‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell

Time is what stops history happening at once; time is the speed at which the past disappears.

‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell is a brilliant story within a story within a story within a story within a story. It shows how everything is connected and how our actions affect the future.

Mid-nineteenth century. Adam Ewing, a lawyer from San Francisco, returns home on a ship from the Pacific after finishing his work there. Adam keeps a diary of his adventures.

1931. Robert Frobisher, a disowned English musician, flees to Belgium to become an amanuensis for a formerly very popular composer. He writes to his lover, Rufus Sixsmith.

1975. Luisa Rey, a young feminist journalist, tries to uncover the corruption surrounding an unsafe nuclear power plant in (fictional) Buenas Yerbas, after one of its scientists, Rufus Sixsmith, tells her about it. The story is told as a novel.

Present day. Timothy Cavendish, 65 years old and publisher of a vanity press, has to flee London after one of his new authors kills a literary critic. His story will be made into a movie.

About a hundred years in the future. Sonmi ~ 451, a clone and waitress at a fast food restaurant in Nea So Copros (Korea), was freed from her slavery by an abolitionist organization. After her arrest and trial, she is interviewed by an archivist.

A post-apocalyptic time. Zachry, now an old man, tells of his youth on the Big Island (Hawai'i). The world has changed dramatically after The Fall and people worship the goddess Sonmi. Zachry speaks in a futuristic dialect of English.

I loved how different the stories were—in content, in language, in writing styles, in settings. The connection between the stories was natural and compelling.

CW: suicide, racist & misogynistic characters, enslaved people