Description
Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY'' INDEPENDENT
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, winner of Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick
''Miraculous''
SUNDAY TIMES''A masterful feast''
EVENING STANDARD''Shamelessly exciting''
SPECTATOR''Remarkable''
GUARDIAN''Stunning''
DAILY MAILA novel of mind-bending imagination and scope from the author of Ghostwritten and Utopia Avenue
Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies . . .Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future,
Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity''s will to power, and where it will lead us.
*Please note that the end of p. 39 and p. 40 are intentionally blank*
PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL
''A thrilling and gifted writer''
FINANCIAL TIMES''Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good''
DAILY MAIL''Mitchell is, clearly, a genius''
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW''An author of extraordinary ambition and skill''
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY''A superb storyteller''
THE NEW YORKERTrade ReviewRemarkable . . . it knits together science fiction, political thriller and historical pastiche with
musical virtuosity and linguistic exuberance * Guardian *
An impeccable dance of genres . . . an
elegiac, radiant festival of prescience, meditation and entertainment * The Times *
His wildest ride yet . . .
a singular achievement, from an author of
extraordinary ambition and skill * Independent on Sunday *
David Mitchell entices his readers onto a
rollercoaster, and at first they wonder if they want to get off. Then - at least in my case - they can't bear the journey to end -- A. S. Byatt * Guardian *
A magnificent tour de force * Time Out *
A
glorious puzzle for the reader . . . Mitchell's storytelling in
Cloud Atlas is of the best * Independent *
An impeccably structured novel of ideas in many voices -- Literary Editor's Best Books * Observer *
A novel of
breathtaking ambition and scale, spanning continents, oceans and centuries * Independent *
Funny, exciting, imaginative and energetic * Evening Standard *
A virtuoso performance . . . deeply impressive * Daily Telegraph *
The way Mitchell inhabits the different voices of the novel is close to
miraculous . . . No other British novelist, to my mind, combines such a
darkly futuristic intelligence with such polyphonic ease -- Robert Macfarlane * Sunday Times *
His most accomplished achievement to date . . . a novel in the biggest, most
exhilarating sense * Observer *
Gloriously inventive and dazzlingly virtuosic * Independent on Sunday *
A
thrilling ride of a story * Observer *
Tremendous . . . one of the most
shamelessly exciting books imaginable * Spectator *
Stunning . . . One of those rare books that manages to be enormously clever while resisting the temptation to show off * Daily Mail *
Reassuringly
excellent * Times Literary Supplement *
Engrossing * Financial Times *
Mitchell writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and
his ambition is written in magma across this novel's every page * New York Times Book Review *
This isn't just one
brilliant book, it's a collection of six completely different brilliant books * Sunday Independent *
Mind-bogglingly good * Elle *
One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is - and should be - read by any student of contemporary literature -- Dave Eggers
Astonishing . . .
essential fiction for the 21st century * Independent *
Not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too.
I've never read anything quite like it -- Michael Chabon
An intense, arcing colossus of a book whose narrative links, supplied by the voices of six main characters, are spun out into a unified theory of everything: history, human evolution, science, the will to power. The voices span epochs, continents, and genres . . . Mitchell has rightly commanded attention for the
sheer breadth and energy of his composition . . . I am moved by (his) talent * Prospect *
It takes only a few pages of any part of this
masterful feast of a novel to make you want to read the rest * Evening Standard *
David Mitchell may well be possessed of genius . . . As well-plotted, entertaining narrative, Cloud Atlas succeeds on many levels. As political and cultural fable, with an unerring humanist sense of the dangerous will to power that lies at the dark heart of man, it's
visionary * Irish Independent *
As
mind-bending in its ideas as it is accessible on the page . . . It pretty much resists hyperbole simply by being
better than you'd ever dare hope * Big Issue *
