Day 5.296: So good I bought it twice, twice!

A few months ago, information about a film adaptation of Cloud Atlas started showing up on my facebook feed.  I guess I'd listed it as a book I liked and that at some point turned into a 'like' of a 'page' about the book...etc.

Anyway.  I liked the look of the ideas in the film and decided I needed to re-read the novel.  I couldn't find it.  The library was back-ordered to the nth degree, so I decided I had to buy another copy.  This is it - it has a plug for the movie (but thankfully the original cover art).  I thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around.  It suffered from my "I want to know what happens" first-pass reading style - it's a book that needs to be loved page by page, not rushed through to get to the resolution.  It's the first time I ever bought a novel twice (I often have to read them twice - thanks to that reading style I mentioned).  I'm not sorry I did.

Today, Exile #2 and I went to see the film. I'd actually already seen it - on Monday when our plans to go together were disrupted by the school-closing, but I really wanted to share it with her and have someone to discuss it with.

I loved the film.  It takes some liberties with the stories - above and beyond the necessary removal of subplots and secondary characters - but they don't change the feel of the six worlds (three historic, one contemporary and two futuristic) that Mitchell created in the book. It's a refreshingly un-Hollywood-ish adaptation despite the blockbuster cast.  The conceit of using the same actors in multiple roles across the story nearly as often distracts from the action as it adds to it but, just like the hints at self-awareness in the book, this doesn't prevent the emotional impact being felt as each story comes to its climax.

And yes it's the first time I've seen a film in the cinema twice since - wow I have no idea - maybe ever!