Medusa LBC
Date: Wednesday 10th of October 2012
Time: 7:30pm
Address: 8-10 Town Street, Horsforth, Leeds
Discussing:
CLOUD ATLAS
DAVID MITCHELL (not that one)
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *
Cloud Atlas is no ordinary novel. It contains six stories that take the reader from the nineteenth century South Pacific to a post-apocalyptic future. These stories nest within each other with the chief protagonist featuring in the next stage of the story.
An added twist of the narrative structure means that we move forward in time only to start at where we began.
That beginning starts with Adam Ewing, a lawyer, who finds himself passing time on a Pacific island whilst his ship is being repaired. Whilst there, Ewing learns of the enslavement of the Moiriori tribe by the vicious Maori. His closest confidant is Henry Goose, a doctor who it transpires is slowly poisoning him in to access his supposed wealth. Set in the 1800s it evokes a time of exploration and discovery such as Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos Islands along with references to Herman Melville.
The journals of Adam Ewing are discovered by the next character, a young impoverished musician called Robert Frobisher. He is studying under the tutorlege of a Delius-like composer, Vyvyan Ayers. He finds the journal in Ayers’ extensive library. Frobisher is a character the reader warms to even though he becomes involved in morally dubious trysts and disposes of rare volumes from the library for his own financial gain. Finding himself in a dead-end as a result of various activities,
Frobisher takes his own life. He leaves his Cloud Atlas symphony to his friend (and implied lover) Rufus Sixsmith with whom he has been in correspondence.
The symphony attracts the attention of Luisa Rey who features in the next segment, set in the Watergate-era of the conspiracy ridden 1970s. Rey is an investigative reporter looking into the shady workings of a nuclear power station- one of her informants is Sixsmith from the previous story. The prose in this section is knowingly easy airport-novel-style and reminds the reader of movies such as All the Kings Men and The Parallax View. Despite various clichéd set-backs it is never in any doubt that our heroine will prevail in the end.
‘The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish’ is set in the present day. It tells the story of a publisher who finds one of his books becoming a bestseller when its thuggish author throws a reviewer off a roof. This has repercussions when author’s thuggish
brothers demand a bigger cut of the spoils. Cavendish finds himself on the run and in Hull where he ends up trapped in a nightmarish high security nursing home.
Eventually he masterminds an escape plan that provides him into a safe, wealthy retirement. Cavendish was generally considered the least sympathetic of all of the Cloud Atlas characters. When we arrive at the "happy ending" for him there is a feeling it is rushed and all a bit too neat.
With ‘An Orison of Somni~451’ we are thrown into a dystopian future, following the life of a genetically-bred service industry slave. In the course of her narrative she evolves beyond her original function to become a focal point for the abolitionist
cause. It is set in a futuristic Korea with suitably dark Orwellian and Huxley-esque overtones. It is an unsettling tale, made all the more chilling when we consider what already happens, be it the factory-cities in China or the huge service underclass in Singapore. Dystopia is all the more striking when we see its origins in the present day.
‘Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After’ is a grim post-apocalyptic narrative set on the island of Hawaii where life has reverted to the days of tribal pre-civilization.
Zachry meets Meronym - a mysterious stranger from an advanced tribe from across the seas. After some initial scepticism he is won over when she helps liberate him from the marauding savages. The language used in this section requires concentration (similar to that used in A Clockwork Orange or Trainspotting) but it
serves its purpose well. This episode effectively takes us back to where we began with its savagery in the Pacific Ocean.
This is a book which is loaded with themes and open to interpretations. Accordingly to the author all of the main characters, bar one, are reincarnations of the same soul in different bodies throughout the novel. They also share the same “6” birthmark. The number "six" is a recurring theme throughout the novel. There are six interlocking stories, the Cloud Atlas sextet, Sixsmith is the name of a main character (aged 66)
Cavendish is sixty-something years old, Sonmi recites Six Catechisms, Zachry's rolls a “six'n'six “when playing dice. The list goes on. The book is all about beginnings and endings, constants and change, future memories and certainly has lofty ambitions.
Whether the book succeeds in meeting its goals is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps in the end it is best regarded as a loosely-connected collection of stories and try not to dwell on the more metaphysical aspects covered.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
14 - Mar - Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
13 - Feb - The Black House - Peter May - Postphoned
12 - Jan - The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - GUEST
11 - Nov - Empire of the Sun - JG Ballard
10 - Oct - Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (not *that* one)
09 - Sep - Before I go to sleep - S.J. Watson
08 - Aug - 9 Lives - Clive Rusher
07 - Jul - Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
06 - Jun - A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - GUEST
For this chat, LeedsBookClub is delighted to welcome @howardhues to the Guest Star Super Star list!
I for one am hoping that we'll be hearing from him again soon.
Thanks!
THE BLURB (from Amazon)
I for one am hoping that we'll be hearing from him again soon.
Thanks!
THE BLURB (from Amazon)
A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles of genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.
An added twist of the narrative structure means that we move forward in time only to start at where we began.
That beginning starts with Adam Ewing, a lawyer, who finds himself passing time on a Pacific island whilst his ship is being repaired. Whilst there, Ewing learns of the enslavement of the Moiriori tribe by the vicious Maori. His closest confidant is Henry Goose, a doctor who it transpires is slowly poisoning him in to access his supposed wealth. Set in the 1800s it evokes a time of exploration and discovery such as Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos Islands along with references to Herman Melville.
The journals of Adam Ewing are discovered by the next character, a young impoverished musician called Robert Frobisher. He is studying under the tutorlege of a Delius-like composer, Vyvyan Ayers. He finds the journal in Ayers’ extensive library. Frobisher is a character the reader warms to even though he becomes involved in morally dubious trysts and disposes of rare volumes from the library for his own financial gain. Finding himself in a dead-end as a result of various activities,
Frobisher takes his own life. He leaves his Cloud Atlas symphony to his friend (and implied lover) Rufus Sixsmith with whom he has been in correspondence.
The symphony attracts the attention of Luisa Rey who features in the next segment, set in the Watergate-era of the conspiracy ridden 1970s. Rey is an investigative reporter looking into the shady workings of a nuclear power station- one of her informants is Sixsmith from the previous story. The prose in this section is knowingly easy airport-novel-style and reminds the reader of movies such as All the Kings Men and The Parallax View. Despite various clichéd set-backs it is never in any doubt that our heroine will prevail in the end.
‘The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish’ is set in the present day. It tells the story of a publisher who finds one of his books becoming a bestseller when its thuggish author throws a reviewer off a roof. This has repercussions when author’s thuggish
brothers demand a bigger cut of the spoils. Cavendish finds himself on the run and in Hull where he ends up trapped in a nightmarish high security nursing home.
Eventually he masterminds an escape plan that provides him into a safe, wealthy retirement. Cavendish was generally considered the least sympathetic of all of the Cloud Atlas characters. When we arrive at the "happy ending" for him there is a feeling it is rushed and all a bit too neat.
With ‘An Orison of Somni~451’ we are thrown into a dystopian future, following the life of a genetically-bred service industry slave. In the course of her narrative she evolves beyond her original function to become a focal point for the abolitionist
cause. It is set in a futuristic Korea with suitably dark Orwellian and Huxley-esque overtones. It is an unsettling tale, made all the more chilling when we consider what already happens, be it the factory-cities in China or the huge service underclass in Singapore. Dystopia is all the more striking when we see its origins in the present day.
‘Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After’ is a grim post-apocalyptic narrative set on the island of Hawaii where life has reverted to the days of tribal pre-civilization.
Zachry meets Meronym - a mysterious stranger from an advanced tribe from across the seas. After some initial scepticism he is won over when she helps liberate him from the marauding savages. The language used in this section requires concentration (similar to that used in A Clockwork Orange or Trainspotting) but it
serves its purpose well. This episode effectively takes us back to where we began with its savagery in the Pacific Ocean.
This is a book which is loaded with themes and open to interpretations. Accordingly to the author all of the main characters, bar one, are reincarnations of the same soul in different bodies throughout the novel. They also share the same “6” birthmark. The number "six" is a recurring theme throughout the novel. There are six interlocking stories, the Cloud Atlas sextet, Sixsmith is the name of a main character (aged 66)
Cavendish is sixty-something years old, Sonmi recites Six Catechisms, Zachry's rolls a “six'n'six “when playing dice. The list goes on. The book is all about beginnings and endings, constants and change, future memories and certainly has lofty ambitions.
Whether the book succeeds in meeting its goals is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps in the end it is best regarded as a loosely-connected collection of stories and try not to dwell on the more metaphysical aspects covered.
Score
8/10
Book the Next:
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
J.G. BALLARD
Date: Wednesday 14th of November 2012
Time: 7:30pm
Address: 8-10 Town Street, Horsforth, Leeds
For further details, please email me at leedsbookclub@gmail.com or tweet me @LeedsBookClub!
Contact the bar on @MedusaBar
Contact the bar on @MedusaBar
And feel free to let us know your thoughts using #MedusaLBC!
* * * * *
2012 - MedusaLBC
14 - Mar - Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
13 - Feb - The Black House - Peter May - Postphoned
12 - Jan - The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - GUEST
11 - Nov - Empire of the Sun - JG Ballard
10 - Oct - Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (not *that* one)
09 - Sep - Before I go to sleep - S.J. Watson
08 - Aug - 9 Lives - Clive Rusher
07 - Jul - Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
06 - Jun - A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving - GUEST
05 - May - The Life of Pi - Yann Martel
04 - Apr - Diary of a Nobody - George Grossmith
03 - Mar - We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver
01 - Jan - Ragnarok - AS Byatt
An exciting new project! - Medusa LeedsBookClub
* * * * *
Book Club - Table of Contents
* * * * *
Full Table of Contents
0 comments :
Post a Comment