Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I don’t entirely know how to begin to describe Cloud Atlas, but I feel that a brief consideration of its structure is essential to understanding the uniqueness of the book. I understand it in terms of a metaphor that came to mind while I was reading. Imagine a set of Russian nesting dolls that have been taken apart. The dolls have been taken apart in such away that the only intact doll is the centre one; the others remain in halves. To reassemble the set so that all the smaller dolls are inside the largest, you nest all the bottom halves of the dolls inside each other, then place the intact doll in the very centre, and then add the top halves from smallest to largest.
There are six interconnected stories in Cloud Atlas that are presented in precisely this manner. Mitchell begins five stories, tells the entirety of the sixth, and then resumes the first five in reverse order (12345654321). The stories are connected to each other, but each happens to a different character, is set in a different time period, and belongs to a different literary genre. This is where David Mitchell’s talents as a writer comes out, because each he handles each shift in the novel with skill and mastery. Each story has its own distinct tone to it, but fits in perfectly with the others.
One of my favourite details was the way that Mitchell altered his language to suit the time period and focalizing character of each story. Not to give too much away, but two of the stories are set in the future, and Mitchell alters the language of these stories to reflect and emphasize the setting. I found it interesting that in one of these stories, spelling and grammar was simplified in a way that Webster might have approved of, but Mitchell still retained the subjunctive mood.
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time (and I’ve read lots of good ones lately!). I really recommend reading this one, and untangling the mystery of the stories.
I watched clouds awobbly from the floor o’ that kayak. Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies, an’ tho’ a cloud’s shape nor hue nor size don’t stay the same, it’s still a cloud an’ so is a soul. Who can say where the cloud’s blowed from or who the soul’ll be ‘morrow? Only Somni the east an’ the west an’ the compass an’ the atlas, yay, only the atlas o’clouds.
Bridget Jones
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Re-reading this was completely inspired by a Bridget Jones movie night plus chips and pickle dip (which, I’m pretty sure, is the only correct way to watch Bridget Jones). Can it be true – I think I actually prefer the movie to the book!
Interesting fact: when I read the diary in the ninth grade, I remember that all the records of her weight were meaningless to me as the measurements were all given in stones. In the copy I read this time, her weight is recorded in pounds. Was this changed for the American reprint?
“That is just such crap,” I slurred. “How dare you be so fraudulently flirtatious, cowardly, and dysfunctional? I am not interested in emotional fuckwittage. Good-bye.”
It was great. You should have seen his face. But now I am home I am sunk into gloom. I may have been right, but my reward, I know, will be to end up all alone, half-eaten by an Alsatian.
Sevenwaters
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
I’ve put off writing about this book because it’s the last book in a trilogy and it feels strange to write about this one without mentioning Daughter of the Forest and Son of the Shadows, which I read a year and a half ago and six months ago, respectively. I’ve decided that instead of giving this one its own post, I’ll put it into the context of the series. Of course I’m also trying to keep this journal relatively spoiler-free, and especially so in this case because I know of people who specifically want to read or finish this series!
Anyways, I read Daughter of the Forest after Rin recommended it to me the summer before last. It is the retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Wild Swans”* set in Ireland in the 10th century. Not only is this one of my favourite fairy tales, but it also happens to be one of my favourite historical periods, so all-round points for that. Of course, I also loved Marillier’s portrayal of the period and her interpretation of the fairy tale. I also liked that she added in some of the folklore of Ireland.
To give a brief outline of the fairy tale – it is about a young girl (named Sorcha, in this story) who must save her six older brothers who have been turned into swans by their evil/jealous/sorceress step-mother. In order to do this, she must weave shirts for each of her brothers out of a thorny plant that rips open her hands, after taking a vow of silence. Of course, she runs into many complications along the way.
The second book in the series doesn’t follow the fairy tale at all, but tells the story of Sorcha’s children. The main plot of this book and the next one, in which the main protagonist is Sorcha’s granddaughter, follow a story introduced but not dealt with in the first book.
My mother knew every tale that was ever told by the firesides of Erin, and more besides. Folks stood hushed around the hearth to hear her tell them after a long day’s work, and marveled at the bright tapestries she wove with her words. She related the many adventures of Cù Chulainn the hero, and she told of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, who was a great warrior and cunning with it….She told tales that had the household in stitches with laughter, and tales that made strong men grow quiet. But there was one tale she would never tell, and that was her own. – the beginning of Son of the Shadows
*”The Wild Swans” is in turn based off of the Norwegian folk tale “The Twelve Wild Ducks,” which was collected by Asbjørnsen & Moe and then translated by George Webbe Dasent in the late-Victorian period. Angela Carter has suggested that Andersen “upgraded” the ducks to swans because swans provide more romantic imagery. (Andersen also cut down the number of brothers by half, but I’m not sure what the significance of that might be.)
