Cloud Atlas

Loosely connected short stories that wrap around or are “nested.” (Matryoshka dolls are specifically called out in one of the stories.)

Some of them are more fun to read than others; “Letters from Zedelghem,” “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery,” and “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish” were the most entertaining. The first one because of the self delusional and self-destructive nature of the character and the other two because they were just great stories in their own way. The central story, “Sloosha's Crossin' an' Evrythin' After,' ‘ was a challenge because of the dialect.

Mitchell is certainly talented. He wrote each story in their respective style and voice convincingly.

If you're really into books where a fancy, non-traditional structure is used, I can recommend The Islanders by Christopher Priest, Gnomon by Nick Harkaway, and 4-3-2-1 by Paul Auster.

The last section, “The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing,” got a little preachy at the end when Adam wrote out the message in his journal, basically that humans have to believe we can rise above the predatory and selfish. If you'd been reading the book this far, you probably already got that point as it is present in some way or other in each story with varying degrees of subtlety.