auggiet's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
beautiful !! some parts were slower than others depending on your preference of story telling and genre, but as a whole this book far exceeded my expectations after seeing some not-so-great reviews. the commentary on cyclicality and self-destruction on historical scales and in individual instances feels like something ive been trying to put into words myself for a while now. definitely a book that ill be thinking about for a long time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Drug use, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Murder, Death, Vomit, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Xenophobia, War, Drug abuse, Racism, Car accident, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Dementia, Grief, and Gun violence
frogggirl2's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This reads like a series of loosely connected short stories and, like any short story collection, some pieces are better than others. It feels quite disjointed at first but as you go along the connections become more and more apparent.
The writing is great. There's a lot of substance here, but, for me there's just too much content. This point has been made more clearly in other works. The waters here just get too muddied - there's just too many plots to effectively convey the thesis.
**Also, a lot of racism, indicative of the period and disavowed by the book, but unpleasant.
The writing is great. There's a lot of substance here, but, for me there's just too much content. This point has been made more clearly in other works. The waters here just get too muddied - there's just too many plots to effectively convey the thesis.
**Also, a lot of racism, indicative of the period and disavowed by the book, but unpleasant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Addiction, Self harm, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery
freedryk's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Racism
Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Violence, Drug use, Suicide, Mental illness, Gun violence, Murder, and Misogyny
wordsaremything's review
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Years ago, I remember watching Cloud Atlas and being utterly confused. Most of it has left my brain, which made this book like reading something for the first time, thankfully. I had heard Cloud Atlas recommended in the same sentences as Station Eleven, my very favorite book. Recently, it was used to describe How High We Go in the DarkHow High We Go In the Dark, which is also a favorite of mine. I decided it was time to try it.
It took me almost a week to read the first 70 pages, and in a 500 page novel, that is slow-going. I struggled to connect to Adam Ewing and his style of writing (and his utter disregard for anyone of color — he bleeps out "damned" in his journal but not n-----?). I then struggled to connect to Robert Frobisher, thinking "Geez, another boring white boy whining about his spot in life." It was with Luisa that I felt things finally grabbed me, and from then on, I was able to stay engaged the rest of the book.
It was an effort to get used to Zachry's way of speaking, and you have to read it aloud in your head to understand what's happening. I don't think I've ever read something with so many different styles of writing. Each world that Mitchell is in feels wholly different than the one before it or the one after it. Once I passed Zachry, I found myself interested in each world more acutely than on the way in, though the only character that I never quite cared about was Cavendish.
I have been noticing over the last year that I have been drawn to novels not because of their characters or plot but because of the moral, the lesson, the "aha" that is snuck in through a character's internal monologue or a lecture they sit through. This novel's lesson is about power. Each character struggles against power in some way, and the quotes I highlighted are from across the individual chapters:
What moral to draw? Peace, though beloved of our Lord, is a cardinal virtue only if your neighbors share your conscience.
Yet how is it some men attain mastery over others while the vast majority live and die as minions, as livestock? The answer is a holy trinity. First: God-given gifts of charisma. Second: the discipline to nurture these gifts to maturity, for though humanity's topsoil is fertile with talent, only one seed in ten thousand will ever flower—for want of discipline. Third: the will to power. This is the enigma at the core of the various destinies of men. What drives some to accrue power where the majority of their compatriots lose, mishandle, or eschew power? Is it addiction? Wealth? survival? Natural selection? I propose these are all pretexts and results, not the root cause. The only answer can be 'There is no 'Why.'"
Valleysmen'd not want to hear that human hunger birthed the Civ'lize, but human hunger killed it too. I know it from other tribes offland what I stayed with. Times are you say a person's b'liefs ain't true, they think you're saying' their lifes ain't true an' their truth ain't true.
But beyond being a novel about power, it's also a novel about how history repeats itself, and loops back on itself, and a story can be within a story within a story within a story. Humanity learns the same lessons over and over and over. And even when we aren't human, we learn them. In Sonmi's first chapter, she is told:
"These .... xistential qualms you suffer, they just mean you're truly human."
I asked how I might remedy them.
"You don't remedy them. You live thru them."
As a final note, Mitchell knows exactly what he is doing, and in a meta, wink-wink-nudge-nudge moment, has Frobisher write:
In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor: in the second each interruption is recontinued, in order. Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished...
I certainly haven't read anything like this before. It was reminiscent of Interstellar, or Inception — a plot you can only understand upon further reflection, and even then, are you sure you get it?
As a very final note: though not included in the book (because it's music), the Cloud Atlas Sextet that was composed for the movie is absolutely stunning, and makes you feel.... alive? Ready for death? Like you're standing in the middle of the ocean? I saw all of these comments on the track on YouTube and somehow they all fit.
It took me almost a week to read the first 70 pages, and in a 500 page novel, that is slow-going. I struggled to connect to Adam Ewing and his style of writing (and his utter disregard for anyone of color — he bleeps out "damned" in his journal but not n-----?). I then struggled to connect to Robert Frobisher, thinking "Geez, another boring white boy whining about his spot in life." It was with Luisa that I felt things finally grabbed me, and from then on, I was able to stay engaged the rest of the book.
It was an effort to get used to Zachry's way of speaking, and you have to read it aloud in your head to understand what's happening. I don't think I've ever read something with so many different styles of writing. Each world that Mitchell is in feels wholly different than the one before it or the one after it. Once I passed Zachry, I found myself interested in each world more acutely than on the way in, though the only character that I never quite cared about was Cavendish.
I have been noticing over the last year that I have been drawn to novels not because of their characters or plot but because of the moral, the lesson, the "aha" that is snuck in through a character's internal monologue or a lecture they sit through. This novel's lesson is about power. Each character struggles against power in some way, and the quotes I highlighted are from across the individual chapters:
What moral to draw? Peace, though beloved of our Lord, is a cardinal virtue only if your neighbors share your conscience.
Yet how is it some men attain mastery over others while the vast majority live and die as minions, as livestock? The answer is a holy trinity. First: God-given gifts of charisma. Second: the discipline to nurture these gifts to maturity, for though humanity's topsoil is fertile with talent, only one seed in ten thousand will ever flower—for want of discipline. Third: the will to power. This is the enigma at the core of the various destinies of men. What drives some to accrue power where the majority of their compatriots lose, mishandle, or eschew power? Is it addiction? Wealth? survival? Natural selection? I propose these are all pretexts and results, not the root cause. The only answer can be 'There is no 'Why.'"
Valleysmen'd not want to hear that human hunger birthed the Civ'lize, but human hunger killed it too. I know it from other tribes offland what I stayed with. Times are you say a person's b'liefs ain't true, they think you're saying' their lifes ain't true an' their truth ain't true.
But beyond being a novel about power, it's also a novel about how history repeats itself, and loops back on itself, and a story can be within a story within a story within a story. Humanity learns the same lessons over and over and over. And even when we aren't human, we learn them. In Sonmi's first chapter, she is told:
"These .... xistential qualms you suffer, they just mean you're truly human."
I asked how I might remedy them.
"You don't remedy them. You live thru them."
As a final note, Mitchell knows exactly what he is doing, and in a meta, wink-wink-nudge-nudge moment, has Frobisher write:
In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor: in the second each interruption is recontinued, in order. Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished...
I certainly haven't read anything like this before. It was reminiscent of Interstellar, or Inception — a plot you can only understand upon further reflection, and even then, are you sure you get it?
As a very final note: though not included in the book (because it's music), the Cloud Atlas Sextet that was composed for the movie is absolutely stunning, and makes you feel.... alive? Ready for death? Like you're standing in the middle of the ocean? I saw all of these comments on the track on YouTube and somehow they all fit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Misogyny, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Drug use, and Cannibalism
thembojoebiden's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Rape
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
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