Cloud Atlas: 2013 Book #8

3 out of 5 stars

Cloud Atlas was an uneven book for me. On the one hand, I thought the structure was brilliant. Loved how he told an interconnecting story across time, spanning 19th century slavers all the way to post-apocalyptic Hawaii and then going all the way back. I thought this technique of bookending the narrative lent itself well to telling stories within a larger story.

Some of these stories, I loved. Essentially, the middle 4 stories in the book worked for me. Hawaii, Korea, Cavendish and Seaboard are all fantastic, containing intertwining themes about politics, consumerism and family. And the characters really are kindred souls drifting across time, as the book jacket suggests.

Unfortunately, the two “bookends,” or the first and second story are dull and seem completely disconnected from the rest of the book, save for a cursory connection. (A discovered book, a penpal across the ocean.) I found myself so bored for the first 140 or so pages that I contemplated giving up. Then, when the book had delighted me and I hit those storylines again, I withheld judgement, hoping I’d appreciate the 2nd half of each of these stories given the context of the middle. I didn’t. The opening and the ending left me with a general sour taste in my mouth, even though I liked the middle bits.

Mitchell does do a phenomenal job mastering different voices and genres. The beginning feels very much like a tale from the old masters (Robinson Crusoe, etc.), while the end dips into solid sci-fi territory with dystopian themes. But even that can’t save the dullness or how flat the first and last 150 pages of the book feels. I’m interested to watch the movie now, to see how they pulled it off. Like the book, I could see it being brilliant, but I could also see it being a failure.