<p>NJTM: Thanks for the bit of a push. I now plan to start Cloud Atlas today. ;)</p>
<p>I’m hoping to start today, too!</p>
<p>I listened to the recorded version of this book, and it was very well done.</p>
<p>I just want to join in and say that I also have read this book several years ago and absolutely loved it! I will say that it is not an easy read and not everybody will be able to get through it.</p>
<p>I especially loved the use of the different voices that the author uses for each character. I cannot conceive of how they will make this into a movie with the way that the author jumps from time period to time period and then back again. I’m so afraid they will ruin this book.</p>
<p>Another FANTASTIC book by this same author is “Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.” It is a historical fiction and again, is not an easy read, but an incredible piece of writing. Once you are hooked, you are in for a good ride.</p>
<p>^^ Agree. And “Black Swan Green” is a whole 'nother kind of book and just as wonderful imo. He’s just a fantastic writer.</p>
<p>Looks like I’m on the same reading schedule as ignatius and BUandBC82–just diving into Cloud Atlas now. Roger Ebert loved the movie (pre-screening in Toronto), but has not yet written in detail about it. (“I know I’ve seen something atonishing, and I know I’m not ready to review it.” <a href=“http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/09/_i_know_ive_seen.html[/url]”>http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/09/_i_know_ive_seen.html</a>)</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve made it to the center of the apple - only slightly the worse for wear, but ahead of schedule. Found part V challenging reading, part VI even more so, but gripping nonetheless.</p>
<p>I am having an I-Don’t-Want-It-To-End affair with this book. </p>
<p>I expected Cloud Atlas to make me work rather than having me love it. Instead, I find it reads easily, smoothly, and quickly, once you adapt to the voice of the individual narrator. </p>
<p>I’m so glad to be reading this and look forward to the discussion insights.</p>
<p>The change in narrator is jarring at first, but I found that the strength of the book for me was that when I got to a new section, I’d think, “Nooooo! I love xxx!” but then by the next break, I was loving the NEW narrator. That’s a talented writer.</p>
<p>This is one of the most brilliantly written books I ever read.</p>
<p>Hooray! Yes, isn’t it great?!! :)</p>
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Walked into the University library today and found this on the sale shelf - hardcover for $0.25. Surely they could have made more money selling it online?</p>
<p>Anyways, another book for the list.</p>
<p>^“The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet” is excellent, but the story gets pretty wrenching and hair-raising, with unpleasant things happening to characters you care about. “Cloud Atlas” is like that to a degree…“Thousand Autumns” much more so.</p>
<p>Just read David Mitchell’s article in NY Times magazine about the movie version of Cloud Atlas</p>
<p>I just finished his book three days ago - grateful that I read that first chapter on kindle.The dictionary function was handy.
But, now I wish I had book version because this is one complicated book, and I need to flip through chapters when this discussion starts!!!</p>
<p>Looking forward to the discussion to bring this one into focus!</p>
<p>Lingering thought- how could this become a movie and what does David.Mitchell think -
Read this—
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/magazine/cloud-atlas.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/magazine/cloud-atlas.html</a></p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone</p>
<p>^That was a great article, SJCM. It’s so interesting that David Mitchell has a cameo role in the film! I liked the sneak peek video that provided a few more glimpses too.</p>
<p>I finished re-reading “Cloud Atlas” last week…after which I didn’t want to start reading anything too unrelated, so I have been doing some collateral reading. I started Melville’s “Benito Cereno,” which was mentioned on one of the Cloud Atlas websites. I had never read ANY Melville before, but I’d been intrigued by comments I’d seen that Mitchell’s writing in the Adam Ewing part of Cloud Atlas is like Melville…and I find that I rather like him! Thank you, David Mitchell!</p>
<p>My reading of Benito Cereno was interrupted by the library telling me that my interlibrary loan request of “Riddley Walker” had come in, and I am reading that now. Riddley Walker is the apparently rather famous post-apocalyptic novel that uses a similar dialect to what Mitchell uses in the Sloosha’s Crossing section of Cloud Atlas.</p>
<p>I had long intended to read Riddley Walker but had never gotten around to it until now. It is terrific! Riddley’s language is a tad more challenging than Zachry’s…but never fear, a website on the book exists, providing help at one’s fingertips!</p>
<p>Welcome to October and our discussion of Cloud Atlas!</p>
<p>Wow! What a strange and wonderful ride. As is my custom, I did not read anything about the novel prior to beginning. I wanted to puzzle it out myself. And what a puzzle it was! Occasionally, I had an epiphany; more often, I had a desire to hear explanations from the CC book club. 
</p>
<p>I did not check to see who was starring in the film until after I finished the book, as I wanted to create characters in my head first. In the end, it struck me as funny that I had initially been interested in this book as a precursor to going to the movies, because to me, the book expressed the incredible beauty and fluidity of language–in this case, the English language. It wasn’t just a new narrator with each chapter, it was a new dialect. Immersion was the only way to go, and by the end of each segment, I felt strangely proud that I had “learned” a new vocabulary, cadence, etc. I would think that some parts of the book would be almost insurmountably difficult for someone who did not have English as their first language—Zachry’s and Sonmi’s stories in particular.</p>
<p>I know that the movie has gotten some good pre-release reviews—and I’m encouraged by the Mitchell essay that SJCM posted–but how can it ever capture the magic of language as written in the novel? The answer, I suppose, is that it can’t. Instead, a different sort of magic is used, the visual magic of film. (The cinematography in the trailer does look gorgeous.) </p>
<p>I admire David Mitchell’s understanding of the compromises of movie-making and his ease in acquiescing to the inevitable changes. His observation is so true: “A novel contains as many versions of itself as it has readers, whereas a film’s final cut vaporizes every other way it might have been made.”</p>
<p>Although I promise to give the film a chance, I know it will grieve me deeply to lose the teenage Zachry to a middle-aged Tom Hanks. Not only will I miss seeing that good-hearted boy become a wiser man, but everybody knows that no one could live to be Tom Hanks’ age in the Valley. As if! </p>
<p>Hmmm…wait a minute…I guess Zachry himself grows up to be a very old man, telling his tale to a group of children. The thought that he reaches old age, and that there is another generation or two behind him, brings a glimmer of hope to that post-apocalyptic future.</p>
<p>But I’m getting ahead of myself. </p>
<p>Let’s begin with some Discussion Questions – use them or not, as the spirit moves you, and post away:</p>
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<p>My favorite part of the book was the Sonmi part. I did love Frobisher (who wouldn’t?), but he was such a rascal…and I thought the ending of his story was sadder than most of the others.</p>
<p>In a way, Sonmi reminded me of Jane Eyre, a little! That hit me the second time I read the book, soon after I had reread “Jane Eyre” for this book club. It was partly because of the way Sonmi addressed the Archivist, which I thought was at times a little bit like the way that Jane addressed the reader. Both Sonmi’s and Jane’s growth in knowledge and understanding were very moving.</p>
<p>I found the Sonmi chapters more difficult to get through than the others, but maybe it’s because I’m not a huge sci-fi fan? Very interesting observation about Sonmi being like Jane Eyre, with the Archivist equivalent to the Reader. One thing I wondered about: In this dystopia, ruled by such cruel, oppressive hands, why would the Archivist ever be allowed to interview Sonmi in such depth – even to the point where Sonmi reveals the horrendous fate of all fabricants? </p>
<p>I loved Robert Frobisher. He was a hilarious breath of fresh air, especially coming directly after the more buttoned-up Adam Ewing. But I think my favorite section was “Sloosha’s Crossin’ An Ev’rythin’ After.” In speech and style, it reminded me a bit of William Faulkner and his memorable characters of Yoknapatawpha County. </p>
<p>(Really, every segment in Cloud Atlas reminded me of another famous author, or at least a classic genre, which was certainly intentional on Mitchell’s part.)</p>
<p>I don’t think I can pick a favorite tale but I do have a least favorite: “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish”. I felt the other narrators stick to truth, as they see it; Timothy Cavendish sets pen to paper to create fiction - a ghastly ordeal, if you will - a slapstick/farce for print/film. Elements of his story before and after his “ordeal” ring true enough, but the ordeal itself, not so much.</p>
<p>I didn’t like Timothy Cavendish too much either, especially the first section where he makes so many arrogant statements. The scene in the pub at the end of the second section was terrific, though…and very cinematic!</p>
<p>It’s interesting that the Cavendish section apparently reflects a certain contemporary writing style. One comment about it that I’ve seen mentions the detection of hints of Updike, Bellow and Roth. I’ve read a fair amount of Updike that I’ve liked, but I have never been able to stomach Roth for some reason, and I have never tried Bellow.</p>
<p>What author or genre were you reminded of, Mary13?</p>
<p>The Cloud Atlas readalong site contains some interesting remarks about whether or not Cavendish is writing a “true story:”</p>
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<p>[Cloud</a> Atlas Readalong Part 4: The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (first half) | editorialeyes](<a href=“EditorialEyes Publishing Services”>Cloud Atlas Readalong Part 4: The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (first half) – EditorialEyes Publishing Services)</p>