
Book of Clouds
Chloe Aridjis(Author)
Vintage (Publisher)
Published on 4. November 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-09-953959-9 (ISBN)
Description
Tatiana, a young Mexican woman, is adrift in Berlin. Choosing a life of solitude, she takes a job transcribing notes for the reclusive Doktor Weiss. Through him she meets 'ant illustrator turned meteorologist' Jonas, a Berliner who has used clouds and the sky's constant shape-shifting as his escape from reality. As their three paths intersect and merge, the contours of all their worlds begins to change...
Reviews / Votes
Chloe Aridjis has achieved something quite astonishing: a rethinking of one of our most complacent forms, the historical novel.... The writer she calls to mind is the Modernist Haruki Murakami, with his unsolved riddles and ultra-cool characters. It is a book that you press on friends -- Helen Rumbelow * The Times * [An] exceptional debut novel.... a beautifully turned piece of writing of extraordinary assurance... As natural as breathing. Both vivid and dreamlike, at once very precise in its images and also enchantingly broad-brush atmospheric, this is a debut more captivating than any I've read in some time -- Daniel Hahn * Independent on Sunday * The debut novel by the New York-born, now London-based, Aridjis comes highly recommended by literary heavyweights Paul Auster and Ali Smith, a choice emphasising both Aridjis's transatlantic appeal and her literary sensibilities -- Lesley Mcdowell * Scotsman * A hypnotic first novel about a young Mexican gal in Berlin who stumbles into friendship with an eccentric historian and the madness that ensues. This book has the power of dreams and still hasn't left me -- Junot Diaz A stirring and lyrical first novel by a young writer of immense talent -- Paul Auster A fresh and original voice...the book is a portrait of Berlin, a city famed for its richness and strangeness, hauntingly captured by Aridjis -- Francesca Segal * The Observer * A most unusual debut... An entirely refreshing portrait of young womanhood, it is unselfconscious, uncompromising, wholly authentic -- Justine Jordan * The Guardian * Exquisite -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * This is a haunting debut with an individual, poetic slant -- Alastair Mabbot * Herald * It is Paul Auster, only better... This is a whimsical, confident book sustained by offbeat charm and intelligence -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
275 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-953959-9 (9780099539599)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Chloe Aridjis was born in New York, and grew up in the Netherlands and Mexico City. She studied for a BA at Harvard, and gained her DPhil in nineteenth-century French poetry and magic from Oxford University. She then spent five years in Berlin and now lives in London.