Cloud Atlas

A Novel

By: David Mitchell

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, John Lee, Richard Matthews

Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

By the New York Times best-selling author of The Bone Clocks

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in 21st-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical, and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful. In this groundbreaking novel, an influential favorite among a new generation of writers, Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity.

Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite.... Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter.... From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life.... And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neo-capitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a post-apocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.

But the story doesn’t end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult-classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

List of readers:

• The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, read by Scott Brick
• Letters from Zedelghem, read by Richard Matthews
• Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery, read by Cassandra Campbell
• The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish, read by John Lee
• An Orison of Sonmi-451, read by Kim Mai Guest
• Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After, read by Kirby Heyborne

This audiobook is available exclusively as an audio download!

Note to customers: The complicated format of this novel makes it seem that the audio may be cutting off before the end of a story, accompanied by a change in narrator. However, this is the author's intention, so please continue to listen, and the stories will conclude themselves as intended.

©2004 David Mitchell (P)2004 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Literary Fiction

"[Mitchell's] exuberant, Nabokovian delight in word play; his provocative grapplings with the great unknowables; and most of all his masterful storytelling: all coalesce to make Cloud Atlas an exciting, almost overwhelming masterpiece." ( Washington Times)

"[ Cloud Atlas] glows with a fizzy, dizzy energy, pregnant with possibility and whispering in your ear: listen closely to a story, any story, and you'll hear another story inside it, eager to meet the world." ( The Village Voice)

"A remarkable book....It knits together science fiction, political thriller, and historical pastiche with musical virtuosity and linguistic exuberance: there won't be a bigger, bolder novel next year." ( The Guardian)

Almost too scarily perfect and prophecy-making

What did you love best about Cloud Atlas?

Various characters. It is not simple to say one likes reading what seems to be happening in today's crazy world. I suppose it is his amazing prose and gift of the tale and characterization. It blows me away.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Cloud Atlas?

Many. One was when the thugster author tossed the literary critic over the balcony. Another was the scenes at the nuclear plant in California.

Which scene was your favorite?

See above. I did love the female journalist.

If you could rename Cloud Atlas, what would you call it?

the name is perfect for this book. Why rename it? Perhaps ironically, the reference to Cloud as a composition of makes me wonder how Mr. Mitchell that our internet would now have a "cloud."

Any additional comments?

A splendid read that kept me up most of two nights. Mr. Mitchell seems to not fail me. I only have one novel by him that I have not read. I am trying to pace myself, but it is difficult. He ks a genius author.

Worth a Multitude.

i love how there was a different voice for each story. ten out of ten.

Absolute Marvel!!!

Fantastic listen that ties together so much more than the movie ever could! definitely worth the listen!

Remarkable!!!

This book, and the film, made it to my 5 faves of stories. Well Done!!!

Good stories

I’m not sure I was able to grasp the full context of the book on audio. It’s a fantastic collection of stories- with some profound themes and excellent quotes, but the overall integration of the characters and worlds wasn’t as clear. It’s a long book that I really enjoyed about 1/2 the time, and felt a little cringy the other half. Interesting reflections on the human condition that make you think - would be fin to listen to with someone else so you could talk about it.

Good Story, Truly Epic...but...

2 Problems for me, 1. The reader of the Luiza Rey stuff, and I say 'reader' on purpose, was a pretty sterile and robotic non-performance. Cool, spy part of story, annoyingly read.
2. So, in the end, it turns out that despite all efforts throughout history, Humans remain absolutely horrible as a species, having never truly learned anything, still murdering and enslaving itself over and over and over. I find it nihilistic, which I prefer NOT to have in my fiction. Enough nihilism in daily life already.

This is why I listen to audiobooks

I started reading the print version and quickly was entranced by the story. But, some of the dialogue was difficult to read (slang, dialects, accents, etc), so I tried out the audiobook. It was exactly what I was looking for, the narration here is excellent and immerses you even more into the settings and characters. A hearty 5 stars

Love this book!

Wonder story, very appropriate for the current state of the world, with hopeful solutions. ❤

Good story, hard to follow

as a book with a lot of important details, it was easy to miss some of the connections needed to fully enjoy the story, I'm happy I listened however wish I would have picked up the book instead.

Complex, interesting, entertaining

Engaging characters, interesting dialogue, amazing narration, and a complex journey through time, humanity, and universal forces.