Pushing the Envelope -- David Mitchell's new book is brilliantly exasperating

摘要

READER BEWARE: "CLOUD AT-las" (509 pages. Random House) will likely be among the most exasperating books you will ever read. But swallow your frustration (and your urges to hurtle the book out the nearest window), and stick with author David Mitchell. You're in for a wild, wonderful ride. Mitchell, who was a Booker Prize finalist for his last novel, "Number9Dream," pushes the fictional envelope in this, his third and most audacious work. He interweaves six separate narratives--each rich enough to stand on its own--into a book that incorporates five literary styles (including letters, a travel journal and traditional mystery writing), straddles four continents and spans several hundred years.