I had almost slogged through the fourth story in the novel when I finally decided I couldn't justify the effort of listening any longer. Only ten or so books have I abandoned in my entire life --- I even forced myself to finish Jonathan Franzen's Freedom----and Cloud Atlas is one of them. If reincarnation is real, I hope author David Mitchell may return to some occupation that is both boring and cloyingly opaque. The movie is almost 3 hours. Not an unreasonable length, but there must be a compelling reason to keep people in their seats that long. The editing has been faulted as too choppy, but that could only improve the piece as far as I am concerned. Still planning on seeing it as the preview's post-apocalyptic scenes look the most interesting.

Interesting...how will this book translate? I liked the book but I'm not sure it was good enough or interesting enough to warrant a movie. Several different story lines they could focus on...what will be the dominate thread...marriage?... infidelity?...photography?...secrets?...the nurse?...Downs Syndrome?...the girl living in his childhood home?...or that beautiful green coat that 'she' was wearing the first time he saw her in the Department Store? We will all find out on Saturday night. Thanks for the heads up. sooey

I'm not familiar with that book, Jamie, but one that I often recommend is No Goodbyes: My Search Into Life Beyond Death, by Adela Rogers Sr. Johns. It's an old book, but used copies are available on Amazon and elsewhere. St. Johns was a famous journalist who covered the big stories of her day, including the Lindbergh kidnapping. After she lost her son in WWII, he began communicating with his sister through automatic writing. St. Johns applied her journalist's skills to investigate the survival of the spirit after death. I read it before my daughter Jill died, and thought it was excellent. Of course I read it again afterward.

Warning  Mild Spoilers I hesitated to respond because I really didn't enjoy the book all that much. Although the premise had definite promise, I don't think it was executed well. It dragged on for too long in my opinion, and every single character came off as unhappy - even the ones who had no reason to be. And I don't like how they resolved things at the end. No, I didn't like the ending at all, which is my main complaint with this book. I felt cheated, and ended up feeling sorriest for the father, though of course he made his own bed. IÂm probably in the minority in being disappointed though, seeing as the book is doing so well.