Member: evening

Evening,

Just read your review of "Cloud Atlas" on Hannah Holborn's LT site, and wanted to say that one need look no further in each nest of the narrative than: who is the powerful, and who is the downtrodden? "Cloud Atlas," as fascinating and innovative as it is, is really thematically about who is subjugating whom. For a really outstanding review of it, check edgeworth's site at Library Thing.

posted by LukeS at 2:59 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2009

Hi Mr Clark,

I was intrigued by your review of The Knife of Never Letting Go, because I just finished it myself and thought it was outstanding. I had already raved about it to everybody at work and put it on the 'Staff Picks' list before I saw your review. How interesting! I did find the ending a bit annoying, but I've grown up reading lots of series fiction, so I didn't really mind. (Darren Shan does this kind of thing quite a bit!) For me, it was outweighed by the captivating originality of both the narration and the premise, and by how well the writing served the story, both with regards to the concept of Noise and the really tense moments. E.g. the death of Manchee; I was on the edge of my seat. I loved how the writing was paragraphed so that you could rip through three pages in about fifteen seconds. I have never known any other author to use writing like that.

I look forward to discussing it more with you when we go back to school! Hope your holidays are going well.

posted by SamuelW at 3:29 am (EST) on Jan 19, 2009

Hi Jeremy - My comment about [The Piano Tuner] had to do with the British belief that Carroll had conspired with the Russians (and the French, presumably) to overthrow the British power in Burma. There simply wasn't nearly enough proof that there was any conspiracy. Carroll was certainly eccentric, but that's the worst I could see in him, especially coming from Captain Nash-Burnham, a man who purported to have been his friend. In fact, the whole ending didn't work for me. It seemed rushed and too much of a "Heart of Darkness" ripoff (though I'll grant you I haven't read Heart of Darkness in 40 years so my memory of it is very suspect).

posted by whymaggiemay at 7:29 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2008