Some More from CLOUD ATLAS, plus a bit on the film
Do you have that thing, writers, where you keep something you want to write about nearby as a reminder, and then it lurks, and lurks, and eventually you forget what you wanted to write about?
I’m pretty sure I was so full of geek joy when I finished Cloud Atlas that I wanted to share ALL the quotes that I’d flagged. We’ll see if they still resonate months later.
But first, my husband G Grod and I watched the 2012 film Cloud Atlas, though it was generally trounced by critics. It was a collaboration among the Wachowski sibs and Tom Twyker (Run, Lola, Run) so even if was bad, we knew it would bad in interesting ways. But it wasn’t bad. It was ambitious, missed the mark a couple times, and was super long as you would expect a compression of 6 novellas would be. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, in spite of putting some actors in Asian face, some over-tidy re-interpretations, and the worst, IMO, casting adult Tom Hanks in the role of boy Zachry.
Two things that might have improved the watching: 1. splitting it over two nights. 2. Possibly watching the extras in front of, or instead of, the movie. They were many but the interviews with directors and cast plus clips was at least as fascinating as the movie, and made me like it more.
Now, some quotes:
Implausible truth can serve one better than plausible fiction.
(49)
A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.
(64)
And I marked a few others, but those were my favorites I think. And now I will shelve Cloud Atlas, which enters the home library as one we like well enough to have his n hers copies.
October 31st, 2014 at 9:13 pm
I recently read this! I loved it. I think my favorite section was…all of them? Are you going to read The Bone Clocks too?
This blog gives me so many good reading ideas. Love it.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:42 am
I will read the Bone Clocks and want to read ALL the Mitchells. But the TBR pile is teetering.
Stephen King wrote that he thought Cloud Atlas was gimmicky. I found it mind blowing. If I had to pick a favorite, it might be Zedelhelm.
November 4th, 2014 at 9:46 am
I loved the book and liked the movie, which I’ve now seen twice. Like you, I’d love to read all the Mitchells but also have a teetering TBR pile!
November 8th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
I loved Bone Clocks. Possibly his best ever.