Search - Cloud Atlas

This reads too much like an exercise for a college class... very well written but cerebral and unfriendly.

This book is amazing--one of my all-time favorites and I strongly recommend it. Most of the interconnecting stories are split in half so that the whole of the narrative moves forward and then backward in time. My only caveat is that you do need to have plenty of reading time available before you start, as this is not a good book to put down for long stretches.

This book is divided by character; five specific characters spread over a time line of past eras, the present era, and future eras. The stories move forward from past to future and then reverse to revisit the same characters in opposite order. This book is a project. I read it, and read it, and kept reading it. Finally, I finished, and I was happy I finished all the way through - More though for the accomplishment of it rather than the story itself. I would have hated to have invested so many hours only to put it down half way through. I was only tempted to stop though due to the daunting length, and slow pace; not due to the stories.

There were very profound moments along the way. I especially enjoyed the story lines that are set in the future as they make the reader reflect back on our actions of today and how they will impact the future.

I think this is a book that will loved by some and unloved by some. As for me, I am undecided, borderline indifferent. My best recommendation is to read it for yourself and see. There is something for everyone. Is it worth the while it takes to accomplish this massive project? That is questionable.

Very hard to describe the contents, as it's very original in style.

"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 other's echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small."

Finalist for the Man Booker Prize. Several interwoven short stories show vast connections.

Interesting concept. The book is comprised of what is really several different stories contained within a central idea. It's hard to explain, you really just have to read it for yourself.