Here is a book that knows what the modern novel is about: a postmodernist classic. David Mitchell makes skillful use of his writer’s bag of tricks. The storyline is chronologically creative; a series of short stories link through coincidence and theme. The characters are unique, while the theme develops historically and ideologically. By the end of the book, its hard to tell the winners from the losers. Ambiguity is part of the lesson. It is ultimately a book about the politics and mechanics of oppression, I think. I have long taught that each of us will be at some point an oppressor, oppressed, and a witness of oppression. Witness becomes an important idea in the novel. The testimony of bystanders, be they live or on camera, is an impetus for action toward freedom, either because the victim senses support, or is motivated by the recognition of their plight. Though not an easy read (I’ve met several people who gave it up early on) the second half of the book pulls it together, and the reward is a story worth reading, and recommending. A final note is due: the top paid authors of the last decade were all genre authors; the first lit author made the list at number fifty in a recent internet article. Cloud Atlas is an homage to genre. It runs the gamut from historical fiction to mystery to sci-fi. Rarely do we see a ‘serious’ author commend and imitate the styles of the mere genres, but it makes the work entertaining on a technical level, beyond the author’s obvious eloquence.
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