“Cloud Atlas” is David Mitchell’s third novel. See Ghostwritten (1999) and Black Swan Green (2006). Much like “Ghostwritten” this fiction novel consists of several independent streams each of which has some connection with at least one other stream. Somewhat unusual is that one stream (chapter) (such as a conspiracy story about corruption and poor design relating to a nuclear reactor) ends suddenly in the middle of a sentence only to pick up several chapters later. Mitchell is a clever and somewhat trendy wordsmith. Scattered throughout are fun phrases such as “prostitute Barbie” and “Andrew Void-Webber”. In general he seems to be very pessimistic and cynical about human beings although he allows some happy endings.

I must admit that there was one (independent) chapter in the middle of the book that I did not have the energy to read. It is written in a heavy and strangely spelled dialect that seems to originate somewhere in the far south of the United States. I could be wrong. But I really enjoyed the rest of the novel. Don’t be put off by the first and last chapters (which are also the first and second parts of a story about missionaries taking advantage of natives) which are written in a somewhat older, archaic style.

“Ghostwritten” and “Cloud Atlas” have similar constructions. I never finished “number9dream” which did not appeal to me. “Black Swan Green” is more traditional in construction and is about a bullied young boy. Eventually I will get around to reading “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet”.