Cover design

Cloud Atlas is a 2004 novel, the third book by British author David Mitchell. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (400x614, 52 KB) Summary First publication book cover for Cloud Atlas. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (400x614, 52 KB) Summary First publication book cover for Cloud Atlas. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... David Mitchell (born January, 1969) is a British novelist. ...

Plot synopsis

The book consists of six nested stories that take us from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to the far future after a nuclear apocalypse. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Look up Apocalypse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

1. The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing. Pacific Ocean, circa 1850. Adam Ewing, an American notary's account of a voyage home from the remote Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand. The next character discovers this story as a diary on his patron's bookshelf.
2. Letters from Zedelghem. Zedelghem, Belgium, 1931. Robert Frobisher, a penniless young English musician, finds work as an amanuensis to a composer living in Belgium. This story is saved in the form of letters to his friend/lover Rufus Sixsmith, which the next character discovers after meeting Sixsmith.
3. Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery. Buenas Yerbas, California, 1975. Luisa Rey, a journalist, investigates reports of corruption and murder at a nuclear power plant. The next character is sent this story in the form of a manuscript for a novel in the mail.
4. The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish. United Kingdom, early 21st century. Timothy Cavendish, a book publisher, flees the brothers of his gangster client. The next character watches a movie dramatisation of this story.
5. An Orison of Sonmi~451. Nea So Copros (Korea), dystopian near future. Sonmi, a genetically-engineered fabricant (clone) server at a fast-food restaurant, is interviewed before her execution after she rebels against the society that enslaved her kind. The next charater sees this story projected holographically in an "orison", a futuristic recording device.
6. Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After. Hawaii, post-apocalyptic distant future. Zach'ry, a tribesman living a primitive life after most of humanity dies during "the fall", is visited by Meronym, a member of the last technologically-advanced civilisation. This story is told when the protagonist is an old man, to his children.

Apart from the central story (Sloosha's Crossin'), which is uninterrupted, each story breaks off abruptly half-way through, to be followed by the first half of the next story. It then appears within the next one, with the protagonist reading or watching the first half of its text. Except for the second half of "Letters from Zedelghem", each story ends with its protagonist finding the second half of this story, which is then printed after it. An Embossed Notary Seal A notary public is an officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents and perform certain other acts varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. ... The Chatham Islands from space. ... A secretary is a person who performs routine, administrative, or personal tasks for a superior. ... Official language(s) English Capital Largest city Sacramento Los Angeles Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 158,302 sq mi  410,000 km² 250 miles  400 km 770 miles  1,240 km 4. ... Korea (Korean:한국, Hanguk, or ì¡°ì„ , ChosÇ’n or Joseon) is a civilization and geographical area situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China (PRC) to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. ... A dystopia (or alternatively cacotopia) is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, when the conditions of life are extremely bad due to deprivation, oppression, or terror. ... As a word, clone was first coined by J.B.S. Haldane as subject for theoretical replication of a frog, though the term clone is derived from κλων, the Greek word for twig. In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century. ... This article is about the photographic technique. ... Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Largest city Honolulu Honolulu Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 10,941 sq mi  28,337 km² n/a miles  n/a km 1,522 miles  2,450 km 41. ... Apocalyptic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of the world or civilization, through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. ...

In 'Letters from Zedelghem', Robert Frobisher composes the Cloud Atlas Sextet, which consists of six nested solos arranged in this same way.

Cloud Atlas's six novella structure has been described as nesting in a Matryoshka doll fashion, a description perhaps imprecise, as the plots, themes, and especially voice and setting vary greatly (not merely size and scope). The stories do bracket and interlock one another into a whole stronger than its constituent parts, but each story could be successfully read independent of the related other five. "An Orison of Sonmi~451" and "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After" are decidedly sci-fi, with "Orison" reminiscent of the futuristic dystopian worlds of Philip K. Dick and Margaret Atwood and "Sloosha's Crossing" of the post-apocalyptic world of Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Matryoshka doll disassembled A Matryoshka doll (Cyrillic матрёшка or матрешка) or a Russian nested doll is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside another. ... Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. ... Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Peggy Atwood, CC (born November 18, 1939) is one of Canada’s most important contemporary writers. ... Riddley Walker is a novel by Russell Hoban, first published in 1980. ... Russell Conwell Hoban (born February 4, 1925) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magic realism, poetry, and childrens books. ...

Themes

There are many common themes linking the stories:

• Reincarnation. The book hints that the same character appears reincarnated in each of the six episodes and has some memories from other stories. In each life he/she has a comet-shaped birthmark near the shoulder. There are further hints that at least one other soul accompanies the character through the ages.
• Imprisonment. Each protagonist is in some way imprisoned or enslaved and makes a bid for freedom.
• The question: "What should/can a pacifist do when faced with overwhelming odds?". This question is posed in each of the episodes, and the answers are as varied as the situations the character finds themselves in. As such, the book has much in common with Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt.
• A counter-argument on the above statement on pacifism. It seems that none of the characters acted in a traditionally pacifist way. Violence was not the solution to their situation, but a number of the characters make clear that violence is an option open to them. The musician, for instance, feels thoughts of violence toward his patron. Instead, it seems that the book is a screed on the inevitability of violence when people find themselves in situations of unbalanced power, not a condemnation of violence or an expression of pacifism. This is most clearly laid out in the philosophies of Sonmi-451.
• The word "Hydra" appears in at least the first five stories in different contexts.
• Hawaii features, to different degrees, in four of the stories.

At least two of the characters are mentioned in Mitchell's first book, Ghostwritten (1999). Luisa Rey, the protagonist of the third story, 'Half-Lives', is mentioned in a radio show dedication in the 'Night Train' segment of Ghostwritten, while Timothy Cavendish, from the fourth story, 'The Ghastly Ordeal', appears as a minor character in 'London'. In addition, the phrase cloud atlas is used as a descriptive flourish by the narrator Eiji Miyake in Mitchell's second novel, number9dream, and the daughter of Vyvyan Ayrs shows up in "Black Swan Green", mentioning Robert Frobisher's suicide. Past Lives redirects here. ... Pacifist may mean: an advocate of pacifism. ... Kim Stanley Robinson at the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer, probably best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. ... The Years of Rice and Salt (2002, ISBN 0553580078) is an alternate history novel written by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, a thought experiment about a world without Christianity. ... HYDRA is a fictional terrorist organization in the Marvel Universe. ... Official language(s) Hawaiian and English Capital Largest city Honolulu Honolulu Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 10,941 sq mi  28,337 km² n/a miles  n/a km 1,522 miles  2,450 km 41. ... Ghostwritten is the name of the first novel published by the author David Mitchell. ... number9dream is a novel written by David Mitchell, which was first published in 2001. ... Black Swan Green is a bildungsroman novel written by David Mitchell. ...

Some readers claim a direct and respective connection between the Cloud Atlas US cover illustration (2nd publication featuring six colored panels of various cloud formations) and the book's six novellas.

Awards

Cloud Atlas was short-listed for, and highly favoured to win, the 2004 Man Booker Prize, but ultimately lost to Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty. It was also nominated for the 2004 Nebula Award for Best Novel. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Nahid Sikander, also often known as the Booker Prize, is one of the worlds most prestigious literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original full-length novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in the... Alan Hollinghurst is a gay British novelist. ... The Line of Beauty is a contemporary masterpiece by Alan Hollinghurst. ... Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel. ...