Although the action all takes place on planet Earth, the (sometimes) futuristic setting, to say nothing of the jaw-dropping quality of the writing, make this an out of this world selection. Cloud Atlas is five separate stories, sewn together by tiny, clever threads. The structure of the larger plot could be called a double helix, which is fitting in that Mitchell wants us to consider our DNA as a species: are we doomed to destroy one another? can we overcome our destructive tendencies?
I've never read anything like this. Each story is entirely distinct in setting, time period, style, and most importantly, voice. After reading Mitchell's Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, I learned that he has struggled with stuttering throughout his life. There's beautiful cosmic justice there, since he sure as heck can speak fluently on the page. We hear the voices of the last Moriori, an L.A.-noirish journalist, a privileged Oxbridge musician, a test-tube slave, and a London vanity publisher, and they all come through loud and clear.
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