Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

When the trailer for the new movie Cloud Atlas was released about a month ago, everyone was horribly confused. Just what was this movie actually about? I didn't watch the trailer myself, still not quite sure why, but was very aware of the confusion surrounding it. That's why, when I was at the library next and saw it sitting on the shelf, I decided to pick it up and give it a go. Surely, if I could read the book, then I would understand the movie and see just what all these people were talking about. And it was shortlisted for the Booker the year it came out so it must be good, right?

I don't even really know how to describe the plot of Cloud Atlas. It's a series of separate narratives, all taking place in very different places and times. The book opens with the diary of a solicitor from San Francisco, on his way home from New Zealand in the late 19th century. His story ends midway through (as, indeed, all the stories will, although this one does end mid sentence), and you find yourself reading a set of letters from one dear friend to another, detailing the exploits of one Robert Frobisher, a young composer living his life quite extravagantly and dangerously in Belguim in-between the world wars.

The story turns from Frobisher to Louisa Rey, an investigative reporter in California in the seventies. Her story reads like a crime thriller, with short chapters and explosive cliffhangers. On one such cliffhanger, the story then switches to the tale of an elderly publisher, who's just lucked out on his latest autobiography becoming a best seller due to a rather elaborate stunt pulled by the author. Just as he's living the high life, however, he has to go on the run due to some thugs trying to hustle themselves into a share of the profits.

Things become a little strange (not that they weren't before but still) with the next story, the futuristic The Orison of Somni-451. This story is about, essentially, a clone worker who slowly begins to realize that she's more than what she's supposed to be. Each of the stories is amazing in its own right but Somni-451 is astounding, in my opinion. It's a real science fiction masterpiece, within an amazing novel of its own.

Lastly, you reach the center of the book with a post-apocalyptic tale of a young goatherd whose family ends up taking in a stranger who wants to learn more about their tribe. This story, quite different from the rest, continues on longer as, in the center of the book, it is not divided in half. The reader follows Zack and while reading this bit, I think this is where the novel really begins to gel. The story is told and slowly, in reverse order, you begin to read the second half of each of the earlier narratives. And that's when it hits you: this book is spectacular.

I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning to finish this novel and then spent the next hour looking up things about it and writing friends to pick it up. I just honestly think it's amazing. It takes six very different characters, six very different writing styles, six very different plots to tell a story about the human spirit and the triumphs and failures of power. There are small connections woven throughout the stories that tie them together but even without those, the general theme shines through without much work. The characters speak for themselves and no amount of author gibberish clogs the main message.

This is one of those books that you finish and then sit in awe for awhile, not even entirely sure what to do with yourself anymore. It hangs over you like a benevolent cloud and all you can think is, when am I going to read another book that good? 

If you're a fan of epistolary novels, diary novels, crime thrillers, science fiction, bumbling old british men, post-apocalyptic fiction, interwoven morals or just books in general, this is the book for you. I really encourage you to give it a try. It's definitely worth it.

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Do you ever have those books that you know you should read because you'd really like them but you just never seem to get around to them? That's how I've always felt about Cold Comfort Farm. I would pass it in Waterstones almost every time I went, look down at it, think 'I should read that' and then move on to something else. It wasn't that I didn't want to read it; it was just that I'm easily distracted.

Last week, aware that I would need somethings to read on the train to Stratford (the reason I didn't update on Thursday), I decided to get some books out of my university library to read. Things that I wouldn't necessarily buy but that would be in the English department. As I wandered the shelves, looking for things that weren't super heavy but weren't critical reading essay collections either, I ended up with a stack that included Cold Comfort Farm. Since it was the thinest of the pile, I decided to start with that one. It was a good choice.

Cold Comfort Farm tells the story of Flora Poste, a young girl around nineteen or twenty who finds herself orphaned by parents that she really didn't know well in the first place. Not very distressed, she stays with her friend in town and writes to a bunch of relatives, trying to find someone who will take her in. Although everyone graciously offers, Flora decides to take up her cousin Judith's letter, thinking that living on a farm in Sussex will be quite an adventure. 

Of course, Cold Comfort is not at all what Flora expects and at the same time, is exactly what she thought. Her cousin Judith keeps apologizing about a wrong her husband did Flora's father but won't speak on what it is, Amos is a fiery preacher who enjoys telling the congregation that they're all sinners, Seth is a womanizer who secretly loves the talkies, Reuben just really wants to run the farm and Elfine spends all day running through the meadows and hills to the beat of her own drummer.

As this book is a parody of the rural farm novels that were popular at the time it was written (1932), this is a very funny book. Even if you're not familiar with the idea of the stock farm novel (and it's completely understandable if you aren't), it's still plenty funny on its own. Watching Flora dealing quite admirably with these ridiculous characters is always entertaining. Plus, Gibbons's hilarious and quite timely writing style really adds to the story. There's just something about the way people wrote in the thirties that pulls you right into the time period and that's very present in this novel, despite it being set in the "near future." You can hear that early twentieth century sensibility coming through the minute Flora sets eyes on Elfine dancing about like a sprite and remarks that she really should try blue because light green is nice but doesn't go well with Elfine's coloring. 

Cold Comfort Farm is a very enjoyable and quick read. It isn't deep or dark or probing but it's fun and light and sure to put a smile on your face. I dare you not to enjoy it.

P.S. It also has a lovely movie adaptation that was made in 1995 starring Kate Beckinsale, Ian McKellan, Stephen Fry and (my favorite) Rupert Penry-Jones as the young Dick Hawk-Monitor. I whole-heartedly endorse it.