Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Second reading; first read in 2010.


Some writers can write character dialogue so believable and true-sounding that a reader can forget he is reading the words of a made-up person. Some writers can tell such an interesting story, with all the necessary suspense and pacing, that a reader is compulsively impelled to keep turning the pages. Some writers can include philosophical and ethical ideas in a novel that cause a reader to think about the implications long after the reading is over. Some writers can successfully invent new forms and methods of telling their stories.

David Mitchell does all of the above, all in Cloud Atlas.

On the surface, the novel contains six linked stories, with half of each of the first five given first, then one central story in its entirety, followed by the second half of each of first five in descending order. Confused? It goes like this:

Part 1 and 11 is a journal account written by Adam Ewing, a young notary on a sea voyage in the 1800s. Mitchell writes this portion in the style of Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe, and, indeed, it begins with the finding of footprints in the sand of a South Sea island.

Part 2 and 10 is told in the form of letters from young composer and all-around rake Robert Frobisher to his friend and lover Rufus Sixsmith in 1931, as Frobisher is working for (and stealing from and cuckolding) the ailing master composer Vyvyan Ayrs.

Part 3 and 9 is a third-person thriller in the pop-fiction style, taking place in the 1970s in California. The heroine, Luisa Rey, is a plucky young journalist, who is alerted to the potential dangers of a new nuclear facility by Rufus Sixsmith, one of the scientists who worked on the project, reappearing from the previous story.

Part 4 and 8 is a comic tale set in the 1990s about the publisher Timothy Cavendish, as told in a first-person memoir. Imprisoned by his brother in an old-folks home, he plots a daring escape with some of his fellow "inmates."

Part 5 and 7 jumps to the unnamed future, in a question & answer session between the clone Sonmi-451, who has been sentenced to immolation, and an unnamed Archivist, who is recording the interview. Sonmi-451 has been created to work in Papa Song's restaurant (which resembles McDonald's more than a little) in a world dominated by corporations, where clones are used virtually as slaves and viewed as less than human.

Part 6, the central story told in its entirety in one entry, takes place in an apocalyptic future, as an oral story told by Zachry about his world as one of the most "civilized" tribes of the residents of Big I (Hawaii). Into his world comes Meronym, one of the Prescient who have tried to keep civilization and learning alive.

All of the above are absorbing stories in their own right, but wait, there's more. All are connected in some way. Frobisher from 2 and 10 finds a copy of Ewing's journal (from parts 1 and 11). Rey from 3 and 9 finds the letters written by Frobisher (parts 2 and 10). Cavendish from 4 and 8 receives a copy of the story of Luisa Rey (from 3 and 9)as a potential manuscript to publish. Sonmi-451 from 5 and 7 views a film made from the memoir of Cavendish (in 4 and 8). And Zachry, in 6, views the holographic record of Somni (5 and 7) in an orison given to him by Meronym.

But wait, still more. More than a few clues hint that some of the characters are reincarnations of previous characters, the most obvious clue being the persistence, from character to character, of a comet-shaped birthmark. In the central story, Zachry says, "Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies, an' tho' a cloud's shape nor hue nor size don't stay the same, it's still a cloud an' so is a soul. Who can say where the cloud's blowed from or who the soul'll be 'morrow?...only the atlas of clouds."

More than obvious is the larger message, that history seems to repeat itself endlessly. All the stories feature the themes of human greed and the urge to enslave the less powerful by the more powerful. Not a very uplifting message, except that the last paragraph (as written by the part 1 and 11's Adam Ewing) indicates his vow to fight slavery, even though he is only "one drop in the ocean." He says, "What is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

I could write more and more and more. It is one of those novels which can be read time after time with new insights and delights each time. I was prompted to reread the book after learning that a movie made from the novel was to be released in October and by seeing the trailer, which was very intriguing. I so hope that the movie makers did justice to this most wonderful novel.

This made my "best of" list for Year I of reading on this blog. I can't recommend it too highly!