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Cloud Atlas

The epic bestseller, shortlisted for the Booker Prize

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Cloud Atlas

By: David Mitchell
Narrated by: David Thorpe, Garrick Hagon, Jeff Harding, Liza Ross, Regina Reagan, Steve Hodson
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**Pre-order UTOPIA AVENUE, the spectacular new novel from David Mitchell.**


CLOUD ATLAS, David Mitchell's bestselling 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 each other'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 A THOUSAND AUTUMS OF JACOB DE ZOET, all published by Sceptre.

www.sceptrebooks.com
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(P)2007 RNIB Publishing©2005 David Mitchell Fantasy Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Fiction
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Critic Reviews

Mitchell's almost comically ambitious novel is indeed a kind of cumulus: a wild and woolly condensation of ideas, styles and far-flung milieus whose only true commonality is the reincarnated soul at its center. The book's six nesting narratives - from 1850s New Zealand through 1930s Belgium, groovy California, recent-ish England, dystopian Korea and Hawaii - also often feel like a postmodern puzzle-box that whirls and clicks as its great world(s) spin, throwing off sparks of pulp, philosophy and fervid humanism (100 best books of the 21st century)
A magnificent tour de force
A novel of breathtaking ambition and scale, spanning continents, oceans and centuries
Funny, exciting, imaginative and energetic
A virtuoso performance . . . deeply impressive
The way Mitchell inhabits the different voices of the novel is close to miraculous . . . No other British novelist, to my mind, combines such a darkly futuristic intelligence with such polyphonic ease (Robert Macfarlane)
His most accomplished achievement to date . . . a novel in the biggest, most exhilarating sense
Gloriously inventive and dazzlingly virtuosic
A thrilling ride of a story
Tremendous . . . one of the most shamelessly exciting books imaginable
Stunning . . . One of those rare books that manages to be enormously clever while resisting the temptation to show off
Reassuringly excellent
Engrossing
Mitchell writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel's every page
This isn't just one brilliant book, it's a collection of six completely different brilliant books
Mind-bogglingly good
One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is - and should be - read by any student of contemporary literature (Dave Eggers)
Astonishing . . . essential fiction for the 21st century
Not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I've never read anything quite like it (Michael Chabon)
An intense, arcing colossus of a book whose narrative links, supplied by the voices of six main characters, are spun out into a unified theory of everything: history, human evolution, science, the will to power. The voices span epochs, continents, and genres . . . Mitchell has rightly commanded attention for the sheer breadth and energy of his composition . . . I am moved by (his) talent
It takes only a few pages of any part of this masterful feast of a novel to make you want to read the rest
David Mitchell may well be possessed of genius . . . As well-plotted, entertaining narrative, Cloud Atlas succeeds on many levels. As political and cultural fable, with an unerring humanist sense of the dangerous will to power that lies at the dark heart of man, it's visionary
All stars
Most relevant
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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