REVIEW: CLOUD ATLAS- David Mitchell

Somehow, I keep falling into these epic novels...and it's always touch and go how I fare at the other end. This one may have taken me a while, but I don't feel as exhausted as with Midnight's Children or The Count of Monte Cristo. Basically, this is the novel that I wish I had written.

You know me, I hate to give the whole plot of the book away, and I'm seriously trying not to in this review. In a nutshell, the reader hears the story of six characters, all from different eras in the past, present, and future. One small, seemingly insignificant aspect links all these people, and miraculously they are drawn to each other across the ages. A 1970s journalist reads the letters from a 1930s composer to his lover; a post-apocalyptic tribe worships a Korean cloned robot. A historical and dystopian book at the same time, I can honestly say you will have never read a book like this one. I say 'book' rather than novel; the two stories from each character within Cloud Atlas contain such incredible characterisation and complexity that they each seem like a mini novel of their own.

Cloud Atlas' structure, as well as his language, convey Mitchell's message loud and clear. Everything that we do in life has repercussions; everything that came before us has influenced the way we are. Parallels can be found throughout history, and will continue to be found as we head into the future.

I'll end this review with my favourite quotation from the novel; this is one of those 'thinkers' that you'll read, then read again, before sitting back and quoting it to those around you and saying "Isn't this true?" (or is that just me??)

"In the beginning, there is ignorance. Ignorance breeds fear. Fear engenders hatred, and hatred engenders violence. Violence breeds further violence until the only law is whatever is willed by the most powerful."

The movie that's coming out in February 2012 looks like its got a stellar cast, but please read this book before you go. So many quotations will be inevitably lost in this movie; each and every of David Mitchell's words need to be dwelled over in order to appreciate the author's message to a world that accelerates through life, with its technological and energy advances, without stopping to think of how our world will be affected through the future ages. I honestly wish I had thought of this first!

Next book: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. Fact: I am a sucker for books with a long title! Maybe its because the true fans are the only ones who will remember it...

My Second Venture Into The Travel Writing World...

...the first being when I made the top 20 of the World Nomads Travel Writing Scholarship back in 2011. That still shocks and humbles me, to be honest. Anyway, I had a great chance to venture back into the travel writing world, when I was offered work experience at awesome adventure travel company Travel the Unknown, I was asked to write two pieces of copy, on Ethiopia and Myanmar. After a fair bit of researching, I discovered that these two countries were endlessly fascinating, with completely surprising highlights.

Did you know that Ethiopia is one of the oldest sites of existence, and was never colonised? Not to mention some of the most beautiful mountains in the whole of Africa...




Ethiopia's Simien Mountains.


Also, did you know that Burmese fishermen have a unique rowing style, whereby they stand on one leg at the boat stern, and wrap their other leg around the oar?

Impressive balance- I definitely could not do that!..

There's so many other little titbits I could tell you, but for now, let me direct you to my Ethiopia copy and my Myanmar copy. Even reading and writing about these places got me excited- just how amazing would it be to visit them?

Rediscovering London: A New Mini Series

Right, there’s something that I need to get off my chest. Everyone who knows me one of the reasons main why I love travelling so much: encountering and experiencing the new and unique really gets my creative juices flowing. Being out of my depth was a better cure for writer’s block than I could ever have imagined.  As much as I was excited about moving back to my home city, I was also scared. Scared of confronting a new career path head on, with no outside obstacles like work visas- just myself to get in the way of my dreams. Scared that I was no longer going to be experiencing anything that frightened me, shocked me, that brought on that need to write to try and communicate the craziness around me.

 But of course, I was just looking at it the wrong way. London may be my home city, but as I said in my last post, I’m lucky enough to have two pairs of fresh Canadian eyes on the place. When settling in a city, I think the perfect balance is to have the wisdom of a local, but the curiosity of a tourist. Following on from this though, I want to start a ‘mini-series’ of posts called ‘Rediscovering London’, writing every week about finding new eccentricities and excitements in a very familiar city.

This week, I’m going to focus on STREET LIFE (I hope you have the song in your head now; I sure do). These are two famous streets that I have visited before, but can only truly see the unique London appeal after having left London. We’re starting off in the East End, then moving to West London...

BRICK LANE

For those who have never read the book or film namesake, or just plain haven’t heard of it, Brick Lane is mostly an abundant line of curry houses, all of whom try to tempt you into their restaurant with irresistible deals. Admittedly, because of the thrashing rain, we did not take full advantage of Patrick’s haggling skills (you may remember he’s a bit of a master at this). However, we did manage to up our deal from a ‘free naan bread’ to ‘2 bottles of wine and a full meal for £12’ within the space of three restaurants. They may have been drowned by curry-house desperation and dense raindrops, the Canadians’ introduction to Brick Lane was enough to whet their appetite for more.

BOND STREET

Just by Patrick’s work, the lucky bugger. To be honest, the area around Oxford Street has never been my favourite part of London: I’ve always found it too crowded and generic. However, I found an unexpected charm about Wigmore Street, where the Pontefract pub is- a very different appeal to the East End. Somehow friendly, but refined- approachable, but a little exclusive. Definitely a welcome lunch or dinner escape from the madness of Oxford Street. We happened to have dinner at 2 Veneti: a very reasonable price, even if it’s a little out of OUR budget right now! If I had to describe it in three words, it would be: affordable business pleasure.

I can tell this project is going to be a lot of fun already; I look forward to sharing my newly discovered and appreciated London with you all.

A Little London Update...

I'm sorry that I've kept everybody hanging for a while; it's literally been one of the craziest months of my life. Yes, even crazier than India. I've hardly had time to think my thoughts, let alone write them down. After Fiji time, just getting used to London's unique blend of disdain, politeness and vigilance has been nostalgically challenging- who knew those two could ever form an oxymoron?

So, where do I begin? Our flat is a good place...literally. The housemates, good times. It's been fun having a few Canadians (Patrick and his UBC pal, Dan) around the place; neither are new to London, but London living is a whole new kettle of fish. Rosh (my Exeter uni mate and fellow housemate) is always awesome, of course...even with her cheesy jokes.

What do you call a fear of giants?
Feefifofia.
How do you lure a bear our of a cave?
Camembert.
What cheese do you use to hide a horse?
Mascarpone.

The flat itself, location etc...good times. The flat's functionality...bloody hell. Leak through two floors, blocked drainage, peeling walls... the list goes on. Lucky that my housemates make up for it all with their humour, chit-chat and wine-buying. Ignoring our flat fails, the overarching goal for September..JOBS. I'd emphasise that London is BLOOMIN' expensive, but that's probably like accentuating that an elephant DEFINITELY has a trunk. Anyway, moving on. By some sort of divine intervention, all of our housemates have managed to find job-related success during this mental month. I've gone back to my bar roots in Shepherd's Bush- a transition that has been far easier than expected. To be honest, fine-dining waitressing makes any other kind of hospitality seem like a dream...even if people keep thinking I'm Aussie. Gotta stop going up at the end of those sentences...

Of course, there's been plenty of celebrating going on, especially at our housewarming. More buzzing then any of us lonely souls (cue the violins) ever expected, the wine and whiskey flowed...perhaps a little too much. Again, moving on...

Sadly, I've been neglecting my Kindle of late; 'Cloud Atlas' has been sitting half-read for a while now. Stephen King would chastise me for making excuses about failing to read, and I completely agree; if you want to read, you will read no matter what is going on your life. Once I get past this current mayhem, reading will take priority in my life again. I'm loving the way life is going right now, but I'm definitely looking forward to some sort of normality, whatever that is...