CloudAtlas

David Mitchell is a postmodern visionary who masterfully combines various genres. His writing delivers thrilling adventures, challenges readers with puzzles similar to Nabokov's works, and portrays unique characters. He also dabbles in mind-bending philosophical and scientific concepts reminiscent of authors such as Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. Mitchell's fiction is not only playful but also profound. Mitchell's latest novel navigates the fundamental questions of identity and reality through daring artistry.

Cloud Atlas commences in 1850 when an American notary named Adam Ewing is voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. A physician, Dr. Goose, befriends Ewing and discovers a rare species of brain parasite. The action then shifts to 1931 in Belgium. Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, aims to enter into the household of an ailing maestro who has a charming wife and daughter. The story then moves to the West Coast in the 1970s, where Luisa Rey, a distressed reporter, uncovers a conspiracy of corporate greed and murder. From there, the plot travels through an inglorious present-day England to a Korean superstate in the future, where neocapitalism reigns enthusiastic. Finally, Cloud Atlas takes us to a post-apocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.

But the story is not done yet. The narrative shifts back through centuries and space, tracing a reverse path to its starting point. As Mitchell weaves the story together, he reveals how the various characters are intertwined, how their fates connect, and how their souls float across time like clouds drifting across the sky. Wild and mysterious like a videogame and a Zen koan, respectively, Cloud Atlas is an extraordinary tour de force. It has transcended its cult classic status, making Mitchell an incomparable author and a worldwide phenomenon.

作者简介

DavidMitchellwasborninSouthport,Merseyside,inEngland,raisedinMalvern,Worcestershire,andeducatedattheUniversityofKent,studyingforadegreeinEnglishandAmericanLiteraturefollowedbyanM.A.inComparativeLiterature.HelivedforayearinSicily,thenmovedtoHiroshima,Japan,wherehetaughtEnglishtotechnicalstudentsforeightyears,beforereturn...