Does "Cloud Atlas" get any better?

[NostrilDarmus]

I'm 188 pages into David Mitchel's "Cloud Atlas" and finding it a real struggle.

I've just finished the story where the publishing man gets put in an old folks home and I'm just about to start what looks like the dystopia future story. I'm not sure whether to bother reading on.

Is it worth carrying on?
Does it get better?
I'm guessing the writing doesn't improve but do the stories start to link together soon? Basically, does something happen at any point?

Thanks so much.

Honestly, I gave up on that pile of shite. As you say, it’s unlikely that the writing gets any better.

I loved the old folks home story (I think this was Richard Osman's inspiration), and enjoyed the whole thing.

I liked it.

So sorry you're not enjoying it. It's one of my favourite books! I love David Mitchell's books.
The film is good too but not long enough to do the book justice.
It is worth sticking with but as some might say, life's too short to read a book you're not enjoying. (Or is it life's too short to drink bad wine?) 😁

I'm guessing the writing doesn't improve but do the stories start to link together soon?
Haven't they started linking already?

It’s such a long book and it doesn’t radically change, I enjoyed it but if you don’t by now I’d say leave it

It's my favourite book. That said, you should stop if you are not enjoying it.

I loved it, but if it’s not your cup of tea there’s no shame in leaving it!

Potential spoiler.

I got half way through then gave up when it was written in total vernacular. Someone who speaks like this and it was written verbatim:
T'ere him who 'ave it ain't it like dat.
No thanks I'm not struggling through hundreds of pages of vernacular to then get back to the sodding robot voice character. 😭

I loved it myself, but if you don't like it by this point I doubt you'll get into it.

You get half way through then you start getting the second half of each story. I dislike Cloud Atlas, much preferred Ghostwritten.

Hmm, kind of. There are vague mentions of previous stories in some of the stories but I was hoping for something a bit deeper.

At the minute, it just seems like a load of half-baked and poorly written stories about boring men.

It's like a terrible chimera of "The Luminaries" and "To Paradise" but with more male maim characters 😭

We obviously have very different tastes 🫣 I absolutely hated that story. I think it might be the worst so far. I found the characters completely under-developed, and the attempts at humour really weird and awkward. It felt like an excerpt from a low-quality "Hundred Year Old Man" sequel was just dropped into this tome.

I really liked the second half once it started coming back to the different narrators. Overall I found it was worth persevering with, but I absolutely remember having to push on through.

No. It's predictable and boring. I persevered but that's a whole chunk of my life I am not getting back!

I re-read it recently and really enjoyed it, but some stories more than others.

I’m away from home at the moment and don’t have the book with me to check, but it sounds like you’re nearly half way through.

I suspect you won’t start enjoying it now if you haven’t so far. Personally I’d stick with it, but if you’re really struggling, you could just pick the stories you enjoyed the most (if any) and read the second half of those. My favourite was the Louisa Rey story.

Loved the idea of it, didn't like it in the end though. But others think it's one of the best books ever, so there you go.

Ooh this book annoyed me a lot. I generally love David Mitchell books but this one was so lame and gave me the rage.

‘a load of half-baked and poorly written stories about boring men.’
🎯😄

If it helps any, I wish I hadn’t persevered to the end. I think of all the other lovely books I could have been reading in that time 🤦🏼‍♀️

I really enjoyed it, but I don't think I experienced it as something that started half baked and suddenly came together.

If you're not enjoying it, find another book. After all there are many, and life is short.

I gave up! My second DNF of 2026 🤣

I liked it. I think the linking of the stories comes together most fully at the end, when you see the circular trajectory. I thought it was thoughtful and interesting, but definitely not the sort of book that you fall in love with.
It is asking a lot of the reader to keep expecting them to tear themselves away from one story fragment and dive into another. It's an 'eat up your greens' kind of a novel rather than a yummy desert.

I hate giving up on books so persevered but just didn’t enjoy it. I am always surprised that it gets so much love.

I think he’s brilliant, though I remember being initially appalled that he’d pulled me into one functional world, got me absorbed and then threw me back out and replaced it with a completely different, apparently unrelated one, time after time. Only an extremely confident writer could pull that off.

I’m interested in why you think it’s ’poorly written’ though, OP?

I read loads & I love Richard Osman. But his books, no thanks. Drivel.