It was hard to get used to the first part of the book which was told in diary style and in old English language. I was tempted to give up but just as I got to grips with it and started to get really interested in the characters, the story ended mid sentence and the next page was a different story! Well it was very cheap! I checked and there was no list of chapters so I had to flick through the book to look at the sections. I found that it was actually six stories and that this one would pick up later in the book, so I persevered.
All the stories are told in different styles, structures, language and grammar. All include a range of characters in varying times and places each having some connection to the others. Structurally it is unusual as five of the stories are split into two sections and are told in chronological order.
The sixth is told in one single reading. The other five are then completed in reverse order ending with the first one. Yes, confusing! The first is set in the mid 19th century on a ship in the Pacific and is told by an American notary in diary style. The second is set between the First and Second World Wars in Belgium and is a series of letters from a musician to his first love.
The third is a thriller style story set in s California about a journalist trying to uncover big business corruption. Timothy Cavendish, an aging publisher, is in debt and trying to flee from thugs. The fifth story is set in Korea with a clone bred for service in a fast food chain being interviewed prior to her execution. The sixth story is told completely and is set in post apocalyptic Hawaii.
I found this pretty savage and the most difficult to follow due to the language style. It's reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn but certainly not a light read. After this the author then returns to complete the five stories going back in time to the first. Well so was I for a while. I suppose the main theme of all the stories is about power and the tendency of the strong to oppress the poor or weaker.
It also concerns greed, prejudice, slavery, environmental issues and friendship. What's at the top of their mountain journey? And that's what makes the climb to the top of Mount Cloud Atlas worth it.
Don't worry. We're here to be your Sherpa to the summit. From the top, you might just look at the world in a different way. But those trailers were traumatic, too.
My wife, it turns out, was wrong. Something that happens less often in our house than would be optimal. I enjoyed Cloud Atlas very much! But all of them are told relatively straightforwardly, and in unusually beautiful prose. But just the order of the stories, not internally within each. The way the stories come together and reflect off each other, loosely, subtly, abstractly.
More thematically, I guess, than anything else. Unless I missed something, which is always possible. I know one person that disliked it, who read halfway through and put it down. I have not yet talked to her enough about why. I think she got turned off at the start of the pidgin English part, and gave up too early. To see how they cut it down and put the pieces together. You think other people know you. Not even your wife.
No one knows anybody, really. Not that well. You can watch movies with other people. And laugh or cry along together, or sneer and jeer and groan together. Real-time communal experiences are not the only things that open up such bridges, though. The same miracle or, as you may choose to think about, pleasant delusion , can happen through solitary endeavors, too.
And in so, reading ceases to be a solitary experience. Or even just in talking to people, sharing ideas, about books and movies, say.
Part of the fun of the movie for me was seeing all the stories counterpointed against each other continually. The nested-shell structure of the book seemed tame by comparison. That said, I loved getting more time to spend with each of the characters in the book. Sep 25, AM. I agree with the people saying that the movie and the book are both excellent. I think it's really a stunning achievement that the film even got made at all!
The book and the film are both fairly different, but I feel as thought the film did make some plot points a bit more coherent Sonmi, for example and I really loved the casting of Jim Broadbent as Timothy Cavendish.
The book, however, really resonated with me somehow and I had similar feelings about it's scope and individuality as I did with the film. I would say that reading the book first really helped me appreciate both of them more, and I think it's correct to say that it wouldn't have mattered which way round I'd done it. Together, they have become books and films that I'd constantly recommend to people. Individually, I'm not suers they would have, but there's obviously no way to tell!
Sep 30, PM. I read Cloud Atlas a year or so ago. Although I really liked it and was glad I had read it by the time I reached the end, it is not an easy read. I loved the voice changes and the way that all of the stories were woven together into a fabulous whole.
I saw the movie when it came out and although I liked the movie, too, I think it would be very difficult to understand the stories without having read the book first.
Not beach reading, for sure! Oct 11, AM. I watched and enjoyed the movie, then read and enjoyed the book. Val wrote: "I watched and enjoyed the movie, then read and enjoyed the book.
I actually thought the movie helped me understand the book at times. Oct 15, AM. I was glad I had reread the book before I watched the movie.
I feel sure that I would have been left a bit confused in the movie without reading the book first. Oct 15, PM. I don't feel the movie approached the book's level of craft. It was a damn hard book to adapt, and ultimately I'm impressed the Wachowskis produced even a watchable adaptation.
But where the novel effortlessly jumps between settings and styles, I felt the film struggled to keep up and lost some flavor in each of its worlds The excellent Somni sections might be an exception. As the novel tries on different genres and writing styles, it would have been cool if the movie had plumbed film history for a greater breadth of techniques. But again, I'm impressed the film got made at all and wasn't an enormous mess. Oct 17, AM. As a note, I believe if I had first read the book, then watched the movie I would be in the same boat as Paul.
As it was, I was still disgruntled when I discovered the Zachry transformation. A fourteen year old? As I watched then read, I liked both the film and book and I'm glad I enjoyed them in that order. Oct 17, PM. Jeni wrote: "I haven't read the book yet, but I did see the movie.
I want to see it again because it was intriguing and mesmerizing, but I think I'll rea It's poorly and confusedly put together, the performances by Tom Hanks who I generally like were poor, and they veered from the novel in ways that only deepened a sense of confusion. Enjoy the read. It's one of my tops of all time. Nov 11, PM.
Just saw the movie and I was very disappointed. The book was exciting and referred to many social issues that were absent in the film adaptation. What I did not like most and I think is indicative of the difference between the book and the movie was Sonmi's story: in the book, New Seoul had nothing to do with all this high-tech extravaganza and the Matrix-style battles on flying vehicles, and her story was so shortened that lost the best points, just like every other story, after all.
If the book earns five stars, I give the movie just two. PS: This reincarnation thing finally leads to really bad makeup The book is 10 million times better.
The movie is visually stunning and certain performances were brilliant but the movie was the pretty packaging while the book was the real deal.
I worry that the movie's jumbled mess will turn people off David Mitchell's gorgeous prose. Read the book! Add a reference: Book Author. Search for a book to add a reference. We take abuse seriously in our discussion boards. Only flag comments that clearly need our attention.
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