Cloud Atlas

This book is a strange and wonderful combination of styles and voices, not to mention people and periods. I found it to be among the most enjoyable and interestingly written books I’ve read in a long time, long time. Begin it at your own risk! );

I learned about this book through the movie, the movie caught my eye as soon as I saw the first trailer in theaters. Yes, the movie is my favorite movie of all time as well. You just need to read this, regardless of how you felt about the movie… but if you hated the movie because it was awkward or felt weird with the race-swapping makeup… well, I implore you to give it another chance. Tom Hanks considers that film to have been his most favorite project in which he ever participated. Even the author, David Mitchell, loved that film. The book is even better. You get so much more detail, Mitchell utilizes a genius ‘ripples through time’ kind of structure which really drives the themes of the novel home. I just rewatched the film, it was the first time with my wife, but I’ve seen it upwards of a dozen times or more. The entire package of the film and book together represents an achievement in human creativity and artistry, both versions pack a punch that is unique to their respective media and both need to be consumed to fully appreciate the beauty of this story. 1,000,000/1,000,000 if such a rating existed… and it certainly does not have an ending that is flat and inane beyond belief.

Beautifully written, but so contrived. Not my cup of tea. I prefer a story I can follow and characters I can either relate to or hate or feel some kinship with.

I remember when the movie came out, the trailers looked great and I was so excited to see it… Then I felt let down when I did see it. I didn’t think it was “bad,” but I found it hard to follow and the main thing I remember from it is the way they tried to make Jim Sturgess look Asian. It was weird — and shouldn’t be the most memorable part of what’s supposed to be a good movie. There were other non-Asian actors they tried to make look Asian too, but Jim Sturgess is the only one I remember. Sorry, Jim.The book is much better and makes me want to rewatch the movie through the lens of someone who “gets it” now.I spent the first 60% or so of this book thinking I would give it 4 stars…Why?Mainly because it’s 6 loosely intertwined stories (a “sextet,” if you will) and some of the stories are simply more compelling than others.And while they are very well-written, and while it is an impressive showing of David Mitchell’s flexibility in writing very different styles, I can’t help but reflect on the immortal words of Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park:“You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should.”Just because you CAN write a 500+ page book in six wildly different styles doesn’t mean you SHOULD.And I took particular issue with the style used in the middle story… It’s almost like David Mitchell was trying to emulate the voice Mark Twain created for Huckleberry Finn.Now, I’m a HUGE Mark Twain and Huck Finn fan, but I don’t understand what David Mitchell was thinking for that voice.The story in question takes place in Hawaii, where no person has ever sounded like Huckleberry Finn, aside from maybe a tourist and even then I doubt it. Sure, the story takes place in a post apocalyptic distant future where there is no longer education, but I still don’t envision anyone in Hawaii ever sounding like that.Perhaps as a British person, David Mitchell asked himself “what do uneducated Americans sound like?” and Huckleberry Finn was the stereotypical answer he thought up, I don’t know…But that’s only what uneducated Americans sound like in Missouri and maybe some of the other southern states. It’s not what they sound like in New York or California or Idaho or North Dakota or Alaska or Hawaii.ANYWAY, after all this complaining, why would I give this book 5 stars?Because all the stories are well-written, like I said, and it is indeed an impressive showing of flexibility. I had it in my head as a 4-star read for most of the book, with my Huck Finn issues and the fact some stories are better than others being the main thing holding back that 1 star…But then ALL the stories ended very well, even the post apocalyptic one where Huck Finns rule Hawaii. This convinced me to raise the 4 stars to 5. It’s a good book.

When I was younger, still a teenager, I read many books to movies. I remember reading Star Trek Generations and Terminator 2. But the older I got, the more I started to wonder why I bothered to read stories that I already knew. About twelve years ago, I read The Chronicles of Riddick, as I had read somewhere that I would learn more in the book about the Necromongers. The story was then exactly the same as the movie, but in a small epilogue, the culture and ways of the Necromongers were indeed introduced.My turning away of books to movies was thus reinforced. And for movies based on books, I try to read the book before I see the movie. The books are always better than the movies and should be read first. That makes me sometimes waiting to watch a movie for a long time. For example, I still have to read and then watch the Martian, or even the series based on a Song of Ice and Fire. And sometimes, I only know about a good book after I have seen a movie that was based on a book. Then, I try to wait for a while until I have forgotten enough to enjoy the book again.Five years ago, I read

Limitless

. It is in itself a good book. And now, eight years after the movie, I have finally read Cloud Atlas. The book is ingenious. Six stories nestled in one another like a Matryoshka doll. And they have things in common. People that seem to be reincarnations of others. I came to realize that the heavy undertones of this idea were already there in the book, down to the comet-shapes birthmark. The idea to have the same actors play several roles must thus naturally have come to the directors, for which they were then criticized for having white actors playing Asian roles. Further comparing the book to the movie, I first had the feeling that movie stayed quite close to the stories in the book. Only when I arrived at Sonmi‘s story did I start to see differences. I didn’t remember Somni-451 studying one year at the university in the movie. I remembered Zachry and Meronym directly after they return from Mauna Kea discovering the village pillaged by the Kona. And I didn’t recall Robert Frobisher's infatuation with Eva from the movie. The stories in the movies were thus shortened, especially, I had the feeling, their second parts. And in my opinion, mixing them up, as it was done in the movie, and not having them split in two, as in the book, was beneficial to the stories as their climaxes could be synchronized. Which again apparently made it more difficult for people to understand the movie. Nevertheless, I really liked the movie, and now I see why. The book itself is also formidable. And coming back to my introductory subjects, some books, such as this one, I would probably not have discovered without the movie. Therefore, I will always watch some movies before I read the book. But as with other books, if I could have, I probably would have read the book first.