The Cloud Atlas: A Novel

By Liam Callanan

Set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska in the waning days of World War II, The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening—and of a young soldier who came to Alaska on an extraordinary, top-secret mission…and found a world that would haunt him forever.

Drifting through the night, whisper-quiet, they were the most sublime manifestations of a desperate enemy: Japanese balloon bombs. Made of rice paper, at once ingenious and deadly, they sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific...and once they started landing, the U.S. scrambled teams to find and defuse them, and then keep them secret from an already anxious public. Eighteen-year-old Louis Belk was one of those men. Dispatched to the Alaskan frontier, young Sergeant Belk was better trained in bomb disposal than in keeping secrets. And the mysteries surrounding his mission only increased when he met his superior officer—a brutal veteran OSS spy hunter who knew all too well what the balloons could do—and Lily, a Yup’ik Eskimo woman who claimed she could see the future.

Louis’s superior ushers him into a world of dark secrets; Lily introduces Louis to an equally disorienting world of spirits—and desire. But the world that finally tests them all is Alaska, whose vastness cloaks mysteries that only become more frightening as they unravel. Chasing after the ghostly floating weapons, Louis embarks upon an adventure that will lead him deep into the tundra. There, on the edge of the endless wilderness, he will make a discovery and a choice that will change the course of his life.

At once a heart-quickening mystery and a unique love story, The Cloud Atlas is also a haunting, lyrical rendering of a little-known chapter in history. Brilliantly imagined, beautifully told, this is storytelling at its very best.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 3, 2004
• ISBN: 9780440334859

Reviews for The Cloud Atlas

[mysterymax_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Father Louis Belk is sitting at the bedside of an old friend, Ronnie, who is a shaman. The doctors feel Ronnie is in a coma, but Ronnie has told Louis that he is 'traveling' and that Louis must keep talking to him so that he can 'find his way home'. So Louis tells his story.He lied about his age to get into the Army and by 18 he was a sergeant in bomb dispersal. (The nature of the job meant there were many vacancies that allowed for promotion.) While he was taking an extra course at Fort Cronkhite in San Francisco a balloon appeared and he was the first to recognize that it was a bomb. This achievement makes him the personal property of Captain Gurley, who is a bit unbalanced after his service as an OSS officer, and an assignment to Alaska, retrieving and dismantling balloon bombs.Here young Louis meets the Yup'ik woman, Lily, whose life becomes enmeshed with his and Gurley's and who understands the 'cloud map' that Gurley has found.I did not know that Japan had bombed the US, Mexico, Alaska and Canada with these bombs. It seems that there was little loss of life due to them and it was a carefully guarded secret. Overall, an interesting read.

[librarymary09 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good, although I did think I was reading the book that had been made into a movie. But no, that was THE Cloud Atlas. Not "Cloud Atlas."

[tronella_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Despite the description on Amazon's webpage, this is not the same book as Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell! A priest living in Alaska tells his life story to his dying friend, particularly about the time he came to Alaska as a soldier and ended up working under the command of a guy who was obsessed with weather balloons being used as a biochemical weapon by Japan. The narrator was kind of a terrible person in his youth, particularly towards the woman he was supposedly in love with, but he at least seems to realise that now. Interesting and sad.

[donna828 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set against the majestic backdrop of Alaska, this absorbing book is spiritual and mythical at the same time. A priest and an Alaskan native shaman who are longtime friends/adversaries, tell their long-held secrets as one lays dying. Father Louis Belk reveals the fascinating story of balloon warfare in WWII and the disturbing experiences with the madman Captain Gurley and Lily, the native woman they both loved. I thought this first book was very well written and informative about an area of military strategy of which I had no prior knowledge.

[stubbyfingers_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. Mainly set during the Japanese bombing of Alaska during World War II, it gives us a glimpse into a time that we don't hear much about. This is mostly told as a story from an old Catholic priest to dying old Yup'ik Eskimo shaman. The main characters lies about his age to join the army where, after proving to be the worst shot ever, he becomes a member of the bomb disarmament squad and is sent to Alaska for a top secret mission. In Alaska, everyone he meets seems to be crazy to varying degrees. The story is filled with insanity, love, spiritualism, violence, and magic, all told through the eyes of innocence. I never knew what was coming next. Great book!

[thomas.cannon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting read in a fascinating setting. Alaska during WWII. This book kept me turning the page. At times, I got lost (which was okay because some of the characters got lost), but it was a fascinating read about a real-life and little known part of the second world war. I really enjoy the antagonistic relationship between the Eskimo healer (forgive the slightly not-woke description) and the priest,

[kalobo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A reviewer trying to describe this novel used the analogy of Russian nesting dolls and I think that's apt. There are several stories here, each told with surprisingly distinct voices, building through time to the future, then receding back to each story in a long, gradual coda. It's done well, but some people who like an ordered narrative and traditional climax may find it irritating.In the past year, I've read three very good novels about cloning and this is one of them. The other two are "Never Let Me Go" and "The House of the Scorpion."

[bikesandbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A priest, a shaman, and a prostitute walk into a bar...

no wait, or maybe,

Bad guys launch balloons from their side of the Pacific. The balloons are homemade bombs that ride the jet stream on way to their unspecified target. The balloons are designed to inflame imprecise targets. The balloons are made out of a special homemade paper and rigged with a combination of randomness and machines so they will land and go boom on the other side of the pacific. The balloons land in over 10 western states and provinces plus Mexico. The bombs weren’t highly effective. The balloons were crazy scary and caused a damn solid panic. The balloons were secret.

No wait. The priest is “hearing” “confession.” The shaman is dying and leading the priest toward other realms. The prostitute is a half-breed seer looking for her son and other souls.

No wait. faith, higher power, words, transference, spirituality, crying, wolves, ...

What would you do with a cloud atlas? Cloud atlases map the clouds; show connections to water, tears grief; generations, spiritual meaning; cloud atlases illuminate magic when words and drawings fail.