When I first started reading Cloud Atlas and doing some research on it I found it to have a much similar format to The Uses of Enchantment. The book jumps from chapter to chapter and each chapter is about a different journey. With that being said I feel like it worked well in The Uses of Enchantment, however it does not work as well for me in this book. I found myself missing an overlying theme, at least this far, and found myself very disinterested.
The first section of this book from what I understand involves a man named Adam Ewing who is on a ship in the 1800′s. It seems as if Adam does not have any many friends on the ship except Dr. Goose who is helping him get better due to a problem in his brain. I had a really hard time getting through this chapter, because I just think it had no substance. I had a hard time trying to figure out what was really going on and what the real story line was. I am not sure if the storyline exists within the fact that Adam is sick with a brain problem or if the actual journey on this ship is the main fact. I also just a hard time trying to connect it to the next chapter. I felt as if these two chapters had absolutely nothing in common.
I think that this chapter interested me a bit more due to the fact that i found the main character more interesting and more modern day. I find Robert a very interesting character due to the fact that he has this huge gambling problem and has been practically disowned by his father. I find him to be a rather scrappy and intriguing character. I get the feeling that he is capable of manipulating people and doing whatever he can to help himself, including selling some of Ayrs documents for cash. I also feel as if he is a character I would not trust. He helps this man, Ayrs with his music and even ends up sleeping with his wife! This creates a rather interesting view of who he is as a character. I think that he is probably a talented man who is even capable of writing and composing his own music.
I think that with this book I am just very annoyed that I do not know where it is going or what the story is really trying to express. I do not know what other stories are going to be brought in and why. I think that I really like to know ahead of time where a book is going and what is going to happen. In this book thought I do not know any of that and maybe that is why i am starting to greatly dislike this book. Hopefully, it will get better and I will be able to understand where it is going and how all of these stories tie together.
October 21, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hi Karen,
I had similiar impressions as you at the start of this novel. The first couple pages were hard to get into and I thought…this is going to be a long night of reading! Switching from the first section to the second section was a relief because I liked it better too. I found a small connection between them when Robert found the diary Adam had been keeping in Ary’s old stash of books in the library. He notices the journal stopped midsentence and wanted to know why…so did I. So maybe the stories will all somehow link and we will find out answers through them all.
October 21, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I like how you found that connection between “Enchantment” and this novel. I didn’t see that before you pointed it out. Even though i also do not love this novel, i do enjoy the different narratives. Like “Enchantment”, with the different narratives there is a connection between them in the end, and they are essential to one another. I hope that these narratives have some kind of connection. I did notice how in the letters section, he wrote how he came across a journal (the one from section one) and talked about it for some time (pages 64-65). Hopefully, this will lead to more of a story and the connection will become clear.
October 22, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I feel the same way as you. As of now, I don’t know why these particular stories are being told and what significance they have in really relating to each other. I think since this novel is so different than many of the others we’ve read, although structurally I like your relation to Uses of Enchantment, I’m curious as to what is to come next in hoping things will soon tie together. I also like to know what is going to happen ahead of time and this complete switch of stories is making me anxious and annoyed at the same time… Although I don’t like the novel yet, maybe those are qualities of a great novel.