Cloud Atlas

In the vein of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick, David Mitchell is a postmodern visionary and master of genre styles who blends flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation. The end product is very creative fiction that is both serious and lighthearted. David Mitchell now defiantly and artistically addresses basic concerns of identity and reality in his latest book.

Adam Ewing, an American notary, sets off on a journey from the Chatham Isles to his Californian home in 1850, marking the beginning of Cloud Atlas. During his journey, Ewing makes the acquaintance of Dr. Goose, a medical professional who starts treating him for an uncommon kind of brain parasite.

The story abruptly shifts to Belgium in 1931, when disinherited bisexual composer Robert Frobisher sneaks into the home of a sick maestro with a seductive wife and a lustful daughter. From there, we go to the 1970s West Coast and meet Luisa Rey, a troubled reporter who discovers a murderous web laced with corporate greed that might endanger her life. Then, with breathtaking brilliance, on to an unworthy modern-day England; a near-future Korean superstate where neocapitalism has gone awry; and, lastly, a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the closing moments of human history.

However, the tale doesn't stop there. The story then abruptly jumps back in time, traversing millennia, and takes the same path back to its beginning. Mitchell explains along the way how his seemingly unrelated characters are connected, how their destinies entwine, and how their souls travel through time like clouds across the sky.

Like its unique creator, Cloud Atlas is a memorable tour de force that has surpassed its cult classic status to become a global sensation. It is as crazy as a videogame and as cryptic as a Zen koan.