Cloud Atlas

By: David Mitchell

Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith, Charles Collingwood, Jane Collingwood

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan's California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified 'dinery server' on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation; the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each others' echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

In his extraordinary third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity's dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

©2005 David Mitchell (P)2005 Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"David Mitchell has fast established himself as a novelist of considerable authority and power... Anyone who read his remarkable debut, or its successor, number9dream, will instantly recognise the characteristic moves and bold gestures of this amazing extravaganza. His novels have a gleefully kleptomaniac air, moving from the most tawdry thrills to thunderous, visionary spectacle; they are unlike anything else, and you emerge from them dazed, amazed, unsure of the exact nature of the overwhelming experience... a tremendous novel... Cloud Atlas is one of the most shamelessly exciting books imaginable... Mitchell is a novelist who knows exactly what he is doing, and one who is always one or two steps ahead of the reader; and at the end it seems to evaporate like the best dream you ever had." (Philip Hensher, Spectator)

Many stories all join together

This was a difficult book to read, hearing the different chapters and the different people made it much easier to understand.

A Novel in Babuschka Doll Form

Would you consider the audio edition of Cloud Atlas to be better than the print version?

I read the book years ago, so this was my second time around. The audio edition was brilliant, as the novel contains 6 stories folding in and then out of each other and having each story's narrator voiced individually really brought each one to life in a unique way.

Amazing

Watched the movie so many times. Finally decided to get the Audio book. Would like a copy of the physical book as well.
Narrating brilliant.
Storyline amazing
So glad I finally got it.

Huhhhh???????????

Very artsy farsty, with hidden meaning everywhere. The individual stories at some points where confusing, and then to mesh them together, it just didn't work for me. I loved The Thousand Autumns so I was disappointed with this.

Do your homework

What disappointed you about Cloud Atlas?

As I started reading, I realised this was the abridged version. I always read the full version. Unfortunately, the unabridged version is not available where I live, so I had to buy the book. Didn't get around to reading it in time to return it. My fault for not checking. Have since read the book & it was amazing - I can only imagine that anyone reading the abridged version wold be totally confused, as many people who watched the movie without reading the book were.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Didn't spend enough time on the book to comment

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I didn't finish reading it so, cannot comment.