turns out i was reading the wrong book this whole time. but i still enjoyed this :)

Lovely prose and interesting story

Too much talk, not enough action.

I read some of the other reviews, complaining that they thought they were picking up the book Cloud Atlas, which was made into a movie, and then criticizing this book because it wasn't the book that may have ripped off the title of this one from 2004. To all of you I say: stop it. This book is literature, and high quality, at that. Just because you were disappointed looking for a different type of book doesn't make this one inferior.

This book does remind me of The English Patient, as Kirkus Reviews suggests it might. It explores a part of WWII history that I never learned about in High School. I never knew that the Japanese sent balloon bombs to the U.S. mainland, and even killed civilians in Oregon. Some even made it as far inland as Michigan. The novel describes a tale that begins toward the end of the war, in Alaska, a story of love, madness, and the search for meaning.

This is a story that is quite readable, yet should be savored. This would be a good book club selection.