Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

...reviews a while back on Cloud Atlas and the book appealed to me so since then I've been looking in my library for this particular book. I could have bought it from Amazon but money is tight and my bookshelves are overflowing so I only buy a book when its one I really want to own. I finally had to order the book in from the main library and at 529 pages even I couldn't read it in one sitting, in took me two days to read it and then a further day to ...
...dolls so at first glance Cloud Atlas reveals its six main stories but in such a way that the reader either has to carry on to the end or give up altogether. I knew in part what to expect from reviews but nothing could prepare me from being catapulted from one part of an unfinished story straight into a new and incomplete next story. Eventually the individual stories do reach an ending but it's the structure of the various endings that still seems ... more

I read a few ciao members' reviews a while back on Cloud Atlas and the book appealed to me so since then I've been looking in my library for this particular book. I could have bought it from Amazon but money is tight and my bookshelves are overflowing so I only buy a book when its one I really want to own. I finally had to order the book in from the main library and at 529 pages even I couldn't read it in one sitting, in took me two days to read it and then a further day to make the connections that are so necessary to understand what Mitchell was trying to say with this many faceted opus.
I had never heard of the author before and to introduce him would take up a large part of my review so briefly: David Mitchell was born in Britain educated to degree standard and spent eight years in Japan before returning to Britain. His previous two novels were both nominated for awards and this book is short listed for the man booker prize.

Storyline
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There is no real plot to follow this is one of the most ingenious books I have ever read. Like the Russian dolls which open up to reveal smaller dolls so at first glance Cloud Atlas reveals its six main stories but in such a way that the reader either has to carry on to the end or give up altogether. I knew in part what to expect from reviews but nothing could prepare me from being catapulted from one part of an unfinished story straight into a new and incomplete next story. Eventually the individual stories do reach an ending but it's the structure of the various endings that still seems to leave things hanging in midair.

"The Pacific journal of Adam Ewing" starts the book off with the tale of an American notary waiting on an island while his ship is being repaired. There are no dates to go by but the narrative of the story places it in the late 1800's. Through various conversations and deeds Ewing learns the fate of a once peaceful tribe called the Mioriori captured and made almost extinct by the Maori tribe. Ewing inadvertently saves the life of a native but puts himself in deadly peril this is where the narrative abruptly stops.

"Letters from Zedelghem " is part of a story about Robert Frobisher, a bisexual disinherited musician and composer who wheedles his way into the home and services of a famous elderly composer living in Bruges. This story is told in letters to a man called Sixsmith who is obviously a friend and one-time lover of Frobisher. He also manages to be seduced by his patron's wife while trying to please the great composer Ayres and working on his own composition the "Cloud Atlas sextet", a composition for six different instruments. Once again the story ends in mid-flow leading into: -

"Half-lives- the first Louisa Rey Mystery" is a more modern story set in America with the character of Sixsmith now an elderly scientist briefly known to Luisa Rey a journalist for a small newspaper. Sixsmith has been working on a nuclear plant but knowing it has serious flaws he tries to scuttle the opening and in doing so sets up a thrilling story of espionage and murder, just as the story gets interesting it stops again.

"The ghastly ordeal of Timothy Cavendish" seems like a dash of humour in an otherwise deep book. The main character is an elderly vanity publisher fleeing some seriously heavy debt collectors and ending up incarcerated in a nursing home. The only link to other stories is a book manuscript of the Luisa Rey mystery.

"An Orison of Somni-451" reads as a science fiction story with no obvious connections to any of the preceding stories. A tale of a clone in a futuristic world where humanity has brought about the beginning of its end. This highly disturbing story of a world where clones are kept in ignorance and do the menial tasks they are bred for has a meaning that ultimately links past present and future into one.

"Sloosha's Crossin' an' ev'rythin'after" is in the far distant future where mankind lives in isolated pockets and only a few tribes have any basic civilisation left. Most of the action takes place on Big Island obviously somewhere on a Pacific Island. Their god is Somni, an icon of civilisation that once was real. A race of people from "Prescient Isle " visit occasionally and are rumoured to have "the smarts" a name for the last bit of a technical society where all else is lost. Preyed upon by a tribe called the Kona and the prescient's having their own problems is there any hope left for last of mankind?
To find out the answer you will have to read it for yourself.

Characterisation
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Mitchell is so good at this considering that he's juggling six very different stories with characters that start and end with little or no background. Although he gives precedent over the main characters there are cameo sketches that are almost too overblown to be true, yet somehow this only adds to the flavour of the story in progress.
Each has their own tale to tell and speaks with the language of the era in mind. Adam Ewing is a typical slightly naïve American in a world where white men looked down on black races as the scum of the earth and yet this naivety carries the hope of a better world.
Frobisher is a typical dandy a product of his generation and yet he has some redeeming features.
Sixsmith is man of conscience an idealist in some ways but one of the stronger characters. Louisa Rey is the typical journalist with an ex-cop for a father she puts her life on the line in order to get that perfect scoop.
Timothy Cavendish is a figure of fun a cross between P.C. Woodhouse with a dash of Oscar Wilde thrown in.
You wouldn't expect a clone to have any character but Mitchell manages this with a part of the story I just can't give away.
My favourite character has to be Zachary, the narrator of "Sloosha's Crossin." In a world where the remains of humanity are clinging to the last vestige of civilisation the character and the way in which he speaks gives that part of the total story innocence that carries the greatest impact.

Summary
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This is an ambitious book, which defies classification. It would be easy to say that Mitchell took six separate stories to show how he could write with varying degrees of style but if this was the case then why bother to incorporate them in one book?
There is also the matter of each main character having a distinctive birthmark of a comet on their neck, what does this mean? Is Mitchell suggesting reincarnation or just a pattern of life repeating itself? There are clues to this in the book but the reader has to put in a little bit of detective work.

In each separate story there is an element of the predator a theme, which to me sums up the meaning of the book.
Man is the predator and as such will always feed on the weakest races. It seems far too much of a coincidence that the story starts with the death of a tribe and ends with mankind on a similar shore with only the pattern of mistakes made standing between them and annihilation.
Maybe my conclusions are wrong and Mitchell has just left us with an enigma but in doing so he has written a book that raises questions and to me that is the mark of a good storyteller.

I loved the book it kept me reading bleary-eyed to find out what would happen only to have to make my own judgements. In the end did any of the characters have an impact on the future and did they change it for better or worse?
I'll leave you with the closing words of Adam Ewing as he ruminates on the slave that saves him from the brink of death and makes him determined to pledge his cause for the abolition of slavery. " He who would battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him. & Only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!"
Yet what is an ocean than a multiple of drops?

Whichever way you choose to read the book, as a slightly disjointed tale or a moral to be learned do read it. It may sound heavy going but to those like me that are a bit jaded with the same old storyline I promise you a rich and fruitful read.

As usual I have checked the prices and found that Amazon offers the best price at £4.79. You may find some bargains on e-bay but I'd prefer to make sure that I could buy this in pristine condition. The hardback retails at £16.99 and costs £11.99 new in the hardback addition.

Thanks for reading
Lisa.

Update
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My title comes from a quote in the book and is a rough translation from a compostion which includes the words about returning.

 

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