FULL TRANSPARENCY: I didn’t finish this.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and I was pumped to start it since The Light We Cannot See is one of my all time favorite books.

This book was just not for me at this point in time. I know this is going to be unpopular as I’ve seen so many people rave about this one but it was just too complex. I mean the timeline spans centuries (1400s to a space station future). There are so many characters and though I loved some of them and wanted to see how they ended up, I just couldn’t trudge through the ones I didn’t like long enough.

I can see the appeal here. And maybe if I give this another go when I’m in a different mind frame I’ll end up loving it. But for now, this one was too long, too detailed (so much wordiness), and had too many characters and timelines for me to really get into it.

However, I do think I’ll try this one again someday. If I do I’ll definitely update this review.

This will for sure be one I own a physical copy of and a favorite of the year.

“Day after day, year after year, time wipes the old books from the world.”

This book is many things, but it is largely a book about books. And saving stories. To say I immediately loved it wouldn’t be fair because I truthfully was bewildered at first. As it went on however, I couldn’t put it down. Doerr’s prose (and the timing !!) is a wonderful, gentle beast that I could read forever.

If you swipe and read the description, you may be like me and say “what????” It’s, in my opinion, genre binding as it flows from contemporary, sci-if, historical fiction, and maybe a little fantasy? But it all came together so beautifully that I was mostly in awe by the end. Be patient, reader, the reward is 100 times worth.

Doerr subtly speaks of the power of storytelling to lesson suffering, to boost the imagination and to preserve a history.

It felt magical in a way I can’t quite describe. The immensity of the bigger picture is something I can’t quite get out in the right words. Even this rambling review is not doing justice to the brilliance of this story.

“Even if you don’t believe in it, I do. Otherwise what’s it all been for?”

I received an ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land in exchange for an honest review. To start off the book had three strikes against it before I even read the first page. First strike was my fault (actually all three were). When I requested the book I was thinking of another author. So, even though it wasn't written by the author I thought it was, Anthony Doerr is an author I am familiar with. Strike two which I wasn't aware of until later, was that the book has over 600 pages! The third strike was the book is partly science fiction and fantasy, which is not my usual genre at all. Obviously I did not do my research before requesting this book. However, despite the three strikes I did enjoy the book. There are five stories within the book that take place today, in the distant future and in ancient times. The stories and characters all tie together in the end despite the years separating them.

I was provided a free copy of this book by @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
I was introduced to Anthony Doerr with All The Light We Cannot See and it stuck with me for a while. This one was similar in the lyrical/storytelling style. Doerr has a way of describing events and people that are beautiful and really helps you to feel what the characters are experiencing.
This one, however, was a struggle to get into. One because of my circumstances when starting (very busy). But also because the story follows five different characters across three timelines, and often the timeline of the different characters also jumps around a bit. All of this added up to make the beginning a struggle for me. I was really worried that I wouldn't get it or it wouldn't come together in the end. But don't worry, it does!
Overall the story was a beautiful picture of perseverance. Perseverance of humans, perseverance of literature and the arts, and perseverance of nature. The characters also learn and the beauty in acceptance, the grass isn't always greener (or the clouds whiter), and the realize that "others" aren't always as scary or bad as they are made out to be.
This is definitely a character driven story. Other reviews mentioned that not a lot happened, and I can see where they can think that, but for me I got so invested in the characters and their development that the lack of "big action" wasn't a problem. I just wanted to see what was going to happen to them! I think I will be mulling over some of these characters for a while.
If you enjoy a good character driven story you should check this one out after it is published on Tuesday (28 Sep)!
#NetGalley #CloudCuckooLand

I wanted to love this book, but it just wasn't for me. I ended up DNF'ing it at around 40%. Five separate plot lines, multiple different time-lines, and a disjointed structure really just made this hard for me to follow and hard to get in to.

Though, I will say that Anthony Doerr's writing is as beautiful as ever in this book. If you love intricate descriptions of everything, and don't mind taking notes while you read so you don't lose track of all the various plots and timelines then this is a book you probably don't want to miss.

Where do I begin? The novel is about five characters spread across three timelines knitted together through the invented Diogenes’ fable - Cloud Cuckoo Land - and the character Aethon that the author dreamed up. An ambitious storyline, which for me didn’t quite make it. There’s Anna and Oemir in the 15th century around Constantinople, present day Idaho with Zeno and Seymour, and in the future in 22nd century space life with Konstance. I enjoyed the 15th century timeline with Anna and Oemir the best because it was set in one of the most interesting historical times. I did like all the characters - each of them unique and likable in their own way. Frequently the timelines felt short and seemed to transition rapidly to the next one; reducing the number of times the timelines shifted from one to another may have helped decrease the choppiness. A combination of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and contemporary, the book didn’t quite come together for me and I felt the the book could have been shorter. I was one of those who wasn’t a fan of All the Light We Cannot See, but loved Doerr’s nonfiction Four Seasons in Rome and his short stories in The Shell Collector. Maybe I’m destined not to connect with his longer fiction writing! I hope others enjoy the book more than I did. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book has spectacular writing! Such a cool concept and loves the multiple timelines going on yet still all interrelated. I will say, though, sometimes it was a bit confusing to follow and it’s definitely a book you need to be focused to read or you will miss something.

Anthony Doerr gives us another wonderful story with Cloud Cuckoo Land.

What is Cloud Cuckoo Land? It's a utopian paradise in the sky. It begins as a story from Diogenes who heard it in a play. He writes about a young man named Aethon who is desperate to get there. And from there Doerr takes us across the centuries with a search for this place. From Omeir - the boy with the cleft palate and Anna - the young girl who cannot learn to sew. The two of them on opposite sides of the siege of Constantinople in the 1400s. Zino, who is a POW in the Korean war struggling to find his way after the war. Seymour, who cries for the loss of his owl friend and is determined to fight back. And Konstance - a passenger on an instellar spaceship headed for another planet in an attempt to save the human species.

All of these characters are bound together by Aethon and Cloud Cucko Land. Doerr takes us on a wonderful journey across the centuries searching for utopia with a surprising end.

This is a long book but one you should definitely add to your list of must-reads this year.

Cloud Cuckoo Land
By Anthony Doerr

Doerr’s Intent for the Book is Immensely Noble.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
The centerpiece of Cloud Cuckoo Land is ancient fragments of a moldy manuscript written by Greek author Antonius Diogenes. The manuscript tells a story of Aethon, a shepherd who dreams of being transformed into a bird so he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Aethon’s story is the thread that is woven between five characters in Cloud Cuckoo Land, who are from the past, the present and the future.

Past - Anna, an orphan lives inside the walled City of Constantinople. She teaches herself to read and finds the text, the story of Aethon, in an abandon abbey. She read the manuscript to her ailing sister, while the city is preparing for war Outside the walls of the city is Omeir. A small village boy and his oxen have been conscripted by the invading army. He is taken far from home and his only wish is to return to his family. The paths of Omeir and Anna will intersect during the siege of the city.

Present - In the children’s section of a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno Ninis, who had served in the Korean war has translated Aethon story to a play and five fifth-grade children from the local elementary school are rehearsing for a performance. While the children are rehearsing, Seymour a local troubled teenager enters the Library with a bomb inside a backpack.

Future - Konstance and her family are aboard the interstellar ship Argos to find a new planet on which to live. They have everything with them on the ship the will ever need. Konstance is alone in a vault on the ship copying the story of Aethon, as told to her by her father, onto scrapes of paper.


“The world we’re handing our kids brims with challenges: climate instability, pandemics, disinformation. I wanted this novel to reflect those anxieties, but also offer meaningful hope so I try to create a tapestry of times and places that reflect our vast interconnectedness— with other species, with each other with the ones who live before us, and the ones who will be here after we’re gone.”—Anthony Doerr


REVIEW
Doerr’s intent for Cloud Cuckoo Land is immensely noble. But honestly it made me think I was cuckoo, simply because I did not love it as much as everyone else. My main issue is with the book’s structure and the lack of accomplishing the intended theme.

The writing was great and character are intriguing, but keeping up with with five characters across three time lines and multiple settings was a bit much. The shorter chapters, normally a delight, made the individual story lines seem choppy and disjointed. Despite the 640 pages, I didn’t feel the authors intended interconnectedness between the characters. Aethon’s story is what supposedly weaves them all together, but it all felt somewhat contrived. After all, readers love reading books about books. Are we interconnected because we have all read the same book or heard the same story. I think there is more to interconnectedness than that.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Scribner
Published September 28, 2021
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

This book was just too long and disconnected for me. I couldn't figure out what was happening for the first 30 pages, and then every day I started to get into a story or section it would change time periods. It also took forever to make any connection between the stories, I felt like I was just reading 4 separate books at once. I did enjoy each subplot I just wish it had been about 150 pages shorter and each section was in larger chunks. Each story was heartbreaking and lovely in its own way but I probably wouldn't recommend this book to many people. Because of the short sections I didn't enjoy reading it in long sittings.

A lengthy but extremely satisfying book that wanders through several different timelines (past, present, and future) to present us with the history of the telling of the lost tale from the mouth of Diogenes, 'Cloud Cuckoo Land'. Doerr provides us an intimate window into the lives of a handful of imperfect characters facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, and these form the backdrop to what becomes a beautiful tapestry of life and the shared experience of enjoying a good read. We come to learn the importance of Diogenes's tale, and in so doing, become part of the characters' stories early on, and Doerr never allows us to let go. Just a great book.

From the author of All the Light We Cannot See (Pulitzer Prize winner). All the main characters begin the story as children in the 15th century, current era, and the not-so-far future. All face and overcome peril, the common thread of an Ancient Greek text/codex runs through all the stories. Also a tryst on man’s effect on our world from war to environmental disaster. Excellent writing, storytelling, and character development. One of my best reads of the year.

Where to begin about this book. I started reading it and I was soooo confused. I didn’t know too much about it going into it so it’s a lot to digest. There’s multiple POVs and a timeline that stretches from the 1400s into the future. Hence why the book is over 600 pages.

At first, I thought what did I get myself into. It follows the stories of Anna and Omeir in Constantinople in the 1400s, Zeno, the elderly library lover and former POW in Korea, Seymour, the young boy with a sensory disorder in Lakeport Idaho in the 2000s and Konstance, the young girl on a futuristic interstellar spaceship plagued by a contagion.

You may say what in the world do these stories have in common??? The answer is Cloud Cuckoo Land. Cloud Cuckoo Land is an ancient story passed down through generations and thought to be written for a young girl facing death. The story of Cloud Cuckoo Land traverses these timelines and generations and intertwines all of these beautiful characters into one story. A masterful achievement by Doerr in my opinion.

My favorite characters were Seymour and Konstance. Their stories were heart wrenching at times. Doerr’s writing had so many lines I just wanted to remember. The writing is magnificent and makes it seem like this book wasn’t over 600 pages. This isn’t a typical book for me ,but I’m so glad I read it. I was so drawn into the characters and their beautiful settings.

Now I need to go read Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, All The Light We Cannot See. I think it’s safe to say there may be more awards in his future, as this was unlike any book I’ve ever read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @scribner for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Anthony Doerr's homage to the power of stories, books, and libraries spans the past (15th century), the present, and the future (22nd century) with separate narratives of five major characters whose only apparent commonality is knowledge of an ancient Greek manuscript about a mythical man's quest for a land in the clouds where ordinary lives are extraordinarily transformed. Eventually, of course, the characters that share the same timeframes connect, setting up for the final satisfying reveal in which all the stories intersect.

While I think the book is at least 50 pages too long, at times getting bogged down in details, all the stories held my interest. I found the present-day characters-- the young ecoterrorist, the old amateur Greek scholar, and the supporting players in their lives-- so compelling that I started racing through the other narratives so I could get back to their stories and their eventual collision with each other.

I'll be recommending this one to our English faculty and to students who love long, twisty fables.

Oh my goodness I loved this book. Anthony Doerr really knows how to manipulate words into beautiful language! I enjoyed this beautifully woven story so much!

Anthony Doerr is an incredible writer of words, sentences, thoughts and images but perhaps not always cohesive stories. But maybe that was never his intention. I had some difficulty becoming engaged in the story but never the words. How were all the disparate parts going to come together or rather would they, or rather was it ever intended? Don’t know. But at some point, after studiously avoiding this book, I found myself reading and reading and picking up the book when I had so many other things that needed doing. I do not find Doerr’s books quick reading and I say that in the best sense.

Ultimately I came to love so many of the characters, the timelines, the places (especially the “second story of a dilapidated public library in a little town in central Idaho”) and all the implications of all the prejudices and the knockout question of “How do men convince themselves that others must die so they might live?”.

So many thoughts and questions which could be treatises, stories, books:

“Strange how suffering can look beautiful if you get far enough away.”

“The world as it is is enough.”

“The past, present and future walked into a bar. It was tense.”

More to the point in this book;
The past, present and future walked into a library. It was intense.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy

Cloud Cuckoo Land will easily make my top 10 books of the year! I adored this story within a story - a tribute to books and their power to change lives and endure. There are multiple storylines set in the past (15th century Constantinople), present (Idaho), and future (somewhere in space) and they all intersect with an ancient Greek text, Cloud Cuckoo Land.

I am always going to root for the underdogs and this story was no exception. Anna and Omeir come from vastly different backgrounds under the Ottoman Empire but both have faced hardships and have learned to rely on themselves. Through sheer determination Anna convinces an old tutor to teach her to read and she discovers the ancient text.

In Idaho, Zeno Ninis and Seymour Stuhlman are on a collision course where their lives intersect as Zeno - now an old man - is working with children at the local library to put on a play of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Zeno is probably my very favorite with a backstory that feels so real and heartbreaking and beautiful.

And in the 22nd century, we meet teenager Konstance who is traveling in search of a more promising habitation than the blighted Earth she and her family left behind.

Doerr weaves a masterful story as these stories evolve around one another, always compelling and interesting and bringing these disparate characters to life. Fragments of the ancient Greek text "Cloud Cuckoo Land" separate the storylines and then draws them together. I confess it was a bit confusing at the start for me, but once you get a feel for the story the payoff is well worth it.

I read this on audiobook, switching back to an eARC on Kindle from time to time, and both formats worked well. So well that I may have to pick up a hard copy just to have on my shelf.

I really enjoyed this book! I love books that have all these different threads connecting the characters across time and place. Doerr does a great job of that with this book. I loved the themes addressed in this book and how the different storylines came together.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC to review. I had a really difficult time getting through Cloud Cuckoo Land, and I think I went into it with my expectations too high. The book follows multiple characters in different time periods and while I usually enjoy books that jump back and forth, this one was very confusing for me. I think I must have zoned out while reading some portions and even though I finished it, I don't feel I can give a verh detailed review since I lost the plot at some point. The writing itself was beautiful, I just couldn't keep focused because I kept thinking I'd missed something important. I am sure there are many people who will love the book, it just wasn't for me.

I was a big fan of All the Light We Cannot See, so when I saw a new novel by Doerr, I immediately wanted to read it. While I try not to compare works by authors, this book just did not hit the same notes for me as All the Light. I almost DNF’d this book countless times because it was so heavily descriptive, and I had no idea where it was going until I was about 75% through it. That’s not to say it was not beautifully written, because it was. I think maybe it was a bit ambitious and didn’t really come together for me.
There are multiple characters during multiple timelines spanning centuries. While these stories eventually show that they share a connection, it is a long and complex journey to get them there.

I love that Doerr dedicated this book to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come” as I so firmly believe in the power of storytelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC!