tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17624176.post1506700218518887867..comments2024-03-27T08:09:37.920-04:00Comments on circular breathing: Cloud Atlas by David MitchellSean Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172415668149896729noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17624176.post-6336163445664195992010-08-10T08:17:24.311-04:002010-08-10T08:17:24.311-04:00What a wonderful, succinct reading, Steve! I fini...What a wonderful, succinct reading, Steve! I finished the book with one regret: that I hadn't read it as you read it, skipping the interlocking (which is a stretch) and just gobbling up the complete novellas, each one seemingly better than the one before. I so admired the ambition (if not the execution) of his concept -- the idea of past lives and reincarnation, the generational growth of the SAME character -- brilliant, brilliant, although it doesn't really pan out. I think I like the composer novella the best of all, but also liked BOTH science fiction ones alot. I meant to revisit my original post - I had in mind a blistering (if short) response to several critical reviews of the novel that I read, that pooh-poohed his ambition while admitting the guy is clearly a genius. I'm hopelessly naive (amateurish? dilettante-ish?) about fiction -- the thought of the author making such a something out of nothing -- even if there is a flaw in the overriding concept -- far outweighs my feeling that the connections don't work at all as well as the individual novellas. Bravo to you for tackling it, too -- it's a meaty volume.Sean Enrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14172415668149896729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17624176.post-72745763119508970252010-08-09T22:07:22.520-04:002010-08-09T22:07:22.520-04:00Wow. Per your recommendation, I just finished dev...Wow. Per your recommendation, I just finished devouring this amazing book.<br /><br />OK - I admit it - I cheated. I read the five interrupted novellas all of a piece -- because DM's cliffhanger endings demanded it. Just don't have the strength to delay my narrative gratification.<br /><br />And this is what I most loved about the book -- despite his artsy-fartsy (and rather arbitrary?) structure & "literary" ambitions, DM tells six great stories, rife with incident and narrative drive, which satisfy all by themselves -- and only more so when you read the six together.<br /><br />In fact, Cloud Atlas contains my favorite 19th-century exploration narrative of all time, and one of my favorite early 20th-c epistolatory novels, late 20th-c detective novels, and early 21st-c apocalyptic sci-fi novels. All four styles are improved by being compressed into novella form, and I recommend this book heartily by saying it's six, six, six good books in one (and 4, 4, 4 great ones) -- so it's a reading bargain. It's like reading Melville, Waugh, John &/or Ross McDonald, Kingsley &/or Martin Amis and Ray Bradbury all in one.<br />I am green with envy of Mitchell's genius, yet somehow this didn't stop me from loving the book & swallowing it whole (500+ pages in 3 days), so he must be good. Thanks for the tip, Seana.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com