Please don't hate me, but I've included the movie picture above, as a) this is the only movie edition book cover I've ever bought because I quite like it and b) because I watched the movie first (wrong way round) and I think the movie did the book good justice.
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is very dear to my heart, being one of my favourite books and movie's from the last 12 months. The book is split into a number of different "stories" from different worlds and times, following different people that all covertly interconnect.
I thought the book was a beautiful depiction of humanity (without sounding too pretentious), with the finishing line " But what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"
Each plot line is intricately woven into each of the others, with all being wrapped up nicely at the end of the book, and each story seems to be its own genre, some with it's own language, and a different message to be taken from each one. From the story of the 19th century Adam Ewing crossing the sea, in the grasp of a terrible illness, to the Neo-Seoul world of Son-Mi, who's tale seems central to the book. Due to the nature of some of the stories, it requires a little bit of attention in some parts, but is well worth it for the final effect.
The book would be perfect for anyone looking for an adventure, something a little different, that'll make you think and appreciate the complexity of human life.
The movie, I'll just add did a great job of doing the book justice: it was long, as it needed to be, and although a few parts were altered here and there, the finished product did great justice to a fantastic book, that is well worth the read.
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