Cloud Atlas in Movie Form

Unsatisfactory. That is a generous description of how Cloud Atlas was in movie form. In fact I did not end up finishing the movie. I got to about two thirds of the way through and decided that I did not want to continue watching. I wish I could get that $3.99 back... It probably was not as bad as I am making it seem, but having watched it after just recently finishing the book made it all the more unsatisfactory.

I was sufficiently annoyed at the movie's deviance from the plot in the book. I understand that the book would be extremely difficult to recreate as a movie, but the movie does the book little justice. I realize that this post sounds fairly harsh so far, so I will first credit Tom Hanks at playing his many roles very well. Also Halle Berry fits Luisa's role just how I imagined her to be. Other than that, I pictured the other characters as much different looking. I also thought a few characters from the movie did not act as I thought they should based on the book.

Frobisher has a completely different personality in the movie than he does in the book. In the book Frobisher seemed arrogant, slightly aggressive, and extremely stubborn. Whereas, in the book he was at first portrayed as passive, and did not stand up for himself to Ayrs like he had in the novel. I thought that this was an important part of his character, and that the movie took this component away.  For example, Ayrs taunts Frobisher, asking if he has "mastered 'Three Blind Mice'?" So Frobisher slyly sat down and "played the syphilitic crank 'Three Blind Mice', after the fashion of a mordant Prokofiev". Ayrs also states that he "needs a little time to decide whether or not [he] can find use for [Frobisher's] gifts", and Frobisher mocks Ayrs by saying the same thing back when Ayrs hastily admits that he wants Frobisher to help him compose music. This is the sort of fire from Frobisher is missing in the movie.

I thought that the Somni part had some components to it that were portrayed well in the movie. I enjoyed how the Papa Song's restaurant was shown to be based on the customers interactions with the genetically engineered servers. I also thought the collars with the stars indicating the years worked at Papa Song's on them stayed true to the book. I did not like most other depictions of the Somni story in the movie. It skipped over the part where Somni lives with a college student where she acquires lots of knowledge. The movie also adds in a sexual relationship between Yoona~939 and the leader of that particular Papa Song's, which I did not think was the point of Yoona standing out.

Lots of relationships were added in to the movie, that were not included in the book. I thought that some of the relationships changed the meaning of the characters juxtaposed to one another. For example, Frobisher had a sexual relationship with Sixsmith which makes their friendship become something entirely different. I also did not think that the relationship between Zachary and Meronym should have been added. The only relationship that was not in the book that I thought worked well in the movie was the one between Somni and Hae-Jo Chang. It showed that Somni was capable of emotions just like any other human, even though she was genetically engineered.

Overall, the book was a thousand and five times better than the movie! Like most books do, Cloud Atlas has a lot more depth than the movie, and was much more thought provoking. In order to understand the full meaning of the concept that David Mitchell was trying to get across, one must read the initial source; the book.

AP Worthiness...

As I read the last line to the last page of the book Cloud Atlas, I cannot help but want David Mitchell to write a couple more pages on the meaning of the sections altogether. This afterthought forced me to realize, the answers to the question of the meaning of the book should not be given to me like a beautifully wrapped present. Instead, I had to dig for the meaning and use a useful tool that lives in my skull. 

I have no doubt in my mind that the book Cloud Atlas is AP worthy. It forced me to take a lot of time to stretch my thinking process about the hidden meanings of the book. In fact, I think it took me at least halfway through the book to start grasping the connections throughout the different sections. Small details of birthmarks, character struggles, and time periods eventually started weaving together a large meaning. The reincarnation piece is only mentioned twice in the second half of the book, although it is not mentioned in reference to the connection of characters in the sections, but rather as an idea that someone like the character Zachary from "Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After" believes in. 

The amount of allusions that I did not understand in this novel was more than my hands and toes could count. A lot of the allusions were from the section "Letters from Zedelghem". One musical allusion from that section was when Zedelghem wrote "Scientific papers are coauthored, yes, and a composer might work with a virtuoso musician to explore the boundaries of the playable- like Elgar and W.H. Reed..." Now I had no idea who these people that Zedelghem was alluding to were, along with many other allusions that were made. I had to look up these people and found out that William H. Reed was a violinist, conductor, and composer, who wrote about and used the paintings of Edward Elgar, who was an English composer and painter. I was forced many times to stop in the middle of a paragraph and look up names, songs, or any other allusions Mitchell threw at me. 

I also had to constantly look up words in the dictionary. In the sections of "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing" many words that were foreign to me were used. This resulted in lots of pausing and application of new words to sentences from the book. I also could figure out lots of words by means of context, which is very important for an AP student to do, especially on the AP English test. Not only were certain words hard to understand, but entire sections used language in difficult ways. The section "Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After" slowed down my reading a lot, because I found that I had to reread sentences and sound out letters in ways I haven't seen them put together. An example of a difficult sentence from this section is when Zachary says "Lady Moon rose an' gazed o'er my busted'n'beautsome Valleys with silv'ry'n'sorryin' eyes, an' the dingos mourned for the died uns". It takes a little bit longer to comprehend the full meaning. 

For these reasons and others, I believe that Cloud Atlas is an AP worthy book, and I recommend it as a fun challenge of a read for students who are enrolled in AP English, or just generally a good book all around. 

Reincarnation?

In my next life I hope that I am a giraffe. Or maybe a sea turtle. Reincarnation is the idea that when one dies, one gets reborn as another living being. Whether that be a human, mammal, or insect. Some religions with this theory of reincarnation also believe that how you act in your current life, determines what you will get reincarnated into. So if you commit academic dishonesty on an entire blog post for Mrs. Laclair's first year of trying out the blogs for students...you might get reincarnated as a beetle. On the other hand, if you are a good person who helps and cares for others, you have a better chance of getting reincarnated into a lion, or into a privileged family. I think that this concept is intriguing. Now that I have read about 3/4 of the book, I have discovered that reincarnation is a large component to Cloud Atlas.

In the next section that I read, "Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After", reincarnation is explicitly discussed as a belief of the main character, Zachary, along with the people who surround him. When a foreigner named Meronym from a ship called Prescient comes to Zachary's village, it is apparent that the two are very different. Meronym is extremely smart and has seen the world, while Zachary, the narrator is not as smart in that sense. This is apparent with the language he uses to write the story. Zachary and Meronym contrast in what they believe in.  Zachary discovers this when he asks Meronym about her ideas about death. Meronym responds by saying that "'We Prescients b'lief when you die you die an' there ain't no comin' back.' But what about your soul? I asked. 'Prescients don't b'lief souls exist.' But ain't dyin' terrorsome cold if there ain't nothin' after?". This quote shows how the characters think differently about death. I think that this section is very important because it is the first one to go out and introduce the idea of reincarnation. Meronym has a comet birthmark, much like the ones of other characters in the sections. David Mitchell is trying to lead you into believing that the individuals from different time periods with comet birthmarks were reincarnated and therefore connected to each other through past lives. You are forced to think of this when the section clearly discusses the idea of reincarnation, and then mentions that the "Lady Moon lit a whoahsome wyrd birthmark jus' b'low my friend's shoulder blade as she sleeped fin'ly. A sort o' tiny hand mark it were, yay, a head o' six streaks strandin' off, pale 'gainst her dark skin, an' I curioed why I'd never seen it before". Meronym has a birthmark in the same spot as all the other characters who have birthmarks. In the other sections it is mentioned to look like a comet, but Zachary does not seem to have this kind of knowledge of comets, so he describes it in his own way.

This section was my second favorite behind the first Sonmi section. Although the language and the way it is written can be very hard to follow, I thought the idea behind the religious beliefs were interesting. Sonmi is thought to be a god in Zachary's culture, which ties with the section about Sonmi, but is confusing as to why she became a god-like figure. I am still confused about that, but am sure that when I finish the book my questions will be answered.

Written with Style

Small stylistic choices that David Mitchell makes throughout the book, Cloud Atlas, can be easily skipped over, but actually prove great significance. I find that I have the tendency to slide over the surface, as opposed to plunging to the depths of some of Mitchell's stylistic choices. I am working on this, and having the requirement of discussing style of writing has forced me to pay closer attention. This is good practice to more easily identify hidden meanings. I don't think that I am alone in my struggle with hidden meaning in Cloud Atlas, because it has lots of pieces that will eventually fit together, but have not quite snapped into place.

One element that I have noticed thus far in the book, are the progressing time periods. The sections seem to not only be split up by stories, but by time period. The first section is a diary from far in the past where white men think themselves as the best race, and they travel by vessel. The time periods go from then, all the way to the future where some people are genetically programmed to efficiently work in different jobs, and others endure the services these controlled humans provide. The English language in each section is also slightly altered, from old English, to more contemporary English. For example, in "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing", the English has sentences that say things like "His body shuddered with each excoriating lash, his back was a vellum of bloody runes, but his insensible face bespoke the serenity of a martyr already in the care of the Lord." This old English makes complete sense in the time period, and when compared to the wording of the futuristic section of Cloud Atlas it seems very complicated and almost unnecessary. For instance, in the section "An Orison of Sonmi~451", Mitchell boils down the letters to only what seems necessary when he writes "Mr. Chang taught me to shuffle thru granular ice to gain traction [...] Glass walls afforded a dizzying view of the conurb by nite, obscured by the haze-brite snowfall". These sentences take out extra letters that make the same sounds. Another example of this is "'I assumed you were yet another semi-ascended xperiment". The "e" is not necessary, and by taking out letters, the writing seems more futuristic. This stylistic choice by David Mitchell seems to have the purpose of contrasting the different time periods.
One detail that I have noticed throughout Cloud Atlas, is that many of the main characters have revealed in some way that they have a "comet shaped birthmark". So far I am unaware of the function of this detail, other than the fact that it brings the sections together.  The birthmark paints the skin of Adam Ewing, Frobisher, Timothy Cavendish, Luisa Rey, and Sonmi, who is one of the genetically programmed humans. It is especially weird that Sonmi has a birthmark, because these types of people are not supposed to have them. When Sonmi is retelling her story to an Archivist she mentions that "only my birthmark provoked any passing comment [...] Ma-Leu-Da-108 called it 'Sonmi's stain'". Mitchell goes on further to add the detail that every birthmark is "between [their] collarbone and shoulder blade'. He also adds to every section that it "looks like a comet, don't you think?" This makes me wonder how Mitchell will incorporate the birthmark into having a bigger meaning. The characters are all clearly connected, and have strong personalities that differ from their peers, but there must be more to it than just that.

Cloud Atlas just keeps getting more and more interesting, and I have enjoyed the futuristic section "An Orison of Sonmi~451" the most so far. Each section forces more questions into my head, and I look forward to closure and answers!

Character Introduction (part i, ii, iii)

I was warned that the beginning of Cloud Atlas would be a bit slow and dry, but that I should keep reading on because it would be worth it. I did as suggested and discovered that after about thirty pages in the book picked up speed. Another suggestion was to keep a dictionary near by, which proved to be very helpful. I decided to read this book because of the fact that it is split into six parts. This satisfies my short span of attention, and actually makes me sit down for long periods of time to read. That, along with the fact that I did not take the opportunity to get ahead with my AP English reading and blog assignment during my week and a half of vacation. My typical procrastination at its best.

In "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing", part one of Cloud Atlas, there are two main characters who lead contrasting lives. One, Adam Ewing, is a man who stays on an island while his ship "The Prophetess" is being repaired. He befriends an odd doctor, and the two board overnight on the island. They run into a group of natives who are whipping a man tied to a pole. This man is known as Autua. The two characters had their first encounter when Ewing witnessed the Autua's punishment and "swooned under each fall of the lash. Then a peculiar thing occurred. The beaten savage raised his slumped head, found my eye & shone me a look of uncanny, amicable knowing! As if a theatrical performer saw a long-lost friend in the Royal Box and, undetected by the audience, communicated his recognition". This first eye contact carries over to when Ewing boards his ship, and Autua stows in Ewing's room. Autua proves to be very desperate to leave his home, but also extremely confident that Ewing is someone he can trust based solely on the eye contact the two shared. I like this part of the book because it shows one's background does not interfere with strong connections between people. Ewing's act of helping Autua stay on the ship also shows a small portion of compassion that he has, even if Autua is not a wealthy white man.

After finishing part one of Cloud Atlas,  I was pleased to change scenery and dates for the next section: "Letters from Sedelghem".  The main character in this section is so far my favorite one. The text that the reader is given is letters by Robert Frobisher, to an unknown character, Sixsmith.  The first couple of pages seems to outline Frobisher as crazy when the character writes about his dream where he "stood in a china shop so crowded from floor to far off ceiling with shelves of porcelain antiquities etc. that moving a muscle would cause several to fall and smash to bits. Exactly what happened, but instead of a crashing noise, and august chord rang out, half-cello, half-celeste, D major (?), held for four beats". My initial thoughts were that this guy was either completely mad, or exquisitely talented in music; so much so that he could identify notes and instruments in his dreams. Frobisher demands a job from a composer who is mostly blind and very sick. This young musician's personality is entertaining and stubborn. He proves his strong personality when he replies to  criticism from Ayr (his new boss) by saying that he needs "a little time to decide whether or not to [he] could find use for [his boss's]...gift". Frobisher has just mocked what his boss had said to him earlier when Ayr decides whether or not to hire Frobisher as his eyes to create Ayr's music. This part of the book mentions the first part of the book when Frobisher find's Adam Ewing's journal that we read in part one. Nothing more is said about the journal other than the fact that Frobisher asks the man he is writing to, Sixsmith, to find a copy of the rest of the journal that was left out of the edition that Frobisher found. The next section ties into who Sixsmith is. 

Part three of Cloud Atlas has proven to be the most exciting section of the book so far. In "Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", the old man that Frobisher has been writing to meets a girl in an elevator, and he almost spills his large secret to her at that very moment. Little did he know that he would eventually send his secret to Luisa Rey, the girl from the elevator, before he is shot. Sixsmith is a scientist in his sixties who has discovered risk in the hydro power that a big company known as Seaboard Corporation's HYDRA project has just launched. Sixsmith is forced to keep this secret so that the company is not shut down. Since Sixsmith's morals are straight he wants to tell the public, like any good-natured human would attempt to do. This results in the murder of Sixsmith by a man who works for the Seaboard company. Before the murder, Sixsmith sends the letters that Frobisher has written to him, to Luisa Rey. This lets the secret of human safety to Luisa, and puts her life in danger. Luisa proves to be a trustworthy and strong willed when she stands up to her boss about having the chance to write an article on the fact that Sixsmith was murdered, and did not commit suicide. She replies to her boss's refusal of letting her write it by saying "that exposé on Ross Zinn's campaign fund's in 'sixty-four. You took the bone-chilling white supremacist out of politics for good. Dad called you dogged, cussed, and indefatigable. [...] I'll do the nerve and sweat, all I need from you is a little time. [...] Journalism calls for dirty tricks". This shows her persuasion, wit, and determination towards the task in front of her. In fact, she is so trustworthy that an insider of Seaboard leaves the report of Sixsmith's findings about the unsafe power in Luisa's car. This put Luisa's life in danger, and the last scene of part three is Luisa and the report being thrown off a bridge while in the car, into water. 

The characters of these three sections all have something to do with each other, although I expect that in as the book continues, more connections between these characters will be revealed. The strong personalities of the main characters that I have described to you seem to be so strong for a purpose. It is unclear what exactly that purpose is so far, but I cannot wait to continue the adventure of Cloud Atlas.