History Literature / CloudAtlas

* FramingDevice: Adam Ewing's story was documented in his journal, which is being read by Robert Frobisher, whose story is in turn unfolding in letters he writes to his lover Rufus Sixsmith. Sixsmith is also a character in Luisa Rey's story, the events of which are packaged into a novel and are being read by Timothy Cavendish. A film based on his shenanigans is eventually made, which Sonmi-451 watches. Sonmi tells her own story in the interview leading up to her execution, which is viewed by Zachry and the rest of the characters of ''Sloosha's Crossin'''.

** Sonmi's era has been hit hard by this trope. Anything that began with 'ex' now only starts with 'x', and everyday items are referred to by the brand we would most readily associate with them, only without the capital letter. Hence nikes (running shoes), sonys (computers), disneys (movies) etc. Explicitly an example of BrandNameTakeover on a global scale, as her world is run by corporations.

* KafkaKomedy: Cavendish' story.

* LighterAndSofter: Cavendish's story is the most comedic, though its narrator is also the most curmudgeonly.

** Bill Smoke's surname evokes his status as a shadowy assassin.

* MetaTwist: Timothy mentions [[spoiler:Film/SoylentGreen]] in connection with cloned Koreans before Sonmi's story even starts; the clones all [[spoiler: drinking the same nutrients each day]] invokes the connection very strongly. But the plot thread seemingly gets dropped very early on in Sonmi's tale, to focus on political intrigue instead. Small hints are dropped -- a reference to Malthus, for example. By the time Sonmi reaches the ship, it's of course a ForegoneConclusion that Xultation isn't real... but the sudden return of [[spoiler: the Film/SoylentGreen theme]] is unexpected, if just because the story already includes such a large number of other famous sci-fi twists in its loving {{pastiche}}. And then it gets taken a step further when it turns out that [[spoiler:not just the Soap is made of discarded clones, but also the regular food in Papa Song's diner]].
* MindScrew: Each story initially appears to be set in the same universe as its predecessor. This is toyed with when Frobisher questions the veracity of Ewing's journal, then completely undermined when Cavendish receives Rey's story as a manuscript for a fictional novel. Yet connections between the characters seem to bridge this fiction-reality divide, such as the shared birthmark of Frobisher, Rey, Sonmi, and Meronym. Similarly, the reader is led to believe that all of the protagonists are one reincarnated soul, marked by the distinctive birthmark, but this is disputed since the lifespans of Luisa Rey and Timothy Cavendish should overlap... ''unless'' [[FridgeBrilliance they're two aspects of the same person, since they're the exact same age]]. Her being a fictional character in his universe might be a more significant barrier, unless she was real and "Half-Lives" is a story based on her adventures -- which is entirely possible.

** Frobisher compares Adam Ewing's diary to Creator/HermanMelville.

The [[Film/CloudAtlas film version]] -- which is a gorgeous PragmaticAdaptation, with some of the storylines significantly altered -- is written and directed by Tom Tykwer, the director of ''Film/RunLolaRun'' and ''Literature/{{Perfume}}'', and the [[Film/TheMatrix Wachowski siblings]]. The AllStarCast includes Creator/TomHanks, Creator/HalleBerry, Creator/KeithDavid, HugoWeaving, Creator/SusanSarandon, Creator/HughGrant, Creator/BenWhishaw and many others. It was released in October 2012.

The third novel by David Mitchell ({{n|amesTheSame}}o, not ''Series/{{that|MitchellAndWebbLook}}'' Creator/DavidMitchell), ''Cloud Atlas'' is a sweeping epic that connects wildly different genres and writing styles into a single narrative. The novel consists of six nested stories, each set in a different place and era, moving forwards in time from the 19th century all the way to the future AfterTheEnd. Each story and style is a {{pastiche}} of the most recognisable examples of the genre (which the characters swiftly realise and comment on), and lovingly combines old clichés with new twists. A comet-shaped birthmark appears in each story, generally on the protagonist, and the characters often recognize names, places, and experiences from other stories. In order of introduction, the six stories are:

-->-- Zachry

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atlas5959595_6829.jpg]]

* ContinuityNod: Timothy Cavendish and Luisa Rey appears as a minor character in ''Literature/Ghostwritten''. Also to point out that Katy Forbes had a comet-shaped birthmark that plays the major role in the story.

* StopOrIWillShoot: "[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Excessive force authorised.]]"

* ''Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery'' (1973): Luisa Rey, a reporter for a fluffy media magazine in Northern California, when she crosses paths with the old Dr. Sixsmith. She starts investigating reports of ongoing corruption connected to the local nuclear power plant, and winds up with Sixsmith's collection of letters. Her story is presented as a mystery novel manuscript, submitted to...

* ''Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After'' (106 years [[AfterTheEnd after the Fall]]): Zachry, an elder of a tribe in post-apocalyptic Hawaii that regards Sonmi as their god, meets Meronym, a member of Earth's last advanced civilization. His story is set in a distant future, where most of humanity has died out. In his old age, he narrates his experiences around a camp-fire.

* StabTheSalad: [[spoiler: Zachary looks like he's about to stab Meronym but instead stabs a weird hologram thing next to her.]]

** Ewing is very progressive for his time period, but still a product of his age. He's initially frightened that a Moriori stowaway will eat him, right after being exhaustively told how their extreme pacifism has nearly resulted in the tribe's extinction.

** Frobisher compares Adam Ewing's diary to HermanMelville.

* EternalEnglish: Averted. Ewing's and Frobisher's writing perfectly evokes the English of their eras. In 2144, many spellings are truncated (particularly, "gh" seems to have been dropped entirely, resulting in "lite" and "thoro", etc.; additionally, "exactly" has become "xactly", etc.) and brand names have substituted several everyday terms ("disney" versus "film"). Both spelling and grammar have changed a good deal [[AfterTheEnd after the Fall]], although Meronym speaks it in a more twentieth century form in her communication with her ship's captain.

* BittersweetEnding: They each story ends ranges from tragic to uplifting, so in the end, the story as a whole is bittersweet. The last (chronological) story ends with only a few human survivors and the likely extinction of humanity, whereas the last (actual) few pages of the book end with a stirring monologue from Adam Ewing, declaring the need to fight for good and equality despite constant setbacks.

* BittersweetEnding: They each story ends ranges from tragic to uplifting, so in the end, the story as a whole is bittersweet. The very last chronological story involves [[spoiler: civilization fleeing Earth and moving off-world toward an unknown but hopeful future]].

* {{Badass}}: Hae-Joo Im in the 2100s, bordering on OneManArmy levels. And Zachry when he has to fight Kona cannibals.

* GenteelInterbellumSetting: Frobisher's era. His letters read like a particularly bitter PGWodehouse novel.

* ''An Orison of Sonmi~451'' (2144): Sonmi~451, a fabricant, a genetically-engineered clone, employed at the Papa Song's diner chain. She lives in Nea So Copros (formerly Korea, named Neo Seoul in the film adaptation) in a dystopian near future. Fabricants have been created as slaves to a capitalist, totalitarian society -- and Sonmi had the misfortune of developing intelligence far beyond the limits of her genetic engineering. Her story is told in a final interview, during which she's allowed to tell an uncensored account of her entire life. The recording of this interview, called an orison, is viewed by...

The third novel by David Mitchell ({{n|amesTheSame}}o, not ''Series/{{that|MitchellAndWebbLook}}'' Creator/DavidMitchell), '''''Cloud Atlas''''' is a sweeping epic that connects wildly different genres and writing styles into a single narrative. The novel consists of six nested stories, each set in a different place and era, moving forwards in time from the 19th century all the way to the future AfterTheEnd. Each story and style is a {{pastiche}} of the most recognisable examples of the genre (which the characters swiftly realise and comment on), and lovingly combines old clichés with new twists. A comet-shaped birthmark appears in each story, generally on the protagonist, and the characters often recognize names, places, and experiences from other stories. In order of introduction, the six stories are:

The third novel by David Mitchell ([[NamesTheSame no]], not ''[[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook that]]'' Creator/DavidMitchell), '''''Cloud Atlas''''' is a sweeping epic that connects wildly different genres and writing styles into a single narrative. The novel consists of six nested stories, each set in a different place and era, moving forwards in time from the 19th century all the way to the future AfterTheEnd. Each story and style is a {{pastiche}} of the most recognisable examples of the genre (which the characters swiftly realise and comment on), and lovingly combines old clichés with new twists. A comet-shaped birthmark appears in each story, generally on the protagonist, and the characters often recognize names, places, and experiences from other stories. In order of introduction, the six stories are:

* ''Letters from Zedelghem'' (1931): Robert Frobisher, a tremendously snarky English musician and aspiring composer, formerly [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense Rich In Pounds, Poor In Sense]] and now penniless after a bad game. On the run, he charms his way into a job as an assistant to a retired composer, settling with his employer in Zedelghem, Belgium. He records his experiences in a series of letters, which he sends to his friend and lover Rufus Sixsmith. Much later in life, the letters are read by...

* AllAnimationIsDisney: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] -- in 2144, ''all films'' are referred to as "disneys", because the world has become a total plutocracy. [[PlutoThePup Pun]] not intended. [[invoked]]
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Hae-Joo and Sonmi have this trope going on... [[spoiler: Although Sonmi is convinced he was in on the GovernmentConspiracy in the end]].

* AteHisGun: [[spoiler: Frobisher:]]

* BittersweetEnding: They each story ends ranges from tragic to uplifting, so in the end, the story as a whole is bittersweet. The very last chronological story involves [[spoiler: civilization fleeing Earth and moving off-world toward an unknown but hopeful future.]].

* BurgerFool: Papa Song's Dinery where Sonmi~451 and her fellow clones work is a nightmare version of a fast food restaurant. In the novel, it's strongly implied to literally just be UsefulNotes/{{McDonalds}}, with multiple references to its "Golden Arches", the red and yellow colour scheme, and the Papa Song mascot resembling a clown.
* [[spoiler: BuryYourGays]]: [[spoiler: Robert Frobisher is the only main character to explicitely die.]]
* CallBack: Several of the protagonists remember an experience from one of the earlier (or later) stories. For example, Sonmi experiences deja vu while falling from a bridge in a car, due to the same thing happening to Luisa Rey, and Adam feels strange deja vu when he believes he's drowning. Frobisher also mentions a mistrust of "opportunistic quacks," which could be related to Adam's [[spoiler: near death at the hands of Henry Goose.]]

* CloningBlues: Various types of fabricants are mass-produced to perform all sorts of tasks in Sonmi's era. As a result, human society has become dependant on the fabricants never questioning their lot in life. Indeed, fabricants are created specifically to be incapable of questioning their lot. How and why Sonmi (and her predecessor and friend Yoona) are different is an important plot point.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Grimaldi and Lloyd in the 1975 storyline, apparently the entire leadership of Nea So Copros

* DeadlyDoctor: [[spoiler: Henry Goose, though Ewing eventually doubts that he was anything more than a murderous confidence trickster]].

** Even when he's being thrown out by his romantic rival, [[SkewedPriorities he marvels over his rival's fingers]]

* DoomedMoralVictor: Sonmi. To the point that she's worshipped as a god in the future.

** In Adam Ewing's storyline, [[spoiler: Rafael]], after [[spoiler: being repeatedly raped by the First Mate and his goons.]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: [[ZigZaggedTrope Played straight, subverted, invoked, played straight again, and discussed at length]]. Arguably, the degree of truth to this trope is the main theme of the novel.

* HypocriticalHumor: Timothy Cavendish initially criticises the manuscript of ''Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery'' sent to his publishing house for being badly written and obviously intended to be turned into a screenplay. His own story suffers from StylisticSuck, and he ends up putting in explicit directions for its future director (whom he imagines as a reclusive Swede named "Lars"). The film version of ''CloudAtlas'', rather fantasically, takes him up on it and actually follows his notes.

* ManipulativeBastard: Frobisher, very much so. [[NotSoDifferent As is Ayrs]].
* MagicalRealism: The protagonist of each story appears to be a reincarnaton of the previous ones. In Zachry's story conversations with the dead and with the Devil appear commonplace as well as the seers words coming true.

* MetaTwist: Timothy mentions [[spoiler:SoylentGreen]] in connection with cloned Koreans before Sonmi's story even starts; the clones all [[spoiler: drinking the same nutrients each day]] invokes the connection very strongly. But the plot thread seemingly gets dropped very early on in Sonmi's tale, to focus on political intrigue instead. Small hints are dropped -- a reference to Malthus, for example. By the time Sonmi reaches the ship, it's of course a ForegoneConclusion that Xultation isn't real... but the sudden return of [[spoiler: the SoylentGreen theme]] is unexpected, if just because the story already includes such a large number of other famous sci-fi twists in its loving {{pastiche}}. And then it gets taken a step further when it turns out that [[spoiler:not just the Soap is made of discarded clones, but also the regular food in Papa Song's diner]].

** Sonmi mentions reading the works of "optimists" Huxley and Orwell. This is a reference to Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, best remembered for their respective dystopian novels ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' and ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''
* SocialDarwinist: Another running theme throughout multiple stories.

* StopOrIWillShoot: "[[NoKillLikeOverkill Excessive force authorised]]."

* [[ThematicSeries Thematic Sequel]]: The six stories come together to form three thematic pairs. The two stories within each pair are united by a common thematic/plot element. To paraphrase [[WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh Kyle Kallgren]]:

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler: Frobisher hopes that this will be the fate of himself and Sixsmith. Considering that the entire plot is about reincarnation, not the afterlife, this may be either false hope or they could be together in another timeline. Interestingly (in the film at least), they both die the same way - with a gun in their mouth.)]]

* TheUnfavorite: Robert Frobisher is this to his parents, who much prefer his older brother who died in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. Frobisher isn't too fond of his Mater and Pater either.

** Cavendish's story to ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' (he saw the film once).

* [[ThematicSeries Thematic Sequel]]: The six stories come together to form three thematic pairs. The two stories within each pair are united by a common thematic/plot element. To paraphrase [[WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh Kyle Kallgren]]:
** A strongly moral woman learns of a great societal injustice committed by greedy businessmen and sets out to right it (Luisa and Sonmi).
** A Pacific Islander meets a person from an advanced civilization, and they save each other's lives (Adam Ewing and Zachry).
** An artist (Frobisher) creates a piece of work, only to be screwed over by his supervisor and cause the artist's downfall/An artist creates a piece of work, which screws over his supervisor (Cavendish) and cause the supervisor's downfall

* MagicalRealism: The protagonist of each story appears to be a reincarnaton of the the previous ones. In Zachry's story conversations with the dead and with the Devil appear commonplace as well as the seers words coming true.