Woah! While the length made me wished had the option to have printed ARCs, I loved it. Books about books - a win. An anticipated novel from a well known author that was just as good as the one before - huge win. Length can really mess with my mind but the story and characters (especially Omeir’s) made it go by so fast! Truly beautiful

There's no doubt that Anthony Doerr knows how to develop complex and layered characters in each of his books. After reading and adoring All the Light We Cannot See, I had high expectations for this novel. Unfortunately, this story did not draw me in from the very first pages. I found it a bit difficult to focus my attention on the plot, as there were so many various storylines spanning decades and centuries that I struggled to follow. I felt no real attachment to the characters because of this, hence my lack of interest in this story. I did appreciate how much of the novel centers around the value of books and libraries. Regardless, I will continue to read Doerr's work, as I do believe he is an incredible writer.

Is this book long, yes. Does it span a huge amount of time, yes. Is it also worth every page, YES! Intricately woven and amazingly detailed, this one will stay with you for a while.

Having read and loved All the Light We Cannot See, I immediately requested a copy of this as soon as this one became available.
It’s a huge book, over 600 pages, and to be honest I struggled through the first half of it I had to get my bearings and figure out the voices of the multiple POVs. I know so many people loved it, so I continued on, and by the second half, I was immersed.
The author is truly a master storyteller - weaving each story individually, until nearly the end when how they connect is revealed. The research that had to have been done to fully flesh out each of the POVs must have been extensive. I enjoyed some of them more than others - Konstance and Zeno’s were my favorite - but I appreciated how the stories affected each other, every action triggered a reaction to come later.
If you enjoy epic stories, multiple POVs spanning hundreds of years, and books that transcend genres, this one may be for you!

The much anticipated Cloud Cuckoo Land is out! A gorgeous story and already a big hit at the library.

I might be one of the only people left who didn't read All the Light We Cannot See (even my husband has read – and loved – it), but the buzz about this one got to me and I figured I'd give it a try. I really wanted to like it, but 200 pages in I was so confused I had to put it down. I know some absoutely loved this one, so I think it's still worth picking up (and maybe the ending pays off, I just didn't want to invest anymore time in such a lengthy book), just be prepared to feel a lost for a while, and to invest 600+ pages into it.

Holy moly. This was one of the most intricate, well crafted books I’ve read this year. Maybe ever? To put it simply, I’ve never read anything like it and it astounds me how much he sets out to achieve (and achieves it!). Don’t get me wrong, the story is confusing at times and incredibly detailed, but the trust I put in Doerr as I read paid off (as I was hoping it would!). The way it’s woven together is masterfully done. Not only that, but it’s extremely thought provoking. It touches on the future of our planet and of our species, how we connect with things we hold dear, and so much more. It deserves to win a prize.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This story was fantastic. At the beginning, you may wonder what will tie five completely different perspectives together, but everything becomes clear as each character moves closer and closer to their defining moment. Doerr writes in such a smooth and lyrical style that it is easy to get lost in the text. By the end of the book, I wanted more from each character. In fact, each character could have had their own book and I would've read each of them.

The first half of the story dragged a bit for me, but I always found myself coming back to it when I had the time to really sit down and sink my teeth into it. I read the latter half of the novel within about three days because I just wanted to know what would happen next. The use of Cloud Cuckoo Land's folios within the text brought everything together very nicely; it was like the reader was a sixth character. If you haven't read this yet and are looking or something to get lost in as the days get longer and colder, I highly recommend this book. One of the best of 2021.

I considered “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr the best book I had read— out of hundreds—over the course of several years. I still delight in sharing it with those who haven’t read it. It is stellar— sheer perfection. And I widely recommend it.

So I was extremely appreciative to receive an Advanced Reader’s Copy of Doerr’s latest adult fiction novel—“Cloud Cuckoo Land”—from the publisher. I was amazed at the writing skill that went into this novel, and at the way the author pulled together the stories of five characters from different eras and twined them around a Greek manuscript. The book moved me, and I was caught up in it. However, I would not recommend it as widely to all readers as I would his earlier 2015 novel.

As a librarian, I soon came to realize that different people enjoy different types of books or writing just like they enjoy different foods or music. Sometimes some books/authors are highly prized by some readers, while there are other readers who do not appreciate them at all. Theodore Geisel/Dr. Seuss is one example. Most people either love his books and remember them fondly from childhood, or, they remember not identifying with them AT ALL and wondering why others got so excited about them. Neither group is right or wrong. Books cause personal reactions in people.

Doerr’s latest novel is the same. One has to have the patience to follow the disparate story lines. One has to appreciate Greek literature, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and science fiction to embrace this book. One has to be tolerant of others with experiences, political views, and sexual orientations that are perhaps different from your own and be able to see the world through their eyes to appreciate this book. It is full of diversity to convey the disparate characters and storylines. I suspect many readers will be deeply moved by it and others left cold. And that is the world of reading.

Here is the publisher’s description of the book:

“Set in Constantinople in the fifteenth century, in a small town in present-day Idaho, and on an interstellar ship decades from now, Anthony Doerr’s gorgeous third novel is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope—and a book. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and with those who will be here after we’re gone.

Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege. And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father. She has never set foot on our planet.

Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders who find resourcefulness and hope in the midst of gravest danger. Their lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own. Dedicated to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come,” Cloud Cuckoo Land is a beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship—of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart.”

Excerpts from the beginning of the book…first the Greek manuscript…and then the year 2020 as seen through the octogenarian Zeno’s eyes:

“ONE

STRANGER, WHOEVER YOU ARE, OPEN THIS TO LEARN WHAT WILL AMAZE YOU

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antonius Diogenes, Folio A

The Diogenes codex measures 30 cm x 22 cm. Holed by worms and significantly effaced by mold, only twenty-four folios were recovered, all damaged to some degree. The hand is tidy and leftward sloping. From the 2020 translation by Zeno Ninis.

. . . how long had those tablets moldered inside that chest, waiting for eyes to read them? While I’m sure you will doubt the truth of the outlandish events they relate, dear niece, in my transcription, I do not leave out a word. Maybe in the old days men did walk the earth as beasts, and a city of birds floated in the heavens between the realms of men and gods. Or maybe, like all lunatics, the shepherd made his own truth, and so for him, true it was. But let us turn to his story now, and decide his sanity for ourselves.”

“THE LAKEPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY
FEBRUARY 20, 2020
4:30 P.M.

Zeno

He escorts five fifth graders from the elementary school to the public library through curtains of falling snow. He is an octogenarian in a canvas coat; his boots are fastened with Velcro; cartoon penguins skate across his necktie. All day, joy has steadily inflated inside his chest, and now, this afternoon, at 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday in February, watching the children run ahead down the sidewalk—Alex Hess wearing his papier-mâché donkey head, Rachel Wilson carrying a plastic torch, Natalie Hernandez lugging a portable speaker—the feeling threatens to capsize him.

They pass the police station, the Parks Department, Eden’s Gate Realty. The Lakeport Public Library is a high-gabled two-story gingerbread Victorian on the corner of Lake and Park that was donated to the town after the First World War. Its chimney leans; its gutters sag; packing tape holds together cracks in three of the four front-facing windows. Several inches of snow have already settled on the junipers flanking the walk and atop the book drop box on the corner, which has been painted to look like an owl.

The kids charge up the front walk, bound onto the porch, and high-five Sharif, the children’s librarian, who has stepped outside to help Zeno navigate the stairs. Sharif has lime-green earbuds in his ears and craft glitter twinkles in the hair on his arms. His T-shirt says, I LIKE BIG BOOKS AND I CANNOT LIE.

Inside, Zeno wipes fog from his eyeglasses. Construction paper hearts are taped to the front of the welcome desk; a framed needlepoint on the wall behind it reads, Questions Answered Here.

On the computer table, on all three monitors, screen-saver spirals twist in synchrony. Between the audiobook shelf and two shabby armchairs, a radiator leak seeps through the ceiling tiles and drips into a seven-gallon trash can.

Plip. Plop. Plip.

The kids scatter snow everywhere as they stampede upstairs, heading for the Children’s Section, and Zeno and Sharif share a smile as they listen to their footfalls reach the top of the staircase and stop.

“Whoa,” says the voice of Olivia Ott.

“Holy magoley,” says the voice of Christopher Dee.

Sharif takes Zeno’s elbow as they ascend. The entrance to the second story has been blocked with a plywood wall spray-painted gold, and in its center, over a small arched door, Zeno has written:

Ὦ ξένε, ὅστις εἶ, ἄνοιξον, ἵνα μάθῃς ἃ θαυμάζεις

The fifth graders cluster against the plywood and snow melts on their jackets and backpacks and everyone looks at Zeno and Zeno waits for his breath to catch up with the rest of him.”

Here is a short video link from the author explaining more about the book:

https://www.amazon.com/vdp/6329b335af1442ebb310275f1395499f?ref=dp_vse_rvc_0

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I made it about 40% through, but just really struggled to keep up with the myriad timelines and characters. I sensed that it would all come together, but I just didn't have the patience to get there.

I had to force myself to keep reading and to discover the storyline. Of the five characters in the story I was only really interested in two of them. That being said, am glad I read Anthony Doerr's latest novel.

Thank you, NetGalley and Scribner, for allowing me to read a digital ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. I must admit that I was thoroughly confused at the beginning of this book that I had to take notes to keep track of all characters and alternating timelines. As I persevered and continued reading, I had an AHA! Moment and realized this is the backstory of one of the characters mentioned in an earlier chapter. I became thoroughly engrossed in Cloud Cuckoo Land. This novel has many characters and takes place during three (3) timelines: Constantinople in the 1400’s; the present in Idaho, and the future on a spaceship called Argos. There are five (5) characters whose lives overlap: Anna and Omeir in Constantinople; Zeno and Seymour in the present; and Konstance in the future. All of the characters’ lives intersect through an ancient text by Antonio Diogenes called Cloud Cuckoo Land, about the travails and exploits of the shepherd Aethon to get to the city. Mr. Doerr is a descriptive writer, and you can feel the angst and suffering of the characters, as well as the animals; this is truly amazing. All of the characters in this magnificent tale are so well developed and realistic. Mr. Doerr does an excellent job tying all the stories together into a satisfying conclusion. The characters are memorable, and the story is rich, beautiful, and captivating. I will never, ever forget them.

I loved this novel so much that I purchased it on the release date; I plan to reread and savor this novel again. I recommended this book to my friends and book club members. So, do yourself a favor and read this wonderful book.

Amazing read, the pure poetry the author applies to the work makes for delightful reading. Whilst the reader needs to pay close attention to the storyline, it’s a magical book that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a beautifully written, expertly crafted work of art. Anthony Doerr introduces us to 5 vastly different characters, all from different cultures, historical time periods and classes. Each is interesting and very well developed, but seemingly completely unrelated to each other.
As the novel progresses Doerr slowly unravels the connection between these people- Anna, Omeir, Nino, Seymour and Konstance. Small hints are given along the way, until the end when it is all brought together in a way that makes perfect sense.
In the end this is a novel about the power of a story. How a story, fairy tale, myth, legend, gets passed from generation to generation. How it goes from spoken to written word and how even that written document can change over time. It is a story about the lengths unknown people have gone through to keep these stories alive through history. It also examines how the same story can affect so many lives in so many different ways.
Doerr also pays homage to the public library and its importance in society.
If you are a lover of stories, someone for whom a book has touched your life, this novel will resonate with you. It has a greater message as well, and explores how we are all interconnected both with our fellow humans and with the Earth itself, but the most powerful theme for me, and the one that will stay with me, is how a story can touch your heart and even play a role in the trajectory of your life.

I DNF this novel. While I loved All the Light We Cannot See, this book had a more convoluted plot that was hard to see how everything fit together. The prose is beautiful and the author well renowned but this book I could not finish.

I chose this book based on the previous novel "All the Light We Cannot See" because I loved that book. But the style is different on this one, and I just could not get into it. I found it hard to follow and disjointed, but that may be more related to my personal preference of getting a story told in a straight forward manner than in pieces with alternating timelines. I readily admit that I did not persevere and continue reading it, but gave up about 25% of the way into it. In order to submit this review, I must give a rating, but I acknowledge it probably isn't a fair rating since I didn't read the entire book. Thank you for letting me review the book.

This is a beautiful and captivating story and has profound detail and interesting characters. At times it had complexity that kept people interested and waiting more

Took way way way too long to get into this story. 300 pages in, I was finally engaged in the plot and knew the characters. This would have been another smash out of the park with a tighter edit.

I spent quite a bit of time wondering how the pieces of this book came together, but when they did it was quite beautiful. I loved the children listening to and restoring the Greek story. I read all the Greek mythology I could when I was young, in a small town school and library, those were the easiest to get! It was so interesting to see ties from Ancient Greece thru the future. I was beginning to catch on to the plot in the future, but it still surprised me. A very good story.

“A text…a book…is a resting place for the memories of people who have lived before. A way for the memory to stay fixed after the soul has traveled on.”

This quote captures the beauty of the myth and the lives of the characters in these stories. The book is three stories on three different timelines surrounding one myth. Anna, a poor 13-yeard old girl in 15th century Constantinople discovers an Ancient Greek manuscript about a young boy, Aethon. Her path eventually crosses with Omeir, a village boy with a cleft pallet and is an oxen whisperer.

Zeno is an 80-something year old man who volunteers at his local library in Idaho. He has translated the story of Aethon from the Ancient Greek and is helping children rehearse for a play adaption of the story. He crosses paths with Seymour, a troubled teenager with his own challenges.

Konstance is on a spaceship named Aros in the near future. As she and her family search for another planet to live, her father tells her the story of Aethon.

And then there is the myth of Aethon and his desire turn into a bird and fly to a city in the clouds.

Doerr moves with frequency between these timelines in this complex, immersive and clever tale that connects the three stories and timelines with the myth. The story is completely different from Doerr’s previously books and unique as a story itself. I’ve never read anything like it. The closest I can come to it in terms of complexity, creativity and craftsmanship is A.S. Byatt’s Possession. Byatt won a Booker Prize for Possession and Doerr won a Pulitzer Prize for All The Light We Cannot See. I think that speaks to the level of Doerr as an author.

I anticipate re-reading this book every few books and finding things I missed the first time. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, or fantasy.

Thank you to Net Galley and Scribner for an ARC of this book in exchange for my review. My opinions are my own.

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