I’m about halfway through “Cloud Atlas” and it might end up being my favorite novel of all-time (!), though I’m not quite certain yet. Depends on how well David Mitchell sticks the landing at the end with all these interwoven plots; they’re all obviously connected somehow, even if only loosely.

Each story has been better than the last so far, I must say. The first one (the first 40 or so pages) is a little difficult to get through; much of the language is outright bizarre. Once you get to the second one though, Robert Frobisher’s (the POV character) prose paints such beautiful mental pictures, reminding me of one of those “The Age of Innocence”-esque romantic drama movies they used to make a lot of in the 80s and 90s (before the “mid-budget” film collapsed within Hollywood).

I just finished the third part, the Luisa Rey one, and it plays out as this extraordinarily riveting espionage thriller. I was rushed this morning because I had to just go ahead and finish that section all in one sitting (I read w/ breakfast before the gym). I couldn’t put it down once it was nearing its end.

Brilliant, brilliant work, I highly recommend it.