Friday
19Jun2009
Cloud Atlas
Friday, June 19, 2009 at 12:00 AM
I know what you're thinking. It's Friday and I haven't posted anything about a movie or a book yet. Perhaps you're thinking this week will go by without any review. Well, you'd be wrong. I wouldn't leave you hanging!
This week I'm taking a look at Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. There is one word I would use to describe this book: Meta. In fact, it is one of the most meta pieces of fiction I have ever read in my life. Honest. The premise behind Cloud Atlas is that there are six different narratives that Mitchell takes you through constructed as a chiasm. A chiasm is where you have paralleled points on both sides and have the main point in the middle. It looks like this:
The book starts by starting the first five stories. It then gives the sixth story in its entirety, then finishes the first five stories it started. While this may sound confusing, it actually makes for a pretty enjoyable ride. What is great about each story is that it is written in a new time period and also follows different literary techniques. For example, it ranges from a journal, to a letter correspondence, to an interview, to prose. Each piece has it's own distinct tone. You may think this would make things disjointed, but that is hardly the case at all.
Despite six different stories being told, it does a wonderful job of making one complete narrative as a whole. The best thing I can say is just read it. It'll make sense.
While the concepts that Mitchell decides to tackle are very large, the journey is not very difficult. Cloud Atlas is a delightful and leisurely read. In fact, this is what I love about this book. There is a lot of depth to be had, but if you just want to enjoy it for its plot, you can still do that to. It's a deep as you want to make it.
With that being said, Cloud Atlas is a moderately dense (literally) book and may take awhile to read, that is unless you get sucked into its narrative like I did. I highly recommend this book to read. It's not often that I find modern fiction that I enjoy, but Mitchell has done a wonderful job. Please read this book. Then we can talk about it! I'd love to know what you think.
This week I'm taking a look at Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. There is one word I would use to describe this book: Meta. In fact, it is one of the most meta pieces of fiction I have ever read in my life. Honest. The premise behind Cloud Atlas is that there are six different narratives that Mitchell takes you through constructed as a chiasm. A chiasm is where you have paralleled points on both sides and have the main point in the middle. It looks like this:
The book starts by starting the first five stories. It then gives the sixth story in its entirety, then finishes the first five stories it started. While this may sound confusing, it actually makes for a pretty enjoyable ride. What is great about each story is that it is written in a new time period and also follows different literary techniques. For example, it ranges from a journal, to a letter correspondence, to an interview, to prose. Each piece has it's own distinct tone. You may think this would make things disjointed, but that is hardly the case at all.
Despite six different stories being told, it does a wonderful job of making one complete narrative as a whole. The best thing I can say is just read it. It'll make sense.
While the concepts that Mitchell decides to tackle are very large, the journey is not very difficult. Cloud Atlas is a delightful and leisurely read. In fact, this is what I love about this book. There is a lot of depth to be had, but if you just want to enjoy it for its plot, you can still do that to. It's a deep as you want to make it.With that being said, Cloud Atlas is a moderately dense (literally) book and may take awhile to read, that is unless you get sucked into its narrative like I did. I highly recommend this book to read. It's not often that I find modern fiction that I enjoy, but Mitchell has done a wonderful job. Please read this book. Then we can talk about it! I'd love to know what you think.
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