Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Book to Movie Alert: Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan

The Cloud Atlas, an enthralling debut novel published in 2004, is soon to become a major motion picture directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski. During World War II, Louis Belk, a young American bomb disposal sargeant, is sent on a mission to Anchorage, Alaska, to find and disarm the balloon bombs launched by the Japanese, a search that leads him to encounters with a variety of haunting individuals and sends him on a lifelong quest to understand the meaning of faith, friendship, trust, and love. According to this article from The Hollywood Reporter, the cast will have some big-name actors, including Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, and Ben Whishaw. Shooting for the film is scheduled for September 2011, giving all you avid readers & moviegoers plenty of time to read the book before the movie comes out.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Book to Movie Alert: Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan

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