Cloud Atlas: The epic bestseller, shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Sep 2008 · Hachette UK
4.3star
203 reviews
Ebook
528
Pages
About this ebook
'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENT
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, winner of Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick
'Miraculous'
SUNDAY TIMES
'A masterful feast'
EVENING STANDARD
'Shamelessly exciting'
SPECTATOR
'Remarkable'
GUARDIAN
'Stunning'
DAILY MAIL
A novel of mind-bending imagination and scope from the author of Ghostwritten and Utopia Avenue
Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies . . .
Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.
*Please note that the end of p. 39 and p. 40 are intentionally blank*
PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL
'A thrilling and gifted writer'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'
DAILY MAIL
'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'A superb storyteller'
THE NEW YORKER
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, winner of Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick
'Miraculous'
SUNDAY TIMES
'A masterful feast'
EVENING STANDARD
'Shamelessly exciting'
SPECTATOR
'Remarkable'
GUARDIAN
'Stunning'
DAILY MAIL
A novel of mind-bending imagination and scope from the author of Ghostwritten and Utopia Avenue
Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies . . .
Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.
*Please note that the end of p. 39 and p. 40 are intentionally blank*
PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL
'A thrilling and gifted writer'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'
DAILY MAIL
'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'A superb storyteller'
THE NEW YORKER
Ratings and reviews
4.3
203 reviews
Nigel Holme
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March 31, 2013
I'm not sure I'm altogether convinced that these stories work in unison... With very loosely linked connections and no real solid outcome. I'll acknowledge that the writing at many times amused as well as shocked, but I feel these stories would work just as well as five separate short stories... Mitchell is a very skilled writer without question, but to transport the reader to a new time and place at the moment each story takes on some real meaning is not an experience this reader enjoys.
1 person found this review helpful
Tom Mayer
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September 21, 2013
This book blends the six stories of Adam Ewing, John Frobisher, Louisa Rey, Timothy Cavendish, Sonmi-451 and Zach'ry perfectly and makes you feel as if you've read one big novel yet you know you haven't. I did watch the film before reading this, however, which may have aided my understanding of the potentially complex structure...
BestYiannis
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April 2, 2015
Should have been great but is only OK. The book is a collection of 6 short stories with very tenuous links. I saw the movie afterwards and it recognises this and tries to knit it all together. Not that it should have some cosmic connection but the author hints at this but does not resolve it with any satisfaction. I would recommend it for the Orison of Sonmi story which is fascinating.
2 people found this review helpful
About the author
David Mitchell is the author of the novels Ghostwritten, number9dream, Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, The Bone Clocks, Slade House and Utopia Avenue. He has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize, won the World Fantasy Award, and the John Llewellyn Rhys, Geoffrey Faber Memorial and South Bank Show Literature Prizes, among others. In 2018, he won the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, given in recognition of a writer's entire body of work. His screenwriting credits include the TV shows Pachinko and Sense8, and the movie Matrix: Resurrections.
In addition, David Mitchell together with KA Yoshida has translated from Japanese two autism memoirs by Naoki Higashida: The Reason I Jump and Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight.
He lives in Ireland.
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