<p>I would have picked the Frobisher story as my favorite, but I was too puzzled by the suicide. It didn’t make sense to me. </p>
<p>I wasn’t enchanted with the Somni part at first, but something happened along the way and it just grew on me. I was so angry with the bullying!</p>
<p>My least favorite was Sloosha’s Crossin’.</p>
<p>Most inspirational line–at the very end, the “drops in the ocean” quote.</p>
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<p>For the first half of Timothy Cavendish’s story, I kept thinking of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Serling was a master at combining the “ghastly” (to use Tim’s word) with the absurd. Episodes such as “Time Enough at Last” and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” thrust characters into unthinkable situations, but also provide some campy fun as well as social commentary. The second half of the Cavendish story with its “Great Escape” is more of a British farce, with ridiculous situational humor and a tone that reminded me of P.G. Wodehouse. I don’t think I’m alone here – I’m pretty sure I read a review where Wodehouse was referenced re the Cavendish chapters. </p>
<p>As an example, here is quote from one of the P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves novels (which I pulled from Wikipedia): “I once got engaged to his daughter Honoria, a ghastly dynamic exhibit who read Nietzsche and had a laugh like waves breaking on a stern and rockbound coast.”</p>
<p>And here is one of Timothy’s lines: “At the Frankfurt Book love-in I was feted by people who until then had never so much as paused to scrape me off their shoes” (p. 151).</p>
<p>Here’s another from Wodehouse: “It was one of those cases where you approve the broad, general principle of an idea but can’t help being in a bit of a twitter at the prospect of putting it into practical effect. I explained this to Jeeves, and he said much the same thing had bothered Hamlet.” </p>
<p>And here’s another from Timothy: “My convalescence had stripped me of subcutaneous fat; my frame had shrunk from quasi-Falstaffian to John of Gaunt” (p. 358).</p>
<p>Do you see what I mean? It’s that precise British English combined with a dry wit.</p>
<p>Wikipedia calls Wodehouse’s style “notable for its unique blend of contemporary London clubroom slang with elegant, classically-informed drawing-room English.”<br>
[P</a>. G. Wodehouse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse]P”>P. G. Wodehouse - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>psychmom, I agree with you re Frobisher’s suicide. He was an opportunistic rascal, albeit a delightful and charismatic one. I thought he would move on and devise yet another scathingly brilliant, and moderately reckless, plan to improve his situation.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we have a very limited view of Frobisher, knowing only what he chooses to reveal about himself. Since Sixsmith came looking for him fairly quickly, I would guess that he was extremely concerned about his friend’s state of mind. Maybe Sixsmith knew more about Frobisher’s suicidal tendencies than the reader is able to divine from Frobisher’s letters.</p>
<p>I see what you mean about Wodehouse, Mary. Probably I am not going to rush out and explore Wodehouse in the same way that I have hastened to remedy my lack of familiarity with Melville, though!</p>
<p>One thing about the second Cavendish section…after having been put through the future-dystopian-emotional-wringer by Sonmi and Zachry (a journey that was certainly not without its pleasures but was quite intense), I must say I was extremely glad to meet up with our jolly old contemporary Timothy again. :)</p>
<p>This is a little bit of a digression, but I was thinking about Frobisher’s suicide and I recalled that Ben Whishaw, who plays Frobisher in the movie, was also in a strange 2006 film called “Perfume,” in which he played a person whose prodigious talents rendered him less than ideally suited for normal human life. </p>
<p>As with Frobisher, it was a period role for Whishaw; the story is set in 18th-century France. “Perfume” is dark but fascinating movie that some of you might be interested in taking a look at before seeing the film of “Cloud Atlas.”</p>
<p>Another thing that might be of interest is that “Perfume” was directed by Tom Tykwer, one of the directors of “Cloud Atlas.” Tykwer is amazing. It was my admiration for other films of his that led me to “Perfume.”</p>
<p>I finished reading Cloud Atlas today. I had a difficult time getting through the first section and kept putting the book down. My first reaction after finishing is - Wow!</p>
<p>Great book. I’m so glad I stuck with it. My favorite section is “Sloosha’s Crossing”. In this section I became intrigued by all the connections I was discovering between the different stories of the book.</p>
<p>Right now my head is spinning trying to decide which stories I feel are “real”, which are “fiction”, and which may be “part real/part fiction”. Are we to believe any of the stories are “real”? NJTM’s shared quotes from the readalong about whether or not Cavendish is writing a "true story. This question perplexed me throughout the book. One story becomes a book and another a movie. I wonder if they were ever true stories? The comet birthmark makes me want to believe each story is genuine, but…</p>
<p>In the second section of “Half Lives” I really liked Isaac Sachs description of history on page 392, although I’m not sure why he was writing it at the time.</p>
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<p>I was caught off guard by Frobisher’s suicide. His life was obviously in an unsettled state, but I hadn’t felt he was desperate or depressed. It was the scene with Eva and her fiance that made me question his mental health. He was a fascinating character. I enjoyed how he heard music in everyday sounds and in his dreams.</p>
<p>Here is David Mitchell’s response when an interviewer asked if he any particular writing habits:</p>
<p>“I can only write if I stand on my head and have “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen blaring out on a continuous loop… Not really. My writing life has been too susceptible to change, and my writing hours are too precious to be able to afford the indulgence of ritual.”</p>
<p>LOL!</p>
<p>I found the Sloosha part too depressing. I mean, the world was basically destroyed, so I felt it was time for everybody to get along! 
And how dare he (David Mitchell) allow the irrepressible Frobisher to self-destruct!!!</p>
<p>End of rant. I really loved the book. Wish I were more literate to catch all the references. I did pick up one regarding *The Picture Of Dorian Gray. * Yay for me!</p>
<p>Not to derail the thread, but someone mentioned “Perfume”. I didn’t know that they had made a movie of it, but if it is what I am thinking of, it was originally a novel, written in German. Well-written, but disturbing.</p>
<p>I devoured Cloud Atlas, and should probably re-read it, since I know I missed almost all of the literary references you all are pointing out so well. The dystopia is what made the biggest impression on me, especially the concept of the living “dolls”.</p>
<p>Yes, CJaneRead, “Perfume” is a novel by Patrick Süsskind. After I saw the movie, I was really curious about where the story came from, so I read the book (my son did too), and we really liked it. The novel and the movie are both rather disturbing…but also quite brilliant, we thought – especially the book. As often happens, the book made a lot more sense than the movie did.</p>
<p>It’s funny… apparently the novel was severely criticized for being derivative, bordering on plagiaristic! I myself have never read whatever it was supposedly derivative of, so I couldn’t say.</p>
<p>Re-reading Cloud Atlas three years after I first read it has been an interesting experience. I was more inclined to savor the writing because I was not wondering so much where the heck the book was going.</p>
<p>After reading it the first time, I was haunted by the painful aspects of life in the Sloosha’s Crossing section. This time, I kept a sharp eye out for the glimmers of hope in that section and was relieved to find more than I remembered.</p>
<p>Still reading so can’t join in yet and don’t want to read any posts for spoilers-am enjoing this book a lot!</p>
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<p>Isaac Sachs’ musings could actually describe the structure of the book itself, and I do think the author was commenting on his own work (through Isaac). David Mitchell is kind of sly that way, and funny, too–Isaac’s reflection is very analytical, but contrast that with Timothy Cavendish’s comment: “As an experienced editor, I disapprove of flashbacks, foreshadowings, and tricksy devices; they belong in the 1980s with M.A.s in postmodernism and chaos theory” (p. 150). Timothy adds later, when editing Half-Lives, “One or two things will have to go: the insinuation that Luisa Rey is this Robert Frobisher chap reincarnated, for example. Far too hippie-druggy-new age” (p. 357). LOL. That’s some nice self-deprecating humor on Mitchell’s part.</p>
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<p>It’s interesting that Sixsmith, who clearly grieves for Frobisher for years, dies as a “fake” suicide. I think Sixsmith himself puts his finger on why Frobisher’s suicide was so difficult for me to understand. As an old man, Sixsmith sees an unhappy woman on the neighboring balcony: “Propose a suicide pact, why don’t you? Sixsmith isn’t serious, and he isn’t going to jump either, not if an ember of humor still glows” (p. 89). In Frobisher’s last letter, an ember of humor was definitely still glowing.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, suicide is a recurring motif in Cloud Atlas. There’s Frobisher and (allegedly but not really) Sixsmith, and then there’s young Raphael on *The Prophetess<a href=“that%20was%20a%20terrible%20story!”>/i</a>, and Seer Rhee in the Sonmi story (“Rhee appeared to have taken a quarter-liter sac, so suicide seems a reasonable conclusion” p. 199). Boardman Mephi also commits suicide, as do two directors at Seaboard Power after the scandal hits the news. In addition, Meronym and Zachry find the body of “a chief stron’mer” who “must o’ soosided here when the Fall came” (p. 278).</p>
<p>Frobisher says of suicide, “Cowardice is nothing to do with it—suicide takes considerable courage” (p. 470). Timothy Cavendish echoes this thought in a more light-hearted way: “I made it to Boxing Day because I was too miserable to hang myself. I lie. I made it to Boxing Day because I was too cowardly to hang myself” (p. 373).</p>
<p>Suicide occurs, or is contemplated, in every section of Cloud Atlas. Why do you think Mitchell gives it so much prominence?</p>
<p>For the Timothy Cavendish section, (in addition to Wodehouse, who is well worth reading for those who haven’t - the Jeeves stories are priceless) I think Mitchell was influenced by Evelyn Waugh’s [The</a> Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ordeal_of_Gilbert_Pinfold]The”>The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold - Wikipedia).</p>
<p>^ Thanks, Booklady! It’s fun to figure out all the various sources that Mitchell drew from. </p>
<p>When I first began the novel—not knowing what the author had up his sleeve—I was a little indignant about what seemed like a rip-off of Moby Dick. Adam and Autua were Ishmael and Queequeg! And Adam and Autua’s night sharing the ship’s cabin was uncannily like Ismael and Quequeg’s night together at the Spouter inn! But as each section of the novel unfolded, I realized that Mitchell was not filching from the great authors, but paying homage to them. </p>
<p>Near the end of the book, as Adam Ewing watches the whales, the crew discusses whether they’d like to work on a whaling ship. Pocock responds, “Not I! I shipped on a spouter once, the cap’n was the blackest brute you’ve ever seen, them three years make Prophetess seem like a Sunday pleasure punt!” </p>
<p>When I read that, I was sure he must have served on the Pequod with Captain Ahab. Mitchell’s nod to Melville. :)</p>
<p>NJTheatreMom: Interesting that you were able to pick up on hopefulness in the Sloosha section during your second reading. I think I was thrown off by some of the horrific elements.</p>
<p>Mary: I think Mitchell is saying to us that in some cases suicide is a justifiable response when feeling oppressed because it gives you control and choice. Each of the “comet” characters find a way to rebel against the system. Just wish Frobisher’s route could have been more colorful, in keeping with the character.</p>
<p>I also like to think that the author was giving a wink and nod to the authors he emulates.</p>
<p>Psychmom, I think you are right about suicide representing a form of individual control and choice in Cloud Atlas. Given that the book in many ways constitutes an examination of the predatory, exploitative nature of humans, it is perhaps only natural that a number of suicides, by characters seeking to escape intolerable situations, would occur along with other forms of death.</p>
<p>To me, Frobisher’s suicide was not that surprising or out of character. For all of his charms, he was an alarmingly messed-up guy.</p>
<p>I found a scholarly paper that makes the following statements about Frobisher and Ayers:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/1685/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1[/url]”>http://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/1685/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1</a></p>
<p>For me, the Frobisher and Cavendish characters are similar as both employ humor and wit as a defense against the nihilism. As Mary has mentioned, I love how the author is able to tweak himself…I also LOL’d when reading that editing comment and enjoyed David Mitchell’s poke at being “gimmicky.”</p>
<p>I keep reading Sonmi as Somni. Sorry, Sonmi, I know you are an individual who deserves to have her name mentioned correctly! (I was reminded of this when reading NJTheatreMOM’s link above.) What about the 451 number after her name? That has to be a reference to Farenheit 451, I think!</p>
<p>I could use a starbuck and some dewdrops this morning.</p>
<p>Have a good day, folks!</p>
<p>David Mitchell on making the movie of Cloud Atlas: <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>psychmom and NJTheatreMOM, thanks for the input re suicide. I didn’t know much about Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but I did some reading and found that it describes Frobisher well. Check out the symptoms—he has them all: [Narcissistic</a> personality disorder - PubMed Health](<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001930/]Narcissistic”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001930/)</p>
<p>Whereas I thought that a narcissistic person might be less apt to commit suicide (due to their grandiose notions of self), I learned that victims of NPD have a “clinically significant” rate of suicide—and their suicides tend to be planned rather than impulsive ([Specific</a> features of suicidal behavior in … [J Clin Psychiatry. 2009] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19607766]Specific”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19607766)). Another summary also mentions suicidal preoccupation, and notes that there are some cases of geniuses with NPD (with Frank Lloyd Wright being the example): [Narcissistic</a> Personality Disorder (NPD) : DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria](<a href=“http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html]Narcissistic”>http://www.halcyon.com/jmashmun/npd/dsm-iv.html). This site also lists “failure to maintain personal hygiene” as a symptom. </p>
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<p>Robert Frobisher’s tragic end makes sense to me now.</p>