At this point I have read up to page 142 in my version of the book, or through The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, Letters from Zedelghem, and Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery. To say the least, Cloud Atlas' beginning is confusing. Switching narrators or points of view in between chapters has become a widespread literary technique, yet Cloud Atlas takes it to the next level. The first section, The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing is exactly what it sounds like: Adam Ewing's diary chronicling his time in the Pacific Ocean. Yet the diary suddenly drops off by saying "I decided to conduct a short Bible Reading in his cabin in the 'lower church' of Ocean Bay's congregation, 'astraddle' the forenoon & morning watches so both starboard & port shifts might" and ending at the bottom of the page instead of at the end of the sentence (Mitchell 39). Looking back, though, Mitchell's stylistic choice of ending midsentence makes more sense when the reader pictures it as the last pages of his diary being ripped out or missing. In addition to the abruptness on the Ewing side of the transition, starting Letters from Zedelghem is awkward. The letters are addressed to a mysterious Sixsmith and the narrator is unrecognizable. More importantly, between the space of a page the reader teleports from Adam Ewing's California Gold Rush Era to 1931. The next story change to Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery is less sudden: Though it takes place in about the late 1970's and Luisa Rey is the lead character, it begins with a man identifiable as Sixsmith.
While writing several different loosely connected stories that traverse time is an unusual choice, Mitchell's ability to switch styles with each new story is truly impressive. Each character has their own distinct voice, which is especially important in a book like Cloud Atlas with so many characters. Adams Ewing writes in his diary with stiff older English and abbreviations that practically require you to have a dictionary next to you. Robert Frobisher, the writer of the Letters from Zedelghem, has a cocky undertone, and, since Zedelghem is in Belgium, the section is interspersed with French (I found it helpful to have taken high school French, but that's certainly not necessary). In the final section I read, Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery, it even switched from a first person narrative to a novel thriller style, complete with many chapter. In short, Cloud Atlas is a book with many elements, and the reader has to pay attention to catch Mitchell's subtleties.
While writing several different loosely connected stories that traverse time is an unusual choice, Mitchell's ability to switch styles with each new story is truly impressive. Each character has their own distinct voice, which is especially important in a book like Cloud Atlas with so many characters. Adams Ewing writes in his diary with stiff older English and abbreviations that practically require you to have a dictionary next to you. Robert Frobisher, the writer of the Letters from Zedelghem, has a cocky undertone, and, since Zedelghem is in Belgium, the section is interspersed with French (I found it helpful to have taken high school French, but that's certainly not necessary). In the final section I read, Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery, it even switched from a first person narrative to a novel thriller style, complete with many chapter. In short, Cloud Atlas is a book with many elements, and the reader has to pay attention to catch Mitchell's subtleties.
A good overview of the plot and structure of the book. You mention that there are some subtelties the reader has to pay attention to. I'll be interested to see what you think those are.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you see linking these various narrators/stories, both more literally as well as thematically?