First Impressions: Stories 1&2 of 6
After my copy of Cloud Atlas finally came in the mail, I had an interesting talk with my father. My father is by absolutely no means a reader. He used to tell me stories of when he was in his AP English class and how he never read the book. He would always just watch the movie and somehow came up with an acceptable paper on it. When I was about 8 he started playing audiobooks in the car, and one of his absolute favorites just so happened to be Cloud Atlas. It took about 20 minutes before he stopped talking about the book, and every morning he asks me how much I've read and if I like it.
Before starting this book, I had a sort of expectation about the novel as a whole. I was thinking it would be this whirlwind action-packed story full of suspense as a result of both the reviews and my father's gushing. I was shocked to find that the first (1 of 6) story was slow and used long outdated language. This made sense for the scene (set in the mid-1800s or during the gold rush), but it was wildly different than what I was anticipating.
Adam Ewing is the main character of the first short story. He is an educated man from San Fransisco passing through an 'uncivilized' portion of the Americas while his ship is being repaired. Here he witnesses a Moriori slave being whipped by a savage. As this happens, he is being watched by a boy named Autua, who sneaks onto his ship to buy his freedom through labor. Immediately after this happens, Ewing falls ill and is diagnosed with a tropical parasite.
We see this develop through Ewing's daily journal entry, dated only with the month and day. Contrastingly, in the second short story, we read telegraphs/letters including date (day/month/year) and location sent between Robert Frobisher and his lover/boyfriend?, Rufus Sixsmith. The language of this story is significantly more relaxed and less wordy.
This is set in the 1930s in Zeldelghem, Belgium. Frobisher is visiting Vyvyan Ayrs, a once beloved composer, who is dying of syphilis. Frobisher then creates a show with the music Ayrs has provided for him, and for good measure, takes his wife, Jocasta, as a lover. He then sells a bunch of Ayrs's rare books, and Jocasta decides she is "grateful" for everything Frobisher has done (she is actually just being possessive and not allowing him to leave her and her husband.). Thus leading to him deciding to stay for a whole year.
If I am being honest, there is no way I can see these two stories connecting. There is virtually nothing in common between these two stories. The first one is about a seemingly straightlaced American man with a wife and kids, who really, is just trying to get to where he is going and maintain his Sabbath fast. On the other hand is a man who is not afraid to take a dying old man's wife, books, and music from him, despite learning a great deal from him. They are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. I will say, the second story was much more interesting and dramatic than the first one.
It's safe to say that I am intrigued and excited to continue reading the rest of the stories. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they all connect. Thanks for reading!
Before starting this book, I had a sort of expectation about the novel as a whole. I was thinking it would be this whirlwind action-packed story full of suspense as a result of both the reviews and my father's gushing. I was shocked to find that the first (1 of 6) story was slow and used long outdated language. This made sense for the scene (set in the mid-1800s or during the gold rush), but it was wildly different than what I was anticipating.
Adam Ewing is the main character of the first short story. He is an educated man from San Fransisco passing through an 'uncivilized' portion of the Americas while his ship is being repaired. Here he witnesses a Moriori slave being whipped by a savage. As this happens, he is being watched by a boy named Autua, who sneaks onto his ship to buy his freedom through labor. Immediately after this happens, Ewing falls ill and is diagnosed with a tropical parasite.
We see this develop through Ewing's daily journal entry, dated only with the month and day. Contrastingly, in the second short story, we read telegraphs/letters including date (day/month/year) and location sent between Robert Frobisher and his lover/boyfriend?, Rufus Sixsmith. The language of this story is significantly more relaxed and less wordy.
This is set in the 1930s in Zeldelghem, Belgium. Frobisher is visiting Vyvyan Ayrs, a once beloved composer, who is dying of syphilis. Frobisher then creates a show with the music Ayrs has provided for him, and for good measure, takes his wife, Jocasta, as a lover. He then sells a bunch of Ayrs's rare books, and Jocasta decides she is "grateful" for everything Frobisher has done (she is actually just being possessive and not allowing him to leave her and her husband.). Thus leading to him deciding to stay for a whole year.
If I am being honest, there is no way I can see these two stories connecting. There is virtually nothing in common between these two stories. The first one is about a seemingly straightlaced American man with a wife and kids, who really, is just trying to get to where he is going and maintain his Sabbath fast. On the other hand is a man who is not afraid to take a dying old man's wife, books, and music from him, despite learning a great deal from him. They are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. I will say, the second story was much more interesting and dramatic than the first one.
It's safe to say that I am intrigued and excited to continue reading the rest of the stories. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how they all connect. Thanks for reading!
Read carefully, Macayla, and pay attention to some of the small details and the trends between the stories.
ReplyDeleteI liked the opening of the post, as I, similar to your father, love this book. But I certainly didn't love the first section of the book.