4.5 Stars

Thanks #NetGalley @ScribnerBooks for a complimentary eARC of #CloudCuckooLand upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Favorite Quote: “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.”

Cloud Cuckoo Land is four stories in one. The stories involve three different time periods and genres and one myth (a story within the stories).

One story is set in the 1400s in Constantinople. There are two main characters. One is a poor thirteen-year-old orphan girl who lives and works with other women who embroider the robes of priests. Anna is curious and exhibits an insatiable desire to learn to read. She discovers the ancient manuscript of the story of Aethon who wants to be turned into a bird. The other main character is Omeir, a village boy who lives outside the walls of Constantinople. He has a cleft palate and is an oxen whisperer. One day he is forced to join an invading army and sets out with the soldiers toward Constantinople. His path will cross with Anna’s.

Another story is set five hundred years later in a library in Idaho. In this contemporary story, Zeno is eighty something and volunteers at the library and right now he’s helping children rehearse for a play adaptation of the ancient story of Aethon. He will cross paths with a troubled teenager, Seymour, who has planted a bomb in the library shelves as a statement about the environment and the endangerment of Owls.

The third story is set in the future and is about young Konstance who is on a spaceship called the Aros. Her favorite story is one her father has told and retold about Atheon.

The fourth story is a myth about Aethon and his fascination with the city in the clouds and his quest to be turned into a bird.

The @PulitzerPrizes author of Cloud Cuckoo Land hops between the stories and time periods with great finesse and frequency.

My advice is take notes while reading! Once you are acclimated, the individual stories are engaging and distinct from one another.

The writing is beautiful and filled with vivid details and powerful imagery and is masterful in its structure and themes. Every sentence is expertly crafted. At 637 pages, Cloud Cuckoo Land is engaging, thoughtfully written, easily read, and yet ambitious. Readers need to be prepared for a great deal of hopping around between story lines, characters, and time periods. This is the challenging and ambitious aspect of the read. But trust the author and you will find your reading rhythm. Although there is a strong theme of hope, the stories are tinged with sadness, tragedy, and despair. Readers who love a twist will be pleased with one of the stories. I have no doubt that this book will will be nominated for major awards. It’s brilliant from a writer’s point of view, and I especially loved the personification. I need to note that if you loved All the Light We Cannot See, this book is significantly different.

Two of the three stories have satisfactory conclusions. I wish the third story of Konstance on the spaceship had a more satisfactory ending. I read it twice and was left hoping for more. Although it was a good story, it was more open-ended than the others and I have questions.

There are themes that connect all the content: love of stories/books/libraries/storytelling, the importance of libraries, preservation of knowledge and thought, writing in the past that affects the future, and the importance of HOPE. In addition, each individual story has its own thoughtful themes. The author packs many substantial themes into these stories as well as some significant symbolism. At times I felt like I should be reading it as part of a class or at least with the benefit of a set of SparkNotes to aide my comprehension. I fear some of it went over my head.

I’m highly recommending Cloud Cuckoo Land for readers who like a challenging and ambitious read, for fans of Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See), and for book clubs whose readers might enjoy reading this from a literary perspective.

Content Considerations: tragedy, poverty, physical deformity, death of a sister, bomb violence

TL:DR: Interesting book, not my favorite ever, but not bad, from an author I have liked before but felt this one wasn't quite on the same level of character development. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Doerr weaves together the stories of five main characters in this interesting, yet a bit hard to get into, novel. I would say I really didn't "like" it until about halfway through, and then I kept reading to find out exactly how all the stories came together.

Best part about this book is the semi-sci-fi aspect because I enjoyed the creativity of the author. The characters were not as well-developed (aka, I didn't really care about them) as in "All the Light..."

The writing was excellent in some place, but honestly the run-on sentences got to be just too much sometimes. I understand that description and streams of thought are necessary, but it made it hard for me to concentrate at times. I consider myself generally a literary reader, too.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I am a reviewer for NetGalley.

Opening the pages of Cloud Cuckoo Land is entering an ancient, delusional golden door, chapter by chapter, into a
phantasmagorical universe, from a distant past to an inconceivable future, to a present that is uncannily familiar.
An ancient book moves over millennia through the hands of four main characters- Anna, Omeir, Zeno, and Konstance.
As they age, we follow the youthful caretakers in the unraveling of the disintegrating words and stories on the fragile pages.
The reader is pulled from descriptive passages of visual poetical beauty to evil, gruesome acts and horrifying circumstances. The characters, endowed with physical or mental anomalies as well as native intelligence, are on a quest for meanings. They are outsiders who from the inside are compelled to follow their instincts and passions, each with a significant human or animal companion.
Anthony Doerr has recorded an epic story of how decisions made and actions taken created the present. He is a master wordsmith, historian, and visionary.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is both hopeful and a fearsome warning as to what the past has wrought and a challenge to understanding the choices we now must make, not just to survive, but to celebrate life in all its living infinite wonders and beauty.

Being blown away by "All the Light we Cannot See," I dug into this book with much enthusiasm. Gradually, however, the stories within the story became more and more obtuse until I finally skipped to the epilogue in search of a coagulator that would bring the myriad pieces of the story together into a recognizable whole. The epilogue was understandable enough on its own, but not a resolution of the scattered bits that came before.

Even so, the brilliance of Doerr's writing showed through in certain words, sentences and passages.

I almost never quit a book, even a mediocre one. However, this time I did.

I loved “All the Light We Cannot See”, to this day I picture Marie-Laure learning her way around town by tracing her fingers through the scale model built by her father. So I was very excited to read and review Doerr’s new novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land.
First and foremost, take notes for yourself. There’s a lot going on, and it’s so much easier for the story to flow if you’ve jotted highlights and key reminders from each section. You read about three vastly different eras, with characters that appear to have nothing to do with one another. The main underlying theme is the power of the written word and the importance of cherishing and preserving that power.
Just as you’re hoping that Anna’s sister survives the horrible bump to her head, you’re placed inside a spaceship, hurtling through time and space for generations. Then you’re in a library in Idaho, beginning to have compassion for Zeno and trying not to be angry with Seymour.
There’s a LOT going on with this long novel, and at times I honestly wondered what one had to do with the other. But patience is a virtue, Grasshopper. Take a breath, review your notes and keep reading. It's worth the work. I absolutely love the writing style of Mr. Doerr.
Sincere thanks to Scribner for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is September 28, 2021.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, 5+ stars!

“A tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness…” Those are the words Anthony Doerr uses to describe this wonderful novel, and each thread in that tapestry is golden wire wrapped in color.

Told from the perspectives of young people, from four different centuries and centering loosely around a fictional manuscript written by an ancient Greek author, this book ties the stories of Konstance, from a space ship in the twenty second century to not only the ancient Greek, but also two teen agers on opposite sides of the siege of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, and a group of fifth graders in 2020, who wish to perform the play, Cloud Cuckoo Land, as translated by their friend, Zeno, a Korean war veteran. With his gentle and caring hand, Anthony Doerr lets us inside the world of the disfigured, the orphaned, the lost, the mentally challenged, the single mother, the unrequited homosexual, the war veteran, and even the hopeless parents in fear for their children on a dying planet. He weaves these stories so perfectly that we don’t even realize what he’s doing until we reach the surprising, inevitable conclusion.

It wasn’t easy to get started in this book, nightmares of studying the Odyssey and the Iliad threatened to make me abandon it, but to say by midway I couldn’t put it down is not an exaggeration. This author is a master, and a treasure, and this book is a love letter to books and libraries through history. I loved it.

I received this advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher. Cloud Cuckoo Land will be released on September 28, 2021.

This is an extraordinary book. Three time periods connected by one story. Beautifully written; characters to fall in love with. I loved every minute

Five characters, 3 time periods, and add in the ancient Greek story of Aetheon - these are the makings of the newest treasure by Anthony Doerr. The story brings history, present day, and sci-fi into a beautifully interwoven tale of the magic of words and reading. A love letter to librarians and readers alike; this beautifully written book reads like a fairy tale for adults. Fans of literary fiction will love this one!

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This book - wow. This is such an amazing book that is so beautifully put together, no description will do it justice. It is best to go into this book blind, at the beginning it seems that the different timelines and perspectives won't work together and won't blend as seamlessly as they do, but please keep going with it. I have no idea how Doerr does it, I especially love how he blends information about nature, in this case owls, into his work. This book took my breath away. My love for libraries and for literature is reflected in this book, and I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to read this.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

This fiction novel follows five different story lines across many centuries connected by a Greek story about Cloud Cuckoo Land. The novel deals with themes of loss, love, heroism, climate crisis and perseverance. In the earliest story line in 1453, Anna and Omeir are both teenagers on opposite sides of a siege at Constantinople. In present day, teenage eco-terrorist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno are on opposite sides of a standoff in the public library. In the future, Konstance is trapped and all alone aboard a spaceship bound for an exoplanet. Anna discovers a manuscript containing the Greek Story of Cloud Cuckoo Land – a man searching for a way to travel to a place of perfection and ultimate contentment, which he discovers does not exist. Anna protects the manuscript and Omeir transports it safely to a library of sorts. In present day, Zeno has translated the story to English and his act of heroism inspires Seymour to make many changes to computer code used for virtual reality. In the future, Konstance spends the large majority of her day in virtual reality, where she discovers Seymour’s edits to an atlas she often visits. Seymour’s insertions lead her to a major discovery of the ultimate deception.

I really loved this book, which had a satisfying ending. There were only a few questions about Konstance that continue to bother me to this day. Overall, a great read!

I loved All the Light We Cannot See so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read Doerr’s new book Cloud Cuckoo Land. For me, it was a challenging book to get into. I started it four different times and I got hooked on the fourth time. It is a bit confusing at first so be patient and stick with it — you’ll be glad you did.

There are several interweaving stories among five different characters over three time periods — fifteenth century in Constantinople, current day and the future. Doerr does an excellent job combining several genres — historical fiction, contemporary fiction and sci-fi/fantasy with a Greek fable running through it all. Although it seems like several unrelated stories, Doerr magically ties them up together by the end of the book.

Doerr excels at creating three-dimensional characters that you come to care about. The stories are engaging and will hold your interest. Doerr is a master storyteller and his writing is superb. In fact, it is worthwhile to read anything written by him just to delight in the metaphors, turn of phrase and other word play.

“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.”

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Three stories interconnected in glorious prose. Each tale connects by the belief in the majesty of words and the importance of preserving words. The story is the star and each tale takes its interpretations as a morality tale essential to survival. Starting in Constantinople , moving to a modern platform and ending in a future obscure and treacherous, a sliver of a chance for survival. Masterful, evocative, alluring prose underwritten by a forecast we cannot escape.

I was sure I would like this book by Anthony Doerr as I loved his last book. I did not read what the book was about and so was surprised that it was a subject that I normally would not read about. It took a few chapters to get lost in the story but once I jumped into it I was hooked. Loved the characters and how they all related to Cloud Cuckoo Land. The book is quite long (over 600 pages) that took me a week to finish. The ending wraps up the story magnificently.

There is a lot going on in this book. It takes a minute to really get into the book and understand what is going on. I found the book a bit difficult to read. The different characters and timeframes was just a lot to follow, and I felt like I was reading multiple different stories. That said, if you give yourself the time and energy to really understand what is happening in the book then its a really great story when it all comes together.

I utterly adored this complex new novel from Anthony Doerr which is set in three timelines:

1453--where Anna and Omeir are on opposite sides of the siege of Constantinople;

Current day Idaho--where the teen Seymour is driven to an act of domestic terrorism by his ideals,
and the elderly Zeno is driven to an act of heroism;

Near future--where Konstance lives aboard an interstellar ship with her family and others, heading
for an exoplanet with the hopes of a new start for humanity.

What ties these all together is an ancient text about a shepherd named Aethon who longs to travel to an utopian paradise in the sky: Cloud Cuckoo Land. By the end of the tale, he learns an important lesson about life.

With lyrical writing, brilliant characterizations, and remarkably well described settings, Doerr brings his complicated plot to life and we experience again the interconnectedness of all life on this planet.

I received an arc of this new novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest Many thanks for the opportunity.

"Stranger, whoever you are, open this to learn what will amaze you."

There are books that I will read, simply because of who wrote them, and Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land falls squarely in that category. And yet, this long-awaited literary marvel, was not what I expected. For me, it was at once both too much and not enough.

Like the fictional Greek drama unfolding at the book’s center, around which all of the other encapsulated narratives are framed, Cloud Cuckoo Land truly feels as though is "part fairy tale, part fool’s errand, part science-fiction, part utopian satire."

"The tale I have to tell is so ludicrous, so incredible, that you’ll never believe a word of it—and yet, it’s true."

This sweeping novel interweaves the stories of five major characters, whose lives we follow over decades and across time and space. They are as far removed from one another as 1400 A.D. Constantinople is from an interstellar navigational mission happening 700 years later, and yet, they are connected:

Anna is an orphan girl living in Constantinople in the 15th century, being raised by nuns, when the city is besieged. She has recently discovered precious fragments of ancient documents, containing the lost manuscript of an ancient Greek comedy called Cloud Cuckoo Land. Her only chance at her survival (and preserving the documents) is to flee the city.

Omeir, born in a Bulgarian village in the 1400s, is ostracized because of a facial deformity. His family and the other villagers fear that his body harbors a ghoul or a demon, and his cleft palate is the proof. Drafted into the siege on Constantinople, Omeir must choose whether to help destroy the city or attempt to flee himself.

Zino is an Italian-American soldier who is taken captive as a POW during the Korean War. He survives by the skin of his teeth, and spends the rest of his life remembering the man he fell in love with in the prison camp and Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Greek drama the man taught Zino to keep their minds off of the atrocities of war.

Seymour, raised by a single mother in present-day America, is deeply passionate about the environment and becomes radicalized as a teenager. In a misguided attempt to "wake up" the world, he plants a bomb in a library where five young children are performing a play, based on Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Kaydence is a young girl living many decades in the future from now, and is the lone surviving passenger aboard an interstellar spacecraft. She has access to an infinite digital library containing records of all of human history, where she discovers that things aren't what they seem...

"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."

I despised Seymour and hated almost everything about his story, but I hated even more the fact that he is clearly a neurodivergent character being painted as a villain, and I felt a little manipulated, being made to hate someone who isn't entirely in control of their decision-making.

I loved the perspectives of Zino and Kaydence - there was so much richness, empathy, and heart in Zino's storyline (like Tim O'Brien meets Fredrik Backman) and I could have spent weeks going down the endless rabbit trails that could have come from the unexpected sci-fi twist in Kaydence's.

"What you already have is better than what you so desperately seek."

Doerr's characters are vibrant and their stories are richly detailed. Truly, I wanted an entire novel devoted to each of them (well, almost) so that each individual narrative could be fully fleshed out and explored.

But as it was, I felt like each storyline was compressed into the most compact version of itself, in order to make everything "fit" into one standalone novel, and I ended up not getting enough of any storyline to make any of them feel complete. There was just too much happening altogether, and it made each individual character compete with all the others, rather than being complementary.

"Already I have seen things I did not know how to dream."

A very bold, interesting concept for a novel, but it left me simultaneously over- and underwhelmed. 3.5/5 stars.

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Thanks to Anthony Doerr, Scribner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cloud Cuckoo Land was extremely well written and you can tell just how talented Anthony Doerr is as an author. However, the story itself wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m going to give it 3 stars and highly recommend others give it a try and see for themselves because there is no doubt that this man can write!

This book was so eloquently written and intriguing. The story timeline is told in a non-linear fashion jumping from the 1400s, to present time, and into the future. The storylines of the five main characters are unique, but connected by the ancient story of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Following five different character stories and points of view was a first for me. In the beginning, it took some time to get a good grasp on which timeline the characters were in and their part in the telling of Cloud Cuckoo Land. However, this got easier as I learned more about each character. The most engaging stories for me were Seymour, Omeir, and Konstance’s, but I have to say I really did enjoy all of the characters’ plotlines.

This book is a large one, totaling over 600 pages. I took my time with it and spread it out over a few weeks. I think this slower reading pace allowed me to take it all in and really appreciate the story. Doerr is a master storyteller and I’m looking forward to reading more from him.

Thank you NetGalley, Anthony Doerr, and Scribner for sending me a free ARC copy of Cloud Cuckoo Land in exchange for an honest review.

This was epic—both in length and scope. Several timelines and several narrators made this book interesting, but the lack of resolution with a few side characters made this just okay for me. I wanted answers that I didn’t get.

This is my second book that I have read by this author. I loved the detailed description that made me feel like I was there. The many characters captivated me as I got to know each one..