Tis' a sad day indeed, when everyone drives a Ford.,

I hope that 'Ford' is just the word that replaced 'car' or 'vehicle' in one of the most interesting portions (a corporate controlled, clone fueled Korea) of Mitchell's most recent work. It is also sad that most who start out reading this may never make it to that story. I myself would have never finished Cloud Atlas if I had not been listening to it on compact disk to supplement the book.

The first couple of stories, while interesting to me, are in a highly stylized lexicon that may put off many readers. The first such story takes place in the 1850's and is that of Adam Ewing, who is on an expedition in the Pacific Ocean. If you're used to the dialogue and situations of most TV shows you'll be scratching your head and cursing the dork that recommended this to you. So, let me save you the trouble of trying to read this. That way you will not miss that rerun of Desperate Housewives you've been dying to watch.

The six stories in all follow the pattern a-b-c-d-e-f-e-d-c-b-a. During the first time through (a through f), the stories are cut off in mid stride. A trick so brilliant that I do not think I could have stopped reading/listening if I wanted to. I needed to get to the second half of the book (f through a) to discover the conclusions of the first half.

Many reviewers have tried to link the many incidences of coincidence that occur thru out the stories. Some think this novel is a diatribe against the evils of corporations. They may be correct. I, on the other hand, believe Mitchell just wants to tell a great story while exemplifying the '6-degrees of separation' as functioning through the course of time. All of the narrators and characters link to one another in small, almost random ways. Mitchell's explanation of this is not forth coming and seems to be the topic of debate among reviewers. Thus, in my opinion adding to the novels appeal.

I would highly recommend this to any Neal Stevenson fan (esp. of the Baroque Cycle) or any erudite reader with a considerable attention span. Happy reading.