Rob
This book is a dark, unrelenting indictment of romantic love and the concept of marriage. It is NOT fun to read unless you already share this jaded view, which I don't.
I appreciated the twist in the middle, but that only gets it one extra star. These characters are profoundly unlikeable, and they absolutely hate each other. The plot tries to be intricate, but I had no motivation to suspend my disbelief because I wasn't rooting for anyone. So it just falls apart.
If they ever remake War of the Roses (80s movie starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, look it up), Flynn should write the screenplay. But maybe develop a sense of humor first?
Loved it! I wrote a review on my blog. Check it out: http://roblindsey.com/2012/09/book-review-cloud-atlas
Was gonna go two stars just because I love the author so much, but this is the worst Stephen King book I've ever read. Dumb characters, ridiculous plot, poorly paced. I just hated it.
The passages about grief were very well written. And the first third of the book was pretty solid, if slow.
::SPOILER::
But I could never wrap my head around Jud's motivation for getting all the business with the sematary started in the first place. He knew the place was evil and the things brought back from the dead came back wrong. Yet he leads the charge to resurrect Church. King alludes to the forces in burial grounds compelling Jud to act, but I don't think he ever sold it. And without this initial motivation cemented in my imagination, the rest of the story fell apart for me. Not to mention the big bad villains of the piece are a house cat and a two year old. It just didn't work for me. At all.
::END SPOILER::
All that said, I think a sequel starring grown up Ellie Creed (great name!) would be pretty damned interesting.
I definitely understand why people don't like this book as compared to the first two, but after a rocky start, it really worked for me. Even Four's chapters – incredibly jarring and redundant at first – weren't that bad once I got used to them. The end was a downer, but again, I thought it was done really well.
Quite possibly the worst book I've ever finished. Maybe if I hadn't just read the thematically similar and superior Amis novel Money, I would have liked it more, but no. Pretty sure I'm done with Coupland now.
Loved the concept/twist/secret. But the writing was average pot boiler at best. Good summer vacation reading.
I made the mistake of listening to this as an audiobook. Without maps to refer to or a detailed knowledge of French, German, and Belgian geography, I was lost for most of the book. It would have been easier to follow all the people and place names if I was visually reading them, too.
Very good latter-day Stephen King. Probably could've lost a couple hundred pages & been just as good or better.