Cloud Atlas

I know it's a little premature to start labeling a 500-page book as one of your favorites when you're only on page 46, but I'm really enjoying Cloud Atlas so far. Amazon kept telling me I'd like it, and it sounded interesting (but challenging) based on the reviews. It was also a finalist for the Man Booker Prize in the year in was released. So, I put it on my wishlist, and I got three copies for Christmas.

Although I was enjoying Augusten Burroughs's Dry, I found myself stranded without that book and with one of my three copies of Cloud Atlas. So I broke the one-book-at-a-time rule and began reading.

The novel began with the journal of a man travelling near Australia via ship in the 19th century. Although none of this sounds like something I'd enjoy (19th century, ship voyage, journal entries), David Mitchell manages to mirror a style I don't usually like and keep it compulsively readable. About 40 pages into this section, there is an abrupt mid-sentence ending. I turned the page, and another section was beginning.

This surprise send me immediately back to amazon.com to read the reviews and see what was going on. Apparently the first five sections of the book end midstory. The sixth story is complete. Then, the first five stories are concluded in reverse order.

Each of the six stories is in a totally different setting and uses a different writing style. I've only begun the second section (it takes place in Europe in 1931), and it's obvious that Mitchell is brilliant. This section reads as if it's by another author from another time. And, according to some of the reviews, I haven't even read the best story yet.

I'm now in a somewhat obsessed state where it's almost painful to sit at work without reading. So, instead, I'm ranting about how great the book is in the hopes that someone will understand or maybe even start reading it and share in the fantastic experience.