cloudy

So far Cloud Atlas looks promising.

I understand there is a sort of linked history we’ll approach to later define; each chapter will lie on the coattails of the previous novella.  I wonder now though, early in the narratives, if each chapter is a veritable novella (and therefore a self justified story), or if each is simply a precursor/successor, which proliferates on the basis that the novel will justify its means.  Mitchell’s undertaking is certainly full of an assimilating pitfall (scheme?).  His dissociative narrative may infact be unbinding.

In Ghostwritten, Mitchell’s first great work, we have a similar promise of seemingly unrelated narratives, which must tie together an expression of his eclectic literary/political/social ideologies to be successful.  Instead though, Genghis Khan, the history of the physical earth, and the history of modern rock music seem to have very little in common.  Mitchell’s literary trump card (in Cloud Atlas) is a long list of accolades and reviews, the Booker Prize an unfathomable endorsement.

The novel itself seems to be taking off slowly.  I was not as interested in the first chapter as I hoped to be.  But!  This is not to say that I was dissapointed, simply nodding off.  I’ve found myself having to reread page after page to keep any semblance of plot in my mind.  What does this tell for our reading?  Since we have decidedly expressed as our main concern, that a successful novel can be socially/historically merit worthy.

If our novel is not immediately captivating, what kind of anthropolitcal concerns can it address to the masses?  Is this not the concern though, who do you think this novel is written for?  And!  Is that an activist group?  What is the role of the target group, for a novel written to such an esoteric social mob?

If it we did not read further than these two chapters, this represents an exercise in failing social devices.  I willcontinue because of many reasons; this class, a peer review, the Booker Prize, several cover reviews I trust, my knowledge of its goals in plot and structure…

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