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This popular novel, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, is the most challenging reading I have done in a long time. I plan to watch the movie to see if it clears some of the confusion up for me because much of the book I just really didn't get. The novel would require a great deal of both intelligence and education to grasp all the concepts. People like me can enjoy the six story lines and get some of the points but the book goes much deeper than that. Perhaps one needs to read it more than once or read it with a group that discusses it bit by bit as they read sections of it prior to discussions. Many quotes from the book can be found HERE and one favorite is:
“Why fight the 'natural' (oh, weaselly word!) order of things? Why? Because of this--one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.”
The book starts out in the 19th century with the first character and proceeds through time until the final character is far in the future. Many of the same questions and themes repeat in each era and the same souls are coming back in the different time frames. That is where I got lost. I could not tell which people were which in subsequent time periods and I think the movie will help with that as the actors faces will fill in that missing piece for me. My favorite of the six stories was the vanity publisher that was admitted to a convalescent home against his will. I found that part of the novel very amusing. And when he and three of the other residents escaped I stayed up way to late reading that part.
Click on the title and the author's name above to follow links to more information and enjoy the following video:
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