Am finishing up an absolutely amazing book: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Mitchell is an incredibly gifted writer and the book is full of really profound (and often funny) statements that I keep going back and re-reading. My copy is completely dog-eared because I'll run across something and mark it for later, and I normally don't do that!The story line is complex and sometimes a bit heavy-- it's actually a collection of short stories about six seemingly unrelated characters. It transcends space and time and travels from the 19th century up into the future and back again.
Mitchell's brilliance lies in his ability to act as a ventriloquist by using six completely different styles to portray his characters. Sometimes this makes for difficult reading-- had a hard time slogging through the first chapter and the central chapter about Sloosha's Crossing, but the whole ties together beautifully to form a masterpiece.
There are a couple of hilarious chapters about Timothy Cavendish's (mis)adventures while trying to escape a resthome to which he has been committed by his vindictive brother. And two chapters about composer Robert Frobisher are both funny and poignant.
Highly recommend this one-- it's the most original, well-written book I've read in a long time...
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