Book to Big Screen: Cloud Atlas

Title: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 509 pages
Release Date: Aug. 17, 2004
Genre: Science Fiction

Goodreads Summary: 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 civilization—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.

In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

Cloud Atlas is not type of book that I’m usually interested in reading. However, the movie trailer looked really interesting so when I was offered the opportunity to review the book professionally, I jumped at the chance to see what it was all about. Sadly, it was not the book for me.

Cloud Atlas is a set of six short stories that are interconnected. The stories span several centuries, beginning in the nineteenth century and going to a post apocalyptic future. The stories are told in a non-linear fashion (with the exception of the story in the middle), each stopping at a critical point only to be concluded later in the novel.

Without a doubt, Mitchell is a talented writer. His ability to give the main characters in six separate stories a unique voice while tying them all together is awesome. I found the middle story to be very difficult to read (the characters use a lot of slang) but I understand why Mitchell wrote it the way he did.

As creative as the writing is however, there is a reason that I usually stick to YA novels. I found a few things in the book extremely disturbing such as *spoiler alert, please highlight to read* a young boy being gang raped by adult men, a teenage boy committing suicide because he was continuously raped by men he worked for and humans being slaughtered and their body parts used for food. No way could I have finished this book if I were reading it recreationally.

Also, this book is extremely long and with my issues of deciphering the slang in some of the stories, I felt like this book took me forever to read.

I have not seen the movie version of Cloud Atlas and I’m not sure if I want to. Parts of this book made me feel ill and while I doubt the movie would depict such graphic scenes, I just want to forget the whole thing. Have you read Cloud Atlas or did you see the movie? What are your thoughts on either? Let me know in the comments! 

My Rating: Disappointing

Content: Kissing, heavy violence, heavy gore, heavy profanity, sex, child rape.

Book to Big Screen: A Princess of Mars

This is a new feature where I highlight books that upcoming movies are being based on. Today, I’m highlighting A Princess of Mars, the science fiction cult classic that the new Disney movie, John Carter, is adapted from.

Title: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Release Date: Originally published in 1912
Movie Title: John Carter
Movie Release Date: March 9, 2012
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Download for free from Project Gutenberg

Goodreads Summary: Let the adventures begin, as Captain John Carter finds himself transported to the alien landscape of Mars--where the low gravity increases his speed and strength exponentially. Taken prisoner by Martian warriors, he impresses them with his remarkable fighting skills, and quickly rises to a high-ranking chieftain. But the heroic Carter's powers thrust him right in the middle of a deadly war raging across the planet--and a dangerous romance with a divine princess.

John Carter, a captain in the confederate army, goes prospecting in Arizona at the end of the civil war and runs afoul of the Apaches. He hides out in a cave where he is mysteriously transported to Mars and captured by green Martian men who are 15 feet tall and have six limbs. Due to the difference in gravity, Carter has superhuman strength and agility, powers that come in handy as he gets embroiled in the planet’s politics and works to save the humanoid red Martian princess, Dejah Thoris.

A Princess of Mars is like a western set on Mars. Carter goes from fighting Native Americans in the Arizona desert to fighting Tharks in the Martian desert within a 24 hour period. His holds the same amount of disdain for both groups referring to them as ‘savages.’ Burroughs’ writing was a little hard to get into at first but I was fine after the first few chapters and really got into the story after that.

The world building in A Princess of Mars is excellent. Burroughs does a great job of creating the landscape of Mars as well as the planet’s myriad of interesting inhabitants. The story is told from Carter’s first person perspective which is also interesting because pats himself on the back quite often. In addition to seeing Carter in action being a gallant gentleman, a brilliant war strategist and a formidable fighter, he tells us that he is. All the time.

Let’s talk about the Carter’s love interest, Dejah Thoris, the princess of Helium. While she does not seem particularly helpless, Carter has to rescue her over and over again. Dejah Thoris has a strange affect on men: they either pledge their undying devotion to protecting her or they fall madly in love with her and selfishly want her for themselves. John Carter does both and combined with his first person narrative, this book gets a bit cheesy.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the racism and sexism in the book. To be fair, I’m sure this was not an issue in 1912 when the book was written nor do I think Burroughs was trying to be offensive. Nevertheless, Carter’s thoughts and attitude towards to Native Americans and green Martians is in sharp contrast with how he regards the humanoid red Martians and their ancestors, the fair skinned fair haired Martians. I doubt they will include this in the movie.

A Princess of Mars is a sci-fi classic and despite the cheesiness and the isms, it’s worth reading, especially if you are a fan of the genre. It was Burroughs’ first novel, pre-dating his more famous Tarzan series and it also inspired a lot of other sci-fi authors including Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke. Now that I have read the book, I’m looking forward to the movie.

Have you read A Princess of Mars? What were your thoughts on it? Are you planning on seeing the movie? 

Cover Note: Since this book is 100 years old, it has had a lot of covers, most of them featuring Dejah Thoris in revealing outfits. What’s really interesting is that as far as I can tell, everyone on Mars is naked and Dejah Thoris even tells John Carter that when she sees pictures of people on Earth, she can’t understand why we wear clothes. Easy to see why this book remains popular among teenage boys.

Content: Kissing and heavy violence