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Cloud Atlas

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Cloud Atlas

By: David Mitchell
Narrated by: Garrick Hagon, Jeff Harding, Steve Hodson, Regina Reagan, Liza Ross, David Thorpe
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About this listen

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell's best-selling Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel which was also one of Richard & Judy's 100 Books of the Decade, has now been adapted for film. The major motion picture, directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and Andy Wachowski, stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Doona Bae, James D'Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, and Hugh Grant.

The novel features six characters in interlocking stories, each interrupting the one before it: a reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan's California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified dinery server on death row; and Zachry, a young Pacific islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation.

The narrators of Cloud Atlas hear one another's echoes down the corridor of history and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Mitchell's other novels are Ghostwritten, Number9Dream, Black Swan Green and The Thousand Autums of Jacob de Zoet, all published by Sceptre.

©2005 David Mitchell (P)2007 RNIB Publishing Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction
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I read the paper version of this back in the day and decided to listen to the Audible because I noticed that their was a new film adaptation. I was engrossed. The voice actors were flawless. This is a perfect example where the audio experience enhances and surpasses the original. I had a memorable time listening to this story whilst skateboarding in nature.
The theme of transmigration/re-incarnation reminded me of Mishima's "Sea of Fertitility".
Listen to this before watching the movie.

The production values are impressive

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This literary work, woven around archetypes which dwell a few choices from each of us. The readers are exceptional, transporting me into their worlds with skill.

This is not some light tome... I found it unsuitable for multitask-listening other than (in my case at least) driving. This is not a negative - the tale warrants respectful attention and takes 21hours to fully develop its characters and its threads into this rich tapestry.

An exceptional book which I enjoyed very much - for me, made far better AFTER seeing the film.

Beautifully told by exceptional readers.

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A few chapters have quite a lot of swearing.

The stories were interesting but I found it a bit of a slog to get all the way through and tie it all together.

Language warning

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Such a shame about the first narrator. He reads like a school boy struggling to understand the words. I can go no further than a couple of tedious hours of listening. It is painful. I cannot rate the story as I cannot listen any more.

Cannot listen!

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Superb narration by all the participants .
...the novel always challenging your mind when you are reading it and when you are not reading it. Wonderful stories and characters,I could not wait for to read some more. I will be ready it again. Congratulations to author and congratulations to narrators.
EJ

A riveting experience

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The dispronunciation of te reo Māori made the book hard to listen to. overall the story was good.

Te Reo was terrible

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4.5 stars. Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite movies, and I listened to the book knowing the film version well. It's of course far more detailed, and my half star discount is simply that in some threads in the book, I think the asides and structure would not have held my interest without already knowing the story from the movie. I find the two future threads the most compelling, and the Cavendish thread the most entertaining, so when these form the middle of the book, the beginning and end can't quite compare. The ambition of the work is startling, however, a must read purely to marvel at the distinction of the voices and worlds.

Amazing story, ably performed

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5 Completely different stories took me to different space and time, yet so brilliantly woven together to ponder on the essence of life itself.

One of the best novels

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Apart from David Thorpe’s excellent narration of Letters from Zedelghem, and Regina Reagan’s decent enough Luisa Rey mystery (save for her awful Spanish pronunciation) this book is butchered by narrators who often have little to no feeling for the story.

Whomever directed this clearly didn’t read the book properly. Maybe the worst example is the Sonmi chapter, the Orison is a recording device used by the Archivist, who is person…but this renders Sonmi’s interlocutor as an indecipherable computerised speech to text device.

Sloosha’s crossing is supposed to be retold with a post-apocalyptic pidgin, but here it is narrated (or rather shouted) by a drunken elderly cowboy.

What a waste.

Yet another multiple narrator fail.

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a moral treatise.
explores the human condition and the ripples of assumed reincarnation.
voice acting was overall fantastic but the first chapters reader a little stilted.
worth a listen if only for the variety of each lifetime across generations.

hard work but worth it

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