Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is an enjoyable albeit a challenging read.
My first impression of the book is that I think I would have had a very
hard time getting into it if I had not seen the movie first. This is
mostly because the beginning of the book to be rather slow paced and
because it took place in the 1800's the language was often hard to
follow(many words the built in dictionary in my Kindle didn't even
recognize). I think though that anyone who has had a lot of experience
reading classic literature shouldn't have too much trouble with it.
Ironically I had hoped that reading the book would help me understand
the movie better, but in reality the fact that I had seen the movie
helped me understand what was going on in the book better than I would
have otherwise. If I had not seen the movie first, I believe I would
have given up before I finished the first part. However since I knew
what I had to look forward to, I pushed on and really enjoyed later
parts of the book.
For those not familiar with the movie, Cloud
Atlas is a series of interconnected stories that all take place during
different time periods. Three stories take place in the past, one story
takes place around the present, one story takes place in the future, and
one story takes place far in the future after the fall of civilization.
For those that have seen the movie I would say that much of the content
is the same, but of course there are differences. One major difference
is with the formatting. The stories in the book do not go back and forth
nearly as much as they do in the movie. In the book you are presented
with the first half of the first five stories, then the sixth story is
told in full, then you have the second half of the first five stories
told in reverse order. There is a reason it is done this way and I think
it's a very interesting literary device. The only annoying thing is
that once I got to the second half of each story I'd have to go back to
the end of the first half and reread a few pages to remind myself where
the story left off.
Overall I think I really enjoyed the book
even though it was a challenge for me and I would say that my favorite
parts of the book matched my favorite parts of the movie. I really
enjoyed reading about the stories in greater detail than was shown in
the movie and I thought that the themes of reincarnation and
overthrowing oppression were just as strong in the book as they were in
the movie. The only thing that disappointed me somewhat is that the
endings of each story didn't seem to be as powerful as they were in the
movie.
I've been a book worm for pretty much my whole life. I've read many types of books over the course of my life, but currently the sorts of books I enjoy the most are fantasy and science-fiction. I particularly like it if these genre's are mixed with comedy like the style of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I definitely can enjoy more serious fantasy and science-fiction though. I also enjoy vampire books, but not quite as much as I did when I was younger.
This blog is mainly for my book reviews, but I also post quotes and other random book related things. If you'd like to know more about the books I've read and am planning to read, I'm a member at several different book sites, and links to my profiles are listed under My Pages.
This blog is mainly for my book reviews, but I also post quotes and other random book related things. If you'd like to know more about the books I've read and am planning to read, I'm a member at several different book sites, and links to my profiles are listed under My Pages.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Review of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
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