Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 This thread is intended for the discussion of the novel Cloud Atlas . There is no time limit for completion of the book, nor are you required be a declared member of the book club to participate. Please place any spoilers in the corresponding box until one week per section has elapsed (you can post freely about "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing" on Friday the 13th, which allows to more days for participants to obtain their books, then "Letters from Zedelghem" on the 20th, and so on). You might chime in your participation here, anyway, in order to show your comrades that they're not slogging through it alone. Once the topic gets rolling, tangents are acceptable so long as the discussion comes back to the book eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Tyranicus Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I have downloaded it and put it on my Kindle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk SamSniped Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I'll probably get it Thursday, if I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I'm sure I'll find it illuminating to read along and follow the discussion, though I may not add much to it. Downloaded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I have made a purchase of this novel and plan on reading it next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I need to finish a hundred pages or so in the book I'm currently on, and then I'll go get it. Should be a couple days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk JamesMighty Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Bought and ready to start reading. Count me in on the Club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast VCH Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 ready Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 After finishing the "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing" (or at least the main part of it), in just a couple of hours, allow me to recant my posting rules. Please, just exercise judgement in posting spoilers if the majority of participants don't seem to have made it that far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 Anyone have a chance to sit down with this book yet? I'm just about at the halfway point, wondering how on Earth the second half of the book is going to come together (will the stories link in reverse? Won't it be terribly boring to go all the way back to a story that cut off abruptly ten days ago?). Thus far, I've found myself drawn in to each part (except perhaps the first two) just in time for the next one. I think that there are some overarching themes worthy of discussion, and that each individual text gives a great deal of potential material. I am not yet ready to call it a masterpiece, but neither have I regretted picking it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 I'm a good hunk through the mystery story section. Click to reveal.. (not sure if should be spoiled so playing it safe) I didn't find the first part to be very interesting, but the klepto guy's letter's were cool. Also Sixsmith was awesome. I'll wait on calling out a theme until I'm finished reading. I agree with Act, not a masterpiece but worth the read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 Originally Posted By: Homage ...not a masterpiece but worth the read. This is often my attitude, but is particularly apt in this case. The stories themselves are not terribly revolutionary or clever. The construction is interesting, but far from mind bending. I was hoping that the second half would blur the lines between the parts a bit more. I half expected some sort of circular time thing at the end. As it was, I found it hard to accept that the protagonists were, in fact, reincarnations of the same soul. Nevertheless, there's a great deal here to discuss. The format is intriguing, and each of the parts raises issues that are not without interest. Hopefully, a few of you have read or are currently reading it, and we will be able to generate enough conversation to encourage another club sometime in the undefined future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Goldengirl Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Sorry for necromancing, but I just finished the book. Apparently, there's going to be a film. Here's the trailer. Originally Posted By: Actaeon This is often my attitude, but is particularly apt in this case. The stories themselves are not terribly revolutionary or clever. The construction is interesting, but far from mind bending. I was hoping that the second half would blur the lines between the parts a bit more. I half expected some sort of circular time thing at the end. As it was, I found it hard to accept that the protagonists were, in fact, reincarnations of the same soul. Nevertheless, there's a great deal here to discuss. The format is intriguing, and each of the parts raises issues that are not without interest. Hopefully, a few of you have read or are currently reading it, and we will be able to generate enough conversation to encourage another club sometime in the undefined future. Click to reveal.. At several points in the novel I thought that this book was more of a literary exercise than any particularly great story. David Mitchell proving how versatile he is as a story teller - utilizing six distinct writing styles - with a rather novel concept for organization. This, I think, is what redeems the book when each of the individual stories would fail to be noteworthy otherwise. I liked the Letters from Zedelghem the most, and I think it does the most at combining the stories into an actual novel. Half-Lives did some to continue that idea, with Luisa Rey's idea about reincarnation, but as the Ghastly Ideal of Timothy Cavendish later points out, the evidence is rather weak. Sharing a birthmark does not seem a strong case for reincarnation. Robert Forbisher put the case forward in a much stronger way, though, by utilizing Nietzsche's idea of the eternal recurrence and cyclical time. Even though Mitchell's idea of reincarnation is different, there is enough there to flesh out why the story is as it is. What do you suppose the cloud atlas is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Presented without comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 I have, in fact, begun to suspect that this is one of the rare cases where the film is better than the source work. The casting list is worth a read: Hugo Weaving manages to be a smattering of villains, the guy who finds the Cloud Atlas Sextet for Luisa is the same one that plays Frobisher, and Tom Hanks is in almost every episode. Edit: A belated response to Goldenking's query: I still can't quite figure the point of the title. I'm hoping it will be spelled out a bit more boldly on October 26. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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