Hiroshima III

The Theory of Clouds, Stephane Audeguy, 2007

Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud
Hiroshima Mushroom Cloud

A first novel from a French writer. Central character 13 year old Akira Kumo survives the bombing of Hiroshima in Zone 2 where any survivor is expected to die within a year. Seemingly without any illness, the Americans want to send Kumo, now an orphan, to California for research. Kumo runs away to Tokyo where he lives on the streets and by his wits. In 1959, the Japanese government sets out to reconstruct identity records for the millions of Japanese whose birth and other records were destroyed in American bombings. Kumo poses as a kid born in Hiroshima in 1946 and gets identification records showing this. When he turns 18 according to his new records he enters a school of graphic design and choose to becomes a fashion designer. He spends all his spare time and money on Caucasian prostitutes.

After a few years he moves to Paris and becomes very successful. Now nearing retirement, in 1996 he remembers suddenly that he was really born in 1934. He does some research and receives documents recovered from Hamburg belonging to his father who was killed in bombing there reestablishing his true history. At this time he starts to collect the history of nineteenth century meteorology. Since there is little interest in the subject, the collection is inexpensive and becomes very extensive. He hires a part time librarian Virginie Latour to help him catalog the huge collection.

Quaker Luke Howard Quaker Luke Howard

Virginie quickly learns that Kumo is more interested in telling her stories about historical figures in meteorology than in working on the catalog. She is a good listener and enjoys the stories and soon has no desire to return to her old job. Most of the novel relates Kumo’s stories; about the Quaker Luke Howard who invented the classification of clouds into cirrus, cumulus, nimbus, and stratus in 1802. Stories include the painter Carmichael who set out to capture clouds in a series of paintings and went mad. It is unclear to Virginie if Kumo actually has any of the paintings but he seems to know a lot about their technique. The longest story is about the collaboration of Swede William Williamsson and Scottman Richard Abercrombie who parted paths when Williamsson announced the sectret publication of the International Cloud Atlas in 1889. In retaliation Abercrombie announces he is about to undertake a several year trip around the world to photograph clouds for a publication to be called the Abercrombie Protocol. Only one copy of the Protocol exists and is held by Abercrombie’s adopted daughter. Virginie is sent to try to acquire it for Kumo’s collection.

Howard Cloud Forms Howard Forms

Each story is accompanied by a sexual history of the figures. This is particularly true of Abercrombie who is celibate and still a virgin age 50 when he sets out on his world tour of clouds. The reason the Protocol hasn’t been published becomes clear when Virginie finally sees it for the first time. About half way through, the pictures of clouds turns into pictures of women in pornographic poses. As Kumo will only sleep with white prostitutes so Abercrombie will only sleep with non white prostitutes. Oddly, the books blurb calls this novel an erotic work, but the sex is always clinical and dispassionate and mostly involves prostitutes. There is seemingly no emotional connection involved in any of it.

The best part of this novel is the unpredictability. You never know what will happen or be related next and you keep reading.