Cloud Atlas is not a mystery in the traditional "who dunnit" sense. Rather it is a puzzle -- a set of inter-related, cleverly-told stories that point out the similarities and inevitabilities of human nature. It's a brilliantly crafted novel, one that belongs in any serious reader's library.
Adam Ewing
The first tale is related in a set of journal entries by a 19th century California notary on his way home from a trek to the South Seas to find the beneficiary of a will. En route, he is marooned on an island for a week while his ship makes repairs and meets and befriends an English doctor as well as a native man.
Robert Frobisher
The tale of Robert Frobisher, ne'er-do-well musical student in the 1930s, is related in a set of letters from Frobisher to his friend Sixsmith. Frobisher, disowned by his family, expelled from the university, and hounded by creditors, decides to hide in Belgium for some months as the musical aide to an aging and ailing composer. His offer is accepted and he becomes intertwined with the household's customs and eccentricities.
Luisa Rey
"Half Lives: Luisa Rey" is structured as a pulp mystery. On the surface it is a tale of corporate greed, intrigue, and excess. Underneath, it reinforces the author's theme of the continuity and the inevitability of life. In this tale, set in 1980s California, we again meet Sixsmith from the previous chapter, who is now a well-regarded physicist in his 70s.
Timothy Cavendish
Fast-forwarding to present-day English, we meet Timothy Cavendish, a vanity book publisher, harassed by his ex-wife, relatives, and creditors. The story of his trials becomes the basis for a screenplay.
Sonmi-451
Moving into the future, David Mitchell takes up where George Orwell and Aldous Huxley left off. His future is one run by corporations, where clones (fabricants), such as Sonmi-451, are constructed to perform service jobs, where all-seeing "Eyes" which citizens from regular vantage points, and where each citizen has a spending quota to fill each month. It's a bleak world, but one not too difficult to imagine.
After the Apocalypse
The final scenario takes up to Mitchell's view of the world following a nuclear war. Societies, language, and skills are primitive and various pockets of survivors vie for the world's limited resources. It's an eerie look at what might be our future.
This clever novel is structured so that the reader samples each of these tales before learning of the ending. That strings from each story appear in the next is an intriguing way to tie them all together and to dismiss the differences of time and place.
Cloud Atlas was shortlisted for Britain's Booker Prize in 2004 and it's easy to see why it was selected. No word here is selected at random, even the created ones. All words add to the tone, the mood, and the ultimate story of this novel. It you haven't read Cloud Atlas, pick up a copy. It's that rare novel that entertains while imparting its message.
About David Mitchell
David Mitchell is a British writer, the author of four novels, two of which have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His most recent work is the 2006 novel, Black Swan Green. After years in Japan, he now lives in Cork, Ireland with his wife and two children. (David Mitchell is no relation to this reviewer.)
Related Links
- Shop for your own copy of Cloud Atlas
- Never Let Me Go by Booker Prize winner Ishiguro
- The Short List for the 2006 Booker Prize
