Cloud Atlas

  Two months ago my book club decided to read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I have to say that I was a bit excited because the movie looked pretty cool and different. Unfortunately for me, Cloud Atlas was a very painful and fruitless read. It's probably the worst book I've read this year.

Description: A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation—the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Review: Cloud Atlas is a book that is better to admire from afar for its structure rather than it's actual contents. Mitchell experiments and challenges the linear plot arc which most of us are familiar with as readers. Instead of one overall narrative that features many different characters and culminates into one conclusion, Mitchell offers us with six stories in different genres that recounts the "connected" stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a nineteenth-century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to a young man who searches for meaning in a post-apocalyptic world. The stories begin and stop in what seems to be its climax and intersects, sometimes even in mid-sentence, with the next one. So essentially you are climbing up and reading stories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and then climb down to conclude stories 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and lastly 1. Confused? You're definitely not the only one.
  You're probably wondering why I put quotation marks on the word connected up above, aren't you? Well, that's because the stories don't really connect in a substantial and meaningful way. I read the book in not the way you're suppose to- I actually would start and finish one story before continuing to the next. I wanted to see how each story builds up to this great epiphany people claim it to be. Well, after suffering through 500 pages, there is no such grand revelation. The stories don't really connect. It all comes across as coincidence- the musician from the second story by chance picks up a diary that begins the book, a journalist enters a music store and buys a record of the music from the musician from story 2. As a reader, I think Mitchell was more concerned with showing how he can imitate great writers of literature than actually caring for the stories and the characters. This lack of attentiveness is what really bothered me about this book along with its super dense writing- writing so dense that I had to drink more caffeine to stay awake and then finally taking an aspirin or two for my headache when I finished it.
  So is Cloud Atlas worth the read? Probably not, but you can always claim that you've read it like many people do with other classics like Ulysses by James Joyce.  

Rating: 1 star

Words of Caution: Disturbing images, strong language including racial slurs, and sexual situations. Recommended for mature teens and adults only.

If you like this book try: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, A Wild Sleep Chase by by Haruki Murakami,
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Shadowlands (Shadowlands #1)

  Shadowlands is a book that has been greatly anticipated once the cover and description were revealed by the publishers. After seeing it on a few blogger's radar, I, myself, grew curious and requested an advanced copy from the publishers via Netgalley. Please note that this review is based on the review copy.

Description (from Goodreads): Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.
   Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

Review: Shadowlands is an uneven mixture of teen soap opera, thriller/mystery with a "surprise twist" that should have been a shocker but instead of leaving you with a reaction of "Oh my god. What just happened?!"to "Okay. I'd like to get the hours that I spend reading this book back."
  As we open the book, our heroine is running through the woods from her attacker. Our adrenaline and fear are spiked and we breathe a sigh of relief when she finds help. We quickly learn that her name is Rory and the person chasing her is an actual serial killer that has not only been posing as Rory's math teacher and has been spying on her for months and planning his attack. The FBI assures her they will catch him, but months have passed to no avail. In the meantime, she and her family are given new identities and sent to a secret location. They arrive in Juniper Landing, an idyllic vacation island, seemingly without incident, though Rory is troubled by nightmares of the killer murdering them on the road. We are shown over and over again with dark images that something is not right with this island. Everyone is too pretty and parties like they have no care in the world. Rory senses something is wrong because people keep disappearing, and while she is sure the killer is responsible, everyone else seems suspiciously unconcerned and oblivious.
  Though I had zero expectations for the book, I was quickly drawn into the first hundred pages or so.
The author builds a strong sense of menace and the dual narrative from the serial killer himself and Rory was initially engaging, this structure loses consistency because it is dropped in the second half of the book and I wish it wasn't because that was the book's biggest strength. The characters are all stereotypical caricatures and very hard to tell them apart. For instance Rory is your typical mousy (must they always be portrayed as being a brunette?), dull, and people pleasing teen. Her sister, Darcy, is your superficial, mean girl who might under all that plastic exterior might have a tiny slither of humanity. There is a vague hint of romance in the book but it goes no where. There are so many plot improbabilities, such as the stunning ineptitude of the FBI, and plot holes that you can make a game out of picking them all out. The abrupt ending leaves most of the interesting questions unanswered, perhaps saving it for the sequel that I will not bother wasting my time to read it. I honestly can't recommend this book. If you are looking for a really good YA thriller, please look elsewhere.

Rating: 1 star

Words of Caution: The book contains language, disturbing images, and scenes of underage drinking. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like YA thrillers try: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, the Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting, Reality Check by Peter Abrahams, Blood on My Hands by Todd Strasser