Knowledge, Belief, Reality, Truth and Cloud Atlas

Abstract

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is a complex novel narrating six different stories of six different characters living in different times in different parts of the globe. What makes the novel even more dazzlingly interesting is its matryoshka doll like structure, its varied narrative style and its wide-ranging language use from different cultures and worlds. Once the first story ends abruptly, one turns the page to get sucked into the next story but remains unquestionably a bit puzzled as to how and why the previous story had stopped in the middle so unexpectedly. This happens with each story until one reaches the 6th story which is complete. After the sixth story, the remaining halves of the first five stories are continued but in reverse order with the second half of the first story coming at the very end.