BrokenTune

Well, well, well. Cloud Atlas had been on my reading list for a long time, but when a trip half way around the world came up it suddenly seemed the right time to get started on it.

Is it the best book ever written? Nope.

Will it translate easily onto screen and be understood by anyone who hasn't read the book? Probably, not.

Nevertheless, I do like short stories and cliff hangers.

When starting the book I could not immediately warm to the characters (apart from Adam Ewing), but after a couple of days I found myself still thinking about the book and wanted to read on. And this despite the resonances of other books / films in the stories - even despite the regurgitation of the Erin-Brokovich-theme.

Maybe it is because of the contrived connections that I enjoyed the stories or maybe it is because of the emphasis of diversity between the stories, but it made for an easy read - and sometimes I do want to switch off the cynic in me that keeps shouting "it has been done before - so why waste time on it" and just go with the story.