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<p>NJTheatreMom, it’s out of print and is going for well over $100 on the used-book market. If you’re near a good library they might either have it or be able to get it for you. The ISBN is 9781872621388.</p>
<p>And yes, it’s a wonderful book!</p>
<p>Thanks, Booklady! I had been trying to find the ISBN and finally located it through the publisher’s website, just before you posted, so now I can request the book through my library.</p>
<p>There are probably some decent translations other than the Russell one, but only two could be examined on Amazon’s “look inside.”</p>
<p>In the meantime, I found the full text in French for free online, through openlibrary.org, and have started reading the book there, but it’s somewhat slow going. </p>
<p>It’s always nice to discover something I didn’t know about that is apparently a well-loved classic in some quarters.</p>
<p>I haven’t had time to post, but I am enjoying all the great comments! A couple of things:</p>
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<p>I noticed this, too! Soonmi had trouble with the “double-helix staircase” at the Psychogenomics Faculty building (on Mount Taemosan), and then hiked up into the mountains with Hae-Joo Im.</p>
<p>More mountains (other than the many already mentioned): Napier goes to his cabin in the mountains when he retires. The Seaboard Power plane crash was over the Allegheny Mountains.</p>
<p>On religion:</p>
<p>While there are negative portrayals of religion, Adam is a religious man, and he comes to different conclusions than the missionaries–after he is nursed back to health at a Catholic mission, with the help of nuns who also run a happy, multicultural orphanage.</p>
<p>I thought it was interesting that both sections in the future (Soonmi and Slooshas) seem to lack religionbut they have Abbesses, who preside over ruins of monastery and church, and provide wisdom and comfort. The Abbess in Bridge of San Luis Rey seemed the key to that book, and I felt the same way here. To me it felt like Mitchell was saying that religion offers a structure for good if we will use it that way (the “beliefs” Adam talks about)–and that the structure remains to try again even if we mess it up.</p>
<p>As for Hilary V. Hush–I thought she/he was somehow related to Hester Van Zandt–how, I have no idea, the name just seemed too similar for coincidence!</p>
<p>Hi, just checking in to say I’m in Minnesota for Family Weekend, and am now reading posts while my D is napping (#1 favorite college activity :)). I’m enjoying everyone’s insights!</p>
<p>I don’t think this link has been posted yet. It’s a wonderful site for background information and visuals: [Cloud</a> Atlas - Bookmarks - Book Drum](<a href=“http://www.bookdrum.com/books/cloud-atlas/9780340822784/bookmarks-1-25.html?bookId=1353]Cloud”>http://www.bookdrum.com/books/cloud-atlas/9780340822784/bookmarks-1-25.html?bookId=1353)</p>
<p>Mary13 - hope you’re enjoying your trip. Thanks for sharing the link above this such a resource!!!</p>
<p>Buena great comment about the role of religion.
Totally agree, that Mitchell is quite a “religious” skeptic, but he does end the book in a " garden of Eden, where the elderly and sick are cared for, children play pranks and are educated in a nurturing Environment Where Sisters and the Abbess oversee and protect-where Autua could be considered for advancement,
Maybe he has faith that women in power are the hope? ( A little plug here for Nuns on the Bus$</p>
<p>Just finished the book last night and looking forward to reading everyone’s posts. I really enjoyed this book. I loved the different sections with the widely differing styles and points of view.
I had a bit of trouble reading the middle section because of it being written in dialect. I found it brilliant writing-but a bit long to hold my attention.
I loved how the different stories are linked but the connections didn’t all make sense. I apologize since I’m writing this before reading any of the posts-but the comet shaped birthmark was intriguing but I failed to see the significance of it. Unless everyone with the birthmark was actually the same person reincarnated.
The book reminded me a bit of “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan.
Thanks again to this wonderful book club for suggesting yet again another great book! I will return after reading what everyone has posted.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bookdrum.com/books/cloud-atlas/9780340822784/bookmarks-251-275.html?bookId=1353[/url]”>http://www.bookdrum.com/books/cloud-atlas/9780340822784/bookmarks-251-275.html?bookId=1353</a></p>
<p>Scroll down to 9 minute trip to mauna lea!</p>
<p>Mary13- enjoying the link you posted to Book Drum (how I love these CC book discussions)
Don’t miss the 9 minute clip of the “otherwordly” trip to Mauna Lea. It’s 9 minutes and breathtaking! I’ll always remember Mitchell’s “peak” moment on the book after watching this</p>
<p>I thought the existence of the Abbesses was one of the hopeful, quasi-religious (or at least spiritual) elements in “Cloud Atlas.” One of the abbesses spoke admiringly of Siddhartha.</p>
<p>Currently I am reading “Riddley Walker,” a dystopian novel that depicts a world somewhat similar to Sloosha’s Crossing; it is narrated by a character who speaks a version of English that is even more garbled (and utterly fascinating, and sometimes humorous) than the version that Zachry speaks.</p>
<p>In the world of Riddley Walker, people have forgotten all about religion, although they do vaguely recall little bits and pieces of information about the technology that existed in the time “back way back.”</p>
<p>At one point, one of the few people in this future society who knows how to read is trying to understand an ancient text that mentions the “crucified Saviour.” Nobody has any idea what it means, and they are guessing. The best-informed character comes to the conclusion that “Saviour” must mean something savory, and that “crucified” must be an operation performed in a “crucibool” – a crucible!</p>
<p>I am also away (checking in by cell phone)…love all the comments!</p>
<p>Completely missed the soap powder repeat.</p>
<p>Agree there was a skeptical tone regarding religion…reminded of Cavendish’s escape note torn to pieces by the Reverend. Good points about the Abesses providing spiritual comfort.</p>
<p>Mary, have a most excellent time with your D and thank you for the link!</p>
<p>I, too, am reading another dystopin novel (Wool)…how strange!</p>
<p>sorry for any typos I have made today, in the past and in the future!</p>
<p>Ooh, must go look for Riddley Walker!</p>
<p>Jaylynn, when I first started “Riddley Walker,” I was a perplexed by some of the language, particularly an impenetrable chant that appears in the first few pages. </p>
<p>But there is a website that has great annotations on the book! It got me over the initial stumbling block, and now I’m really into it.</p>
<p>[Riddley</a> Walker Annotations](<a href=“http://www.errorbar.net/rw/]Riddley”>Riddley Walker Annotations)</p>
<p>I just realized that David Mitchell tweaked those of us who were hoping for a bit more optimism. Louisa Rey discusses her interview with Hitchcock, who tells her that his best works “scare riders out of their wits” but leave them “giggling and eager for another ride” at the end. “So long as the Bates Motel is sealed off from our world, we want to peer in, like a scorpion enclosure. But a film that shows the world is a Bates Motel, well that’s…the stuff of Buchenwald, dystopia, depression. We’ll dip our toes in a predatory, amoral, godless universe–but only our toes.”</p>
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<p>This reminds me of A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (has anyone read it?). Sacred “relics” of the revered Saint Isaac Leibowitz are found, including a mysterious writing with the words Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels—bring home for Emma. </p>
<p>To us, a shopping list; in the post-apocalyptic future, a holy martyr’s sacred relic.</p>
<p>It does make you wonder about the things we believe and don’t believe in our various faith traditions. </p>
<p>There are parts of Cloud Atlas that reminded me of A Canticle for Leibowitz, mostly in the Sloosha’s Crossing section. Here is a quote from early in Canticle, when a post-apocalypse survivor in the distant future discovers the entrance to a 20th century Fallout shelter. The passage has echoes of Sloosha’s Crossing’s Fall references, deformed infants, and old Georgie, as well as the incomplete understanding of the nuclear catastrophe that took place eons earlier: </p>
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<p>A Canticle for Liebowitz is a great read–I thought of it, too.</p>
<p>A recent book with some interesting science/religion themes (as well as a truly unusual setting) is Anathem by Neal Stephenson. (Also available in a good audio version.)</p>
<p>I had heard that both “Riddley Walker” and “A Canticle for Leibowitz” had elements in common with the Sloosha’s Crossing section of “Cloud Atlas,” but until recently I had not sought out either one.</p>
<p>In reading about those two other books, my impression was that “Riddley Walker” has possibly been the one more highly rated as literature (?) and so I pursued it first.</p>
<p>From the “Riddley Walker” annotation site:</p>
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<p>The dates of publication:
“Riddley Walker” 1981.
“Canticle for Leibowitz” 1997.
“Cloud Atlas” 2004.</p>
<p>“Riddley Walker” is perhaps the most original…though “Cloud Atlas” is of course fabulous and much more expansive. “Canticle for Leibowitz” does sound interesting.</p>
<p>A Canticle for Liebowitz was published in 1960. A sequel (not as good) was pubished in 1997.</p>
<p>A Canticle for Leibowitz was first published in 1960. A lot of people love it; I think it’s highly overrated and not well-written, but that’s just me. :)</p>
<p>ETA: Hunt beat me to it. And I loved Riddley Walker.</p>