I finished reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell today. This book has a very unique nested structure, with six stories of completely different context, time and narrative style each unfolding to climax points in chronological order, then unraveling to completion in reverse order. In the afterward, the author compares the structure to a Russian nesting doll. The complexity of interrelations between narratives makes the head hurt, but also gives the novel some continuity amidst it’s fragmented structure.

The title is borrowed from a musical piece by Toshi Ichiyanagi. You can hear this work on Spotify across tracks 2–4 from Japanese Piano Music by Yukie Nagai. Worth a listen.

What I mostly look for in any novel is beautiful writing. I want to be surprised and delighted by words. I want to forget the book and be immersed in another place and time. Across six narrator styles and eras of human existence real and imagined, David Mitchel hits the mark. I enjoyed every page of this book, but perhaps none more than the first context switch — literally mid-sentence. Even knowing that’s how this book worked going into it, it still caught me off guard and I had to double check there wasn’t an error in my reader app. That’s rock and roll.

I haven’t watched the movie yet. It’s a 3 hour commitment, so we’ll see. I look forward to it, though.