It’s happened again. I’ve encountered a book that I can’t shake. Only this time, my reading of the novel was three years ago, and the troubles it caused me were dredged back to the surface of my mind after I watched the film adaptation.
Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell features six connected though incomplete stories of people than span generations and locations. First, we are introduced to Adam Ewing, a lawyer in the 1850s overseeing his father-in-law’s potential slave acquisition. The second follows Robert Frobisher, an aspiring composer of the 1930s working as an amanuensis to the successful Vyvyan Ayrs. We then move to the 1970s as journalist Luisa Rey begins to uncover a story about a power plant. Then, to 2012 in which publishing guru Timothy Cavendish has to cope with the outlandish behavior of one of his authors. In the future, we meet Somni-451, a genetically-engineered clone living in a dystopia. Finally, Zachry from the very distant future comes into play.
I can’t give away the plot. This isn’t a spoilers thing; this is a Roz-is-not-competent=enough-to-even-begin-to-concisely-explain-this kind of thing. Let’s just say that it is delicately interwoven and a little confusing. But don’t let that scare you away. If I got through it, you can, too.
So, why am I haunted by the book after just having watched the movie? Well, the movie harkened back to my reading of the novel, which happened on a family road trip. As the film was playing, I was having flashbacks. I could have told you exactly which part of the flat, flat plains I was traveling on when certain events happened in the book. For some reason, it has really stuck with me. I have to imagine that has a lot to do with the message of the book. Again, this is one of those things I can’t explicate, not because I don’t want to but because I really can’t. I’m not sure what I took away exactly. I mean, sure, I got the major thematic elements, but I have a lingering feeling that Mitchell had more to say. That “more” was just a little better hidden than the surface messages were.
So, instead, I’ll just tell you what I enjoyed about the book. I enjoyed the six interweaving stories. There’s a tale in here for everyone. My favorite was Robert Frobisher – played by the incredible, uber-talented Ben Whishaw in the movie, by the way. Most of the stories are heavy for one reason or another. My second favorite, the story featuring Timothy Cavendish, is deliciously hilarious and relatively uncomplicated. It’s like reaching an oasis after days of desert travel.
I also appreciated the varied writing styles Mitchell used for the differing stories. The most prominent change was in the language. Each generation of characters had a distinct speech pattern. In Zachry’s story, the dialogue was so unique that it took me a while to even figure out what was being said – think Creole or pidgin.
Possibly the part of the novel that has me most confounded is the musical piece that gives the book its title. My favorite Robert Frobisher writes a piece called “Cloud Atlas,” and I find myself incapable of imagining exactly what that would sound like. The piece in the film is fine but not great. I wonder if you’ve read it, what kind of musical piece did you imagine?
Roz Writes 