Self-proclaimed bibliophile, culture nut and nerdfighter. English lit. and linguistics geek. Future career in publishing.
Château Zedelghem,
Neerbeke,
West Vlaanderen
29th - VI - 1931
Sixsmith,
Dreamt I stood in a china shop so crowded from floor to far-off ceiling with shelves of porcelain antiquities etc. that moving a muscle would cause several to fall and smash to bits. Exactly what happened, but instead of a crashing noise, an august chord rang out, half-cello, half-celeste, D-major (?), held for four beats. My wrist knocked a Ming vase affair off its pedestal -- E-flat, whole string section, glorious, transcendent, angels wept.
- Excerpt from "Letters from Zedelghem"
p. 43
Note: The review below was taken directly from my Goodreads account.
I can't even express my feelings about Cloud Atlas. There's so much to praise and revel in.
Mitchell is an extremely talented writer: he shows his mastery with each story. All six stories are written in different styles (travel journal, letters, pulp novel, memoir/screenplay, interview, and oral story) and Mitchell shows his skill in each one. Not only that, but the time periods range from 1849 to the far distant future, hundreds of years from now, and Mitchell once again shows his ability to write in these different styles. Besides having mechanical mastery, Mitchell writes beautifully. He creates fantastic characters and wonderful plots, and the imagery in this book is so vivid.
Normally, when I really love a book, all I can say is "Two thumbs up!" and it's impossible to collect my thoughts. I'm having the same problem now; all I want to say is that this book is wonderful: mechanically, stylistically, thematically, just everything.
This is a horrible review, but I don't care. Everyone should read Cloud Atlas.