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Loading... Cloud atlasby David Mitchell
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Amazing book. Started out modestly - I wondered what the fuss was about. Then, gradually, it became more and more absorbing, until I was thoroughly impressed. The two sections set in the future are particularly stunning. ( )Interesting to see that not everyone loved this novel. I found the format of different tales, all except the middle one placed in two halves, clumsy. The characters mostly failed to be engaging, although I took a liking to Sonmi and the tortured musician. Some of the tales are interesting enough, although not prize winning, in their own right. The middle tale completely failed to engage me and I skipped most of it, as it by then seemed clear that the links between them were tenuous at best. There was a theme of slavery, that he could have illuminated in many better ways, but he did succeed in portraying the different ways we are enslaved. Reasonably skilled writing. almost every narrative voice was overdone and annoying in some way (too loquacious, too redneck, too many gimmicky x's, says "ruddy" too much, etc...) and the connections between characters merely existed, instead of being meaningful (like in the movie Babel, saying "we're all linked in some way" is not a profound statement). Also extremely heavy handed throughout, i.e. the Son-mi chapter & the ending journal entry. Unable to make an argument through symbolism or imagery. Deeply disappointing. Absolutly fantastic! David Mitchell has a unique ability to interweeve stories in a way which has captivated me. I spent the time it took me to read this book on the lookout for the little links and wondering where the story would take me next. It was almost disappointing when, half-way through, the layers of the tale ceased to increase in number. I've been trying to decrease the number of books on my bookshelf, but this is one book this is not destined to a BookCrossing release. I look foward to reading more of David Mitchell's works in the future. Soaks you into possible and unlikely worlds and 'never ending' cleverly (dis)connected stories of (de)human condition. no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400)
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David Mitchell chatted with LibraryThing members from Sep 28, 2009 to Oct 9, 2009. Read the chat.
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