In 'Cloud Atlas,' David Mitchell weaves a complex tapestry of interconnected stories spanning centuries and genres, from a 19th-century voyage on the Pacific to a post-apocalyptic future. Each narrative links to the others, creating a profound exploration of the impact of our choices across time and space. As characters reincarnate and influence one another, mysterious themes of love, power, and freedom emerge. The novel raises intriguing questions about the nature of time and existence, urging readers to consider their own place in the grand design. With its inventive structure and lyrical prose, 'Cloud Atlas' invites you to unravel the delicate threads that connect us all.
By David Mitchell
Published: 2012
"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A timeless, structure-bending classic that explores how actions of individual lives impact the past, present and future—from a postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in fiction One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. The novel careens, with dazzling virtuosity, to Belgium in 1931, to the West Coast in the 1970s, to an inglorious present-day England, to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok, and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn’t end even there. The novel boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, David Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a video game, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.
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“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”
Cloud Atlas
By David Mitchell
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
David Mitchell is a renowned British author known for his intricately woven narratives that blend elements of literary fiction, speculative fiction, and historical fiction. He gained international acclaim with his novel 'Cloud Atlas' (2004), which interlinks six disparate stories across different time periods and genres, demonstrating his mastery of structure and narrative complexity. Other notable works include 'Ghostwritten' (1999), 'Black Swan Green' (2006), 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' (2010), 'The Bone Clocks' (2014), and 'Utopia Avenue' (2020). Mitchell’s writing style is characterized by its thematic depth, lyrical prose, and innovative storytelling techniques, often exploring concepts of time, identity, and interconnectedness.
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