Cloud Atlas

I have long held the belief that we are all interconnected.  I don't believe in coincidence or chance.  Cloud Atlas is a book that solidifies those beliefs for me, even though it's fiction.  It also is a book that makes me yearn to be a better writer.  How the author accomplished this is beyond me.  He takes all the risks that could lead the story astray, but he makes it work well.  Interconnected stories that span centuries can be disastrous or wonderful. This book falls into the category of the latter.  I can not fully do it justice here by attempting to explain it, but I will give it a shot.  

The book consists of six stories.  The first five stories/chapters are interrupted at some moment of climax and then the the next story/chapter begins.  Each subsequent story is back-linked to the preceding story.  For instance the first story/chapter is about an American traveling back to San Francisco via ship circa 1800s.  He is writing a journal about his experience.  The second story/chapter is about an English composer who happens upon the published journal of the American.  It even gets deeper than that because in some stories it's intimated that some characters may be re-incarnations of previous characters.  The sixth story is told in its entirety without interruption and then the remaining five chapters are the conclusions of the previous five stories, picking up right where they left off. Have I lost you yet?  It was fun to read this book and make the connections between stories.  I am still thinking about the characters and wondering if I really understood everything or if I only skimmed the surface of something deeper.  This may be a book I revisit soon.