Terry ’s Comments (group member since Apr 03, 2012)

Terry ’s comments from the David Mitchell Appreciation group.

So, here's a more fully fleshed out trailer for the Upcoming Cloud Atlas movie: http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/...

I was definitely on the nay-sayer side when I first heard about this adaptation, but this makes it look like they may do a pretty good job after all. Not sure about the casting of Tom Hanks, esp. since it looks like he'll be playing Zachary from the "Sloosha's Crossin'" segment for which I think he's too old. (It also looks like they're getting rid of the unique dialect from that section which is understandable, but a bit of a shame.)

Steve wrote: "But what manner of wrong-headedness could possibly keep your friend from reading Mitchell?"

Who can say? It really is hard to understand such wrong-headedness. :)

I don't mind Mitchell showing off. He's a virtuoso, so I'm happy to see him doing it, and doing it well. He often gets accused of being gimmicky (which I think people confuse as the same as showing off), but I'd say his elements are never gimicks, they're whatever he felt would best convey the story he wanted to tell.

That being said I just think some of the disparate elements of N9D didn't all gel for me.

Here's another link for an interview passed on to me by a GR friend (who refuses to read Mitchell!):

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/artic...

Scott wrote: "Man I'd be tempted to join you two if I didn't own so many unread books. Penk - There are epic scenes in Thousand Autumns.... I am looking forward to the rest of this trilogy!"

It's a trilogy?! Wow, I didn't know that.

s.penkevich wrote: "Terry, I also have not read Thousand Autumns. Do a reading together sometime this summer?"

Sounds good!

I think _Ghostwritten_ is my second on the Mitchell list (after the superlative _Cloud Atlas_). Not a surprise I guess, since it seems very much like an inital essay into what would later become the major narrative elements, technique and themes of _Cloud Atlas_.

I still haven't read Thousand autumns yet though, so that may change my list.

Ok, I'll start off this thread. This is probably my least favourite of Mitchell's books so far, though I think I need to re-read it before I make any final statements.

I loved certain parts of it (the opening scene is just great), and Eiji is a very winning character, but I think the goatwriter elements kind of threw me off (even bored me at some points). Was this a case of Mitchell trying to be too much of a Murakami clone?

I was originally very sceptical of the prospect of a movie for _Cloud Altas_, and I am still not really sure that the things that make the book so great would translate into a movie, but I guess I hold (most) of my judgements for now.

It might be a good movie, I just don't know if it'll be _Cloud Atlas_.

I'm kicking myself. A few years ago he came to speak/teach at a local summer writer's workshop and I didn't find out about it until it was over!