Cloud Atlas

The book, not the movie. Written by David Mitchell, it has won a number of awards.

Caution, spoilers ahead.

The movie did a lot of hopping around between the story elements. All of the elements from the book are there. Adam Ewing, Robert Frobisher, Luisa Rey, Timothy Cavendish, Sonmi~451, And Zachry, the Valleyman. In the book, half of each story is told in order, ending with the story of Zachry and Meronym, which is told in full. Then each of the remaining stories are finished in reverse order. The movie's forefront plot has a completely different focus, that being simply connection of past and present actions to our possible futures.

The story elements overlap to show us that each of the characters and events are connected. Frobisher finds Adam Ewing's diary while staying with Vyvyan Ayers. Luisa Rey searches for, and finally hears Frobisher's Cloud Atlas Sextet. One of Timothy Cavendish's authors writes mystery stories about Luisa Rey. Sonmi~451 and Hae Joo In watch an old "disney" (that era's generic term for a movie) called The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish. And, the Valleymen of Zachry's time worship Sonmi~451 as a goddess. 

The theme of the novel is on the destructive nature of selfishness. In the Adam Ewing segment, it's slavery and the greed of Dr. Goose. In the Robert Frobisher segment, it is the shallow selfishness of all of the characters, including Frobisher. Vyvyan Ayers steals his music, Jocasta Ayers uses him as a sexual comforter, Eva Ayers is a shallow and self-absorbed brat. Meanwhile, Frobisher steals from all of them and uses his lover, Rufus Sixsmith, taking advantage of his love for his own, selfish ends. In the Luisa Rey segment, selfishness is embodied in everyone's favorite boogeyman, corporate greed. Timothy Cavendish is the embodiment of greed and selfishness, using everyone in sight to achieve his ends. In the Sonmi~451 segment, society has reached the pinnacle of greed. Consumerism is the law of the land. People are required by law to consume. If they can't afford what they consume, they must go into debt, effectively enslaving themselves to the "corpocracy." Sonmi~451 is a "fabricant," or clone. All fabricants are slaves to the consumerist society. The Valleymen story is a revelation of the fruits of greed and selfishness. Society has collapsed into semi-barbarism. What is left of civilization is slowly dying off.

Being a sermon on the fruits of selfishness, the consequences are both near and far term. The actions of Dr. Goose push Adam Ewing toward devoting his life to a noble cause, abolitionism. Frobisher commits suicide, The corporate evildoers are brought low by Luisa Rey. Timothy Cavendish is trapped in an nursing home involuntarily. The entire corprocratic society crumbles (we are led to assume) under the exposure of Sonmi~451's life story.

Mitchell is a skillful writer. He successfully manages to project the voice of each protagonist in an impressively deft manner, letting us forget that each story is told by the same author. The bits and pieces of each story are pleasing to read, even when they don't seem to add anything to the overall plot. Unfortunately, the end result is a Byzantine play put on in a Baroque cathedral. There are side trips that intrude on the story without having any real purpose or adding anything to it. The reincarnation theme, which we are meant to assume by way of the recurring comet-shaped birthmark, serves no apparent purpose. The reincarnated soul is alternately a witness and a protagonist for either side of the equation. The story doesn't gain anything by it. Robert Frobisher commits suicide for no apparent reason, other than to give a mini-soliloquy on reincarnation and the futility of trying to correct a wasted life. In the denouement of the Sonmi~451 story, it is revealed that her entire story is a controlled charade, supposedly for the education of the consumers. Defying logic, Sonmi~451 reveals that she knew this, and that it was her design that her story would somehow incite the masses to revolt. Knowing this, the corprocacy moves ahead with its plan and makes a martyr out of her by putting her to death. In the Zachry story, it is unknown whether she succeeded or not. The Valleymen worship her, but we don't know whether she really did have a hand in the collapse of civilization. At the end of the Zachry story, his (and we are led to believe, Meronym's) offspring tells us that the whole story might be fable, and that he watches the orison of Sonmi~451 (the holographic record of her interrogation) even though he doesn't understand her language. Are we supposed to believe that humanity will not have learned anything and will grow up again to make the same mistakes? Maybe, but I really had to reach for that.

In all, the book is enjoyable, if eccentric. It's worth the read, especially if you've already seen the movie. Give it a try.