I thought this was a good next book from the author of all the light we cannot see. I like the multiple time periods and character perspectives. It kept the book moving and kept my interest. I would recommend.

I never would have believed that I would love a book that contains a Greek fable, the Greek language, the fall of Constantinople, climate change, the Korean War, space travel, a boy on the autism spectrum, the importance of the printed word, the past, the present, and the future, but Anthony Doerr combines this and more into the best book I have read in a very long time. The author has created a masterpiece that will capture readers and stay with them. This is a book for readers who love words and books and how they affect lives of all kinds.

I am Aethon, a simple shepherd from Arkadia, and 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. For I, the one they called birdbrain and nincompoop— yes, I, dull-witted muttonheaded lamebrained Aethon— once traveled all the way to the edge of the earth and beyond.

...

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I know I will be one of the rare reviewers that didn't love it. The writing is beautiful and lyrical. This is a story where there are 3 main timelines and multiple POVs, loosely connected by an ancient Greek fable.

Here's the biggest issue for me. This didn't feel like a cohesive story. I enjoyed bits of each of the mini-stories, my favorite having to be Konstance in the future. If this was a book of short stories, i might feel differently. The big issue with multiple timelines and POVs is that some are better than others. I also found myself confused, and the story was difficult to follow. If I wasn't reading this to review, I'm not sure I would have stuck with it. Maybe this just isn't my type of book, and that's ok.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

An extraordinary novel! It took me a while to become immersed in this novel, which switches characters and time periods without any initially apparent logic, making it difficult to fully engage with the characters. But by nearly the half-way point, I was deeply immersed and glad I'd stayed with it. Somehow Doerr anchors a story that travels through centuries, and into the future, with characters that are specific and memorable - from a tender-hearted boy born with a cleft palate and a poor adolescent girl with a yearning to read, both caught up in the siege of Constantinople, to a troubled teen agonized by the demise of the natural world and a closeted GI-veteran in present-day Idaho, and an adolescent girl on a spaceship bound for a new planet. This is a story of connectedness - through time and human nature - and about the stories that guide us and are ultimately all that is left. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.

Anthony Doerr Is a writer who just keeps getting better. I have read several of his works, including Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Can Not See, but I was still not prepared for the power of his latest book, Cloud Cuckoo Land. This is a story that presents multiple plots through a variety of times and places with seemingly tenuous connections. We follow children and adults from the mythic past, from opposing sides of the Fall of Constantinople, through the harsh imprisonment of the Korean War, as well as events of recent times focusing on environmental issues and then leap ahead to a future of space travel and escape from Earth. At first it is hard to keep the characters in their different settings straight but gradually the individual personalities become clear and we feel a sympathy for the challenges each character faces in his own world. One thread that connects the disparate parts is the telling of a mythic story of a quest and metamorphosis shared in different sections within a family or among travelers or with new friends. The origin of the story is uncertain, the manuscript faded and perhaps out of order and the meaning obscure, but the reader quickly understands that the search by the fool of the narrative is a metaphor for the search we all undertake as we attempt to find our place in the world. The power of story and the preservation of knowledge is further emphasized by Doerr’s dedication, “ For the librarians then, now and in the years to come.” What reader can’t embrace this? A truly, wonderful story that offers us hope from the ashes of tragedy.

4.5 I just loved the minute that all the pieces of the story came rushing together. It was very inventive and original and made for an excellent getaway from reality. The only thing I would change is finding out what happens to Zeno so early in the books. I spent the whole rest of the book worried about it. I totally get why the author put it where he did because if you blink you miss it. Again, a masterful tale, one that will stick with me for a while.

As an aside, being a librarian made reading the Seymour portions very very hard.

Anthony Doerr is one of my favorite authors. The book starts slow and builds up. I did not know what to expect. The book presents several story lines in different time periods. Each narrates the story of a child, or an adult trying to make sense about the world around them. I kept wondering how the author was going to bring the stories all together. In the end, he did it successfully. My favorite story is the one about Konstance and the Argos traveling through space. The ending of that story line is totally unexpected. I did find the jumping from one story line to another at times distracting. The book is beautifully written. I read an advance copy and want to thank Scribner and NetGalley for making it available. I do plan to get a copy when the book comes out in the fall.

This was not a book I would normally gravitate towards based on the synopsis, but gave it a shot given how much I loved the author’s previous work. Spanning across different times, settings and characters, this was quite an ambitious novel. It took me a good quarter of the book to really get a feel for each of the characters and their storylines, but well worth pushing through. Cloud Cuckoo Land was complex, clever, and very unique.

I was dubious Doerr could outdo himself after ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, but this sublime novel delivers. A gorgeous story (or three) about what connects and outlives us across centuries, countries, and (maybe) planets. I read the entire second half in a single sitting, unable to put this down when the story both came together and turned where I didn't expect. Will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Wow. I never got around to any of Doerr's fiction (I did previously read [book:Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World|137852]). This is amazing. Perfect for readers who loved [book:The Bookman’s Tale|16158563] and were disappointed by [book:People of the Book|1379961].

There are five characters in four timelines. Frequently, with so many moving pieces, it feels like the author is holding back on purpose, keeping the reader in the dark; that's never the feeling here. Information is shared in perfect order, at just the right pace. The reader feels confident that the link between all these people in these far-apart places will be made clear.

A historical timeline, a futuristic timeline, modern rural America, the Vietnam Conflict-- this book has something for almost everyone. A great pick for book clubs!

From Wikipedia: "Cloud cuckoo land is a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. Someone who is said to "live in cloud cuckoo land" is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are.[1] It also hints that the person referred to is naive, unaware of realities or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief."

From phrases.org/uk: 'It's nice for once to have a definite and unambiguous origin for an expression. Cloud-cuckoo-land was coined by the 4th century playwright Aristophanes in the whimsical and extravagant play, The Birds."
The novel that concerns us can be daunting at first. It is extravagant and one of the most brilliant I have ever encountered. I will admit it challenged me. It is set during 3 different timelines, 1453, the present, and decades in the future told from 5 POV's .Interspersed is Aethon(an ancient greek), If it sounds chaotic, it can be. Once I understood the structure the writing and the characters just captivated me. The characters are all children, innocents, searching for hope and knowledge in each of their broken lives. Learning through stories is vital to who they become. All of their stories combine in a masterful way to create this masterpiece. I have no doubt that unlimited discussions will abound. This is one that I plan to re-read knowing there is so much more to unearth. I would give it 10* if I could. You know a book will be a special gift when the author dedicates it to "the librarians, then, now and in the years to come."
Many thanks to Netgalley, Simon&Schuster and the author for the ARC.

Another fantastic cream by Anthony Doerr.Will not give anything away will be recommending this absorbing read to everyone.#nettgalley#scribnerbooks

This book was a challenge for me to get into, simply because there were so many points of view. I don't think I really understood what was happening until about 30% of the way through the novel. With that being said, once I understood what was going on, I really enjoyed reading it. I found myself wanting check in on the various characters and curious how it was all going to tie together.

I look forward to this book being published and hearing my fellow readers' reviews! Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent! I requested for background reading for a review we plan for September. As editor I will not be reviewing it myself but I have every expectation it will be a good one. We will send to the publicist once live.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

I love that Doerr dedicated this to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come.”

Set in three distinct time frames, the past - 1453, the present, and decades in the future, this follows the stories of those living during those times, along with a belief in, and hope for, the future. The ways their stories are connected, as well as the story that connects them.

This begins, briefly, with the story set in the future, the story of Konstance, a fourteen-year-old girl living on an interstellar ship and Sybil, the ship’s overseeing voice reminding her that it is late, and that she must eat, but Sybil is immersed in reading Antonius Diogenes Cloud Cuckoo Land, envisioning the story as she continues to read, ignoring Sybil’s demands. Her father had shared the story with her over time, and Konstance finds comfort in reflecting on their shared connection, but searches for more, connecting piece by piece.

In the present the story is set in Idaho, and centers around Zeno, in his 80’s, and Seymour, a teenager whose love of an owl changes how he sees the world, the cavalier destruction of the planet and those who make it their home. Seymour finds some solace in Diogenes Cloud Cuckoo Land, and it becomes a source of fuel for his fire. At the library, Zeno is working with a group of young children for a production of Cloud Cuckoo Land. In the process, they learn the story of Aethon, his wish to become a bird in order to fly to Cloud Cuckoo Land, and live in paradise.

In the past, Anna and Omeir live different lives, one living inside the city wall of Constantinople, one on the outside. Anna lived inside the convent, embroidering robes for priests during the day. Having been taught to read, she finds a collection of old books in an abandoned priory, among them the transcript of Cloud Cuckoo Land, which she takes with her when she takes flight from the monastery. She meets Omeir, who is also fleeing. A bond forms between them, they are both young, and over time he will continue to protect her, as well as the transcript.

To borrow from Norman Maclean, ’eventually, all things merge into one’, and while a river doesn’t run through this, there is that sense of the flow, the timelessness, and the eternal words beneath it all.


Pub Date: 28 Sep 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Scribner

This is a very difficult book to rate because while I can certainly acknowledge that it is very well written, I did not like it or particularly enjoy reading it.

I’m not big on emotionally bleak literature, and this book is about as bleak as it gets. There are certainly moments of hope and light, but they are gravely overshadowed by a book mostly suffused with sadness and suffering.

All The Light We Cannot See was, of course, not a “happy” book. But it had some incredibly wondrous and warming moments. Cloud Cuckoo Land clearly strove for something similar, but mostly it is populated by moments of deep despair interspersed with the palpable stress of knowing those moments are coming.

There are also devastating animal deaths throughout the book, something that I never enjoy and is usually guaranteed to ruin a book for me.

The idea of the Diogenes folios tying the characters together across time is a good one, but the fact that it is an absurdist comedy, partially indecipherable by the characters, and entirely fictional causes it to lack the POW! that was needed to build the emotional link between characters stretched across almost a thousand years.

One positive was the utterly lovable Zeno, though his entire experience was fraught with such endless suffering and self sacrifice that to attach to him as a reader almost feels masochistic.

If you love a tragedy, you’ll probably like this book more than I did. I should also mention that I don’t care for forgiveness narratives, which also contributed to my lack of enjoyment of it alongside all of the animal deaths. Cloud Cuckoo Land was, at least for me, an unfortunate lesson in the difference between “well written” and “good.”

There were so many different characters and timelines and storylines right out of the gate, that it took me a while to get into this book. It wasn't immediately clear how they'd all intersect, but the writing, individual characters, and blending of genres kept me intrigued and motivated to keep reading. I'm glad I did, because once the connections between the stories and characters started coming into play, it really grabbed my interest. This was a creatively constructed and ambitious story that leads to an ultimately unique and satisfying reading experience.

Wow! Anthony Doerr did it again. After creating war-stricken yet magical world in Paris during World War II in All the Light We Cannot See, this time he created a world shaped by a story of a simple man and has journey to find the magical city surfaced during Conquest of Istanbul, continued to circulate around Korean War and ended up in near future where life on Earth is under threat.

Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, Konstance - they all managed to get their hands on the script that changed their lives forever. That script gave one a ticket out, another a consolation, another a purpose, another a redemption and another one a future. You may wonder how a so called comedy of journey that a simple man who know nothing could affect so many people and touch so many lives, but that's the wonder of it.

More than anything this story is a love letter to libraries, librarians and those who protect and transfer knowledge to next generations; a story of how 24 pieces of paper move from one had to another and became bed time story of children to come decades and centuries after. Because knowledge and literature don't have language (I know how it sounds...); they are not owned by countries or cultures; they are all out there for someone, everyone to come and take bite of it. This will be one of my top books for 2021 for sure.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Scribner for providing me an advance copy of Anthony Doerr’s latest novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Anthony Doerr’s prior works as well as his writing style, which is why I was so excited when I was chosen to review Cloud Cuckoo Land in advance. It is with a heavy heart that I must confess this novel left me feeling sorely disappointed. It neither read like any of the author’s past novels nor contained his gorgeous prose. I felt as if it was written by an entirely different author; perhaps the person who wrote the screenplay for the movie Cloud Atlas.

The story jumps between three different storylines and time periods, but none of them make sense. I usually do not have trouble following the most complex of storylines, but even I struggled to grasp events and comprehend the symbolism.

Given the overwhelmingly positive reviews thus far for this novel, I assume I am in the minority. Either that or this novel truly is not for the faint of heart. If you enjoyed Cloud Atlas or books with extremely obscure plots, then go for it. Otherwise, I would recommend skipping this one and waiting until the author’s next release. I gave it a second star due to its unique premise and innovative construct.