters to Rufus Sixsmith and subsequent listening to Frobisher's 'Cloud Atlas Sextet', and Sonmi's viewing of the banned film about Timothy Cavendish. The real link between them is more philosophical, to do with the nature of narrative itself and with the relationship between the individual and society and what it takes to rebel against authority and stand up to bullies of varying kinds.

Each story works in itself. Personally, I thought Robert Frobisher's letters were the best section as the voice was so clear and distinctive, and his character leapt off the page so vividly - he was both repulsively amoral and beautifully vulnerable. The Adam Ewing section was skillfully written, well-researched, compelling and reminded me very much of 'The English Passengers'. I thought the two futuristic stories were also very skillfully written - the story of Sonmi was imaginative, though not entirely original - however, I suspect that this novel won't necessarily appeal to the average 'sci-fi geek', and unless you are very well-read in that genre I think the tale of a dystopian future will seem well-imagined and expertly executed. It reminded me of Margaret Atwood in its themes and style.

I particularly liked the 'Sloosha's Crossing' section at the heart of the book, as I thought the dialect was very clever and convincing. It was a little difficult at first to get into, but - as with anything written in the first person using a complex colloquial voice, from 'Huckleberry Finn' to 'Trainspotting' - once my ear became attuned to the 'voice', the whole thing came alive. It seemed to me that, as this is the end-point of all the stories, in terms of chronology, that it encompasses the themes of the whole novel.

The 'Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish' was similarly enlivened by a well-judged 'voice', and its humour, though often black, was a relief after the constant sense of impending doom in the futuristic sections. The least successful section, for me, was the Luisa Rey story, simply because I don't enjoy the sort of novels it was pastiche-ing - the fast-paced, action-packed airport lounge thrillers. I thought it was brilliantly written, capturing the 1970s atmosphere well, but it just wasn't really my sort of thing. It was still compelling however.

My only beef with this book is that it's experimental structure promises a more epiphanic 'reveal' at the end - I was expecting these seemingly disparate tales to be held together by some underlying revelation that would emerge at the end. In fact, as I've already said, they ARE linked together, but in a more subtle, ideas-led way. Guess I just wanted a bigger 'wow-factor' as I closed the book for the last time - I was vaguely expecting the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts. But, let's be honest, David Mitchell is only human! He's written a brilliant novel which displays a magnificent array of talent and he deserves all the plaudits that come his way.