Two thoughts came to my mind after finishing #CloudCuckooLand, Anthony Doerr’s magical follow up to his Pulitzer winning All The Light We Cannot See : 1) How marvelously original, and 2) How marvelously derivative . What do I mean ? Original, in that for me the story', which continually shifts between past, present,and future never loses its narrative drive , and derivative, in that Mr. Doerr shows he’s done his homework and has read some of our most memorable and influential authors. For instance, Doerr proves he is a member of Kurt Vonnegut’s Karass. Huh ? Cat’s Cradle : teams that do God’s Will without ever discovering what they are doing. This is a perfect representation of the multitude of the characters in #CloudCuckooLand to say nothing of the karass. theme song : Nice, nice, very nice, so many different people in the same device. I haven’t read Cat’s Cradle in about thirty years but a terrific book like #CloudCuckooLand gets the brain going and revives long lost memories. In that sense one might say CCL is an adult book for kids, while also being a kid’s book for adults. It most certainly is a twenty first century fairy tale with plenty of meat on its bones. Go ahead, give it a taste.

Tears, then more tears, then more tears still. Sometimes it was sad sometimes it was just the sheer beauty of the book. Spanning the past, present, and the future it revolves around the story of an ancient text that as the reader you get to enjoy with the characters. This book IS NOT All the Light We Cannot See, but is written with the same elegance. There is a slight possibility science fiction element to the book, but not enough to turn off any reader who does not like the genre. A huge thank you to Anthony Doerr and Scribner/Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy. This is now my favorite book of 2021. I do not know if it will win the Pulitzer, like his previous book, it should.

Anthony Doerr wrote one of my favorite books: "All the Light We Cannot See." As a result, I was honored and very excited to be able to read this book ahead of publication via NetGalley.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and eye-catching. It draws you into its world. I would often look for images of it online as I read, reminding myself of its beauty and hope. The reason I did that is because there is a long thread of melancholy throughout this story. Each of the protagonists, suffers in some way during their unique time frame in a unique location. Many of the perspectives are from when they were young. I did not have trouble following the separate perspectives because Doerr is a master at his craft. At the same time, I did not feel eager to get back to the book each time I took a break. Someone who can handle the heaviness of the storyline may be more engaged.

PROS: Very well written, not graphic in its depictions of violence, many heavy themes handled sensitively, glimmers of hope, overall message positive, love of stories is conveyed, libraries honored.

CONS: Very long, seemingly bleak at times, almost too many modern-day themes for reader to juggle, difficult to relate to some of the characters.

Overall, I still admire Doerr as an author, although this was not my favorite volume of his. I will read whatever he comes up with next because he is a wordsmith who values language. As a linguist, I did appreciate the exploration of how a work of literature in Greek is translated into English. I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity through NetGalley and Scribner to read it.

Who doesn't love Anthony Doerr? Cloud Cuckoo Land is his next masterpiece and is quite the tome - right out of the gate, kindly leave your expectations at home. They do not belong here. Enjoy the spontaneity, the ride, the breathtaking ending.

I doubted if I was smart enough to put these pieces together, but don't force it. The work will be done for you. Just know there are 3 time periods and 5 main characters:

*13 year old Anna, an orphan and seamstress
*Omeir, a village boy with a facial deformity
*Zeno, prisoner of war and soft-hearted
*Seymour, troubled teenager with a sensory disorder
*Konstance, a girl from the future, stuck alone, angry, and curious

Don't rush this, and please, consider it for your winter TBR. I call this type of read "slow-cooked." The more time that passes after you've read it, the more endearing it becomes. The first 30 % of this book can feel overwhelming and confusing. The next 30% feels leisurely and thoroughly enjoyable. Things are coming together in the following 30% and the last 10 % will absolutely blow your mind! Fantastic adventure!

This book was just incredible! It is definitely a slow burn, and took a few days to really understand what was going on and who the characters were, but once I was in, I was IN. Like All the Light We Cannot See, final 1/3 or so of the book is unputdownable!

We have characters in the distant past in Constantinople, characters in the 20th century and present times, and the distant future aboard a space ship. It sounds nuts, but Doerr is such a talented storyteller, he makes the commonalities seem effortless and beautiful. This story tracks various connections to an Ancient Greek story "Cloud Cuckoo Land" as humans throughout time experience the story, work to save it, translate it, act it out, etc.

This is a huge book, but definitely a huggable one when you get to the end and realize all of the connections these characters have with the story and each other throughout time. This is also one of the only books I've read that I immediately wanted to go back and start again from the beginning. Truly a masterpiece!

This tale was a bit slow moving, in my opinion. The narrative was awkward and strained. I didn’t hate the book, the subject matter being interesting, so will try this author again.
Thanks for the ARC opportunity.

This was a simply brilliant book.

I found all the separate storylines compelling and the way the ancient script united all the characters kept me going even if there were moments of uncertainty/confusion.

Doerr has a way of writing about violence without gore, and he infuses humanity into every character--from the ox tender with the heart of gold to the imprisioned soldiers motivated to live for academia.

I'll be recommending this for a long time.

ARC provided by NetGalley & the publisher—Scribner—in exchange for an honest review.

Doerr does it again! I genuinely adore and love this story. The writing, the characters, the complexities, the themes...masterfully crafted. If you love All the Light We Cannot See, you will also love Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Setting: Across 3 different timelines (Constantinople in the 1400's, a present-day contemporary story in Idaho and the Korean War, and then sometime in the future in space).

Characters: This is where Doerr shines. Omeir, a hairlipped male who connects more with animals than people. Anna, a female who loves her sister, is an orphan, and learns at a young age how to read and has a general sense of curiosity about the world. Seymour, an anxiety-ridden male who may also be autistic (not explicitly called out, but lots of mention of sensory sensitivity). Neno, a closeted man who served in Korea, fell in love with language, and lives a modest life. Konstance, a young girl in space who thinks that maybe there is something more to life than hurtling through space to inhabit a new planet because Earth has been destroyed. But these are only the main human characters. There are a plethora of side human characters as well. Arguably some of my favorite characters are the non-human counterparts. There is Trustyfriend, a great grey owl in Idaho. Moonlight and Tree, the reliable twin oxen companions for Omeir. Sybil, the gigantic AI "conscious" of the spacecraft where Konstance lives. All are masterfully crafted, unique, fully formed, and realistic. A+ to Doerr!

Plot: Across multiple timelines, these characters each encounter their own coming of age stories, connected through the work The Birds by Aristophanes. I don't want to give a lot away because the way this story unfolds is in part what makes it so beautiful. I will say, I think this is what The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern wanted to be, but this actually had a point. Not to criticize Morgenstern's work, as it has lyrical prose that rivals most, but at the end of that story I felt like "what did I read?" whereas at the end of Cloud Cuckoo Land I had a very satisfactory reaction. Also, as an owl lover, I greatly appreciated the symbolism of owls throughout the story as well.

Themes: Interactions between humans and nature, What it means to be human, Drive/persistence of "life finds a way", the desire for seeking more beyond what we have today, interactions/juxtaposition between nature v technology and life v destruction, Love, the concept that some things can disappear in a blink while others, but for the grace of god, persist.

Tropes/Devices: multiple timelines, a story about stories, character-driven plot, beautiful writing

Criticism: I will say at 650 pages this is a chunky book! There could have been a little more editing in some of the chapters to parse it down a bit, but I do think that everything connected well at the end. I like the use of The Birds throughout, but at times it did become a little wearing. Also, many of the characters do die in the story, but none of these were full on surprises to the reader, as Doerr would plant the seeds or flat out tell you of "future events to come" earlier in other timelines. Sometimes I'd rather have the story unfold "without spoilers", but it worked alright in this piece I suppose.

Final thoughts: I was in a bit of a reading slump before picking this up. It helped snap me out of that slump and I savored this while reading it. I can tell why Doerr took so much time between this novel and All the Light -- truly a piece of art.

All the Light We Cannot See is one of my top five reads of all time and so I was ecstatic when I was approved for an ARC of Doerr’s newest book on Netgalley.

And then I spent the first 100 pages super confused about what was happening. Some storylines really drew me in and others felt like they abruptly pulled me out of the story and felt disjointed. I get what the author was trying to accomplish, but I don’t think the payoff was there in the end. The storylines didn’t culminate in such a way that justified having six of them.

In the end I wish he had focused on 2 (or maybe 4) of the storylines, I think it would’ve been enough.

I received a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This beautifully woven tale of a story that travels through time, from Ancient Greece, to the 1400s, to the present day, and to the future. The draw of a good book, and the treasures held in libraries, and the joy of passing down a story through the years are all background themes as Cloud Cuckoo Land unrolls. I had trouble putting the story down, and I look forward to rereading it with my book club.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a book about societies on the brink of disaster. Linking each these narratives is the ancient Greek story of Aethon, an Odysseus-like figure whose journey is told both in-between chapters as well as through the characters' narratives. Aethon's story, aptly titled Cloud Cuckoo Land, unites the individual disaster narratives by reminding readers about the passage of time and how the past is preserved and carried into the future.

Anna is an orphaned child living within Constantinople in the years leading up to the Ottoman Empire's siege of the city, which had previously been thought to be impenetrable. Omeir is a boy ripped from his home and conscripted to fight for the Sultan. As the army gathers outside of the city and a massive new cannon is aimed at the walls, residents are forced to reckon with the impending destruction of life as they know it. As the walls begin to crumble, Anna smuggles out a copy of Aethon's story as a monument to what once was using Omeir as an unlikely accomplice.

Zeno is a young boy growing up in Lakeport, Idaho who joins the army during the Korean War and quickly becomes a POW in a Chinese camp. While there he meets Rex, a fellow British POW and former classics instructor, who teaches Zeno Greek letters and translation to pass the time and keep one another sane. Many years later, Zeno uses these skills to translate the newly discovered papyrus containing Aethon's story, buried by Omeir nearly 500 years prior. When it is complete he and a group of children put on its production in the Lakeport library as a way to pass on the tale. On the last day of rehearsals, a young man named Seymour plants a bomb in the library hoping to send a message about the overdevelopment of the area, the destruction of wildlife, and the impending disasters wrought by climate change.

Finally, Konstance is a child living aboard Argos, a spaceship containing what readers are led to believe are some of the last humans in existence forced to flee a not-so-distant future version of earth that has been destroyed by climate change. Konstance passes her time exploring a digitized version of earth available to the ship's inhabitants, until a deadly contagion permeates the crew and she must use Aethon's story relayed to her by her father to recalibrate her perception of life and the future.

If this feels like a lot, it's because it is. However, Doerr is a masterful writer who is able to connect stories so seemingly removed from one another, while at the same time addressing larger themes about human resilience in the face of inevitable demise. I am usually not a big fan of books that address disaster and apocalypses so directly, but the varied ways that Doerr approaches the subject makes for a beautiful and haunting story.

The review can be found at my blog here: https://bookhouseblog.substack.com

This is the sort of book that leaves you with that warm-honey-flowing-through-your-veins feeling, but also with a nagging sense that you won't be reading anything this good any time soon.

I have to be one of the only people I know that didn't read All the Light We Cannot See - I put it off for years and then it became one of those "everyone else read and loved it and now it can only be a letdown" type of books for me, but knowing how beloved that book is, I was excited to dive deep into Cloud Cuckoo Land. It exceeded every expectation. The writing is beautiful: poetic, intense, lovely, the kind of passages I'll re-read ten times just to savor a few turns of phrase.

Other reviews and the publisher summary do an excellent job condensing the plot, so what I'll say is this: Cloud Cuckoo Land is a story about outsiders and dreamers, characters hoping for a better future while longing for a cherished version of the past. There's the obvious theme of human-wrought destruction: climate change, war, many others. And in the face of this suffering, each of the primary characters serves as a steward: of animals, of the environment, of an ancient story that knits its way through each of their lives in unexpected and fantastic ways. I cared so deeply for kind-hearted, gentle Zeno and curious, fiery Konstance. I even empathized with the antagonist, insofar as he can be considered such. It's perfection.

Truly I don't think I have the words to do this review any justice, but I can see myself evangelizing for this book for years.

I absolutely loved Anthony Doerr's previous book, All the Light We Cannot See and recommended it to all my family and friends to read. Needless to say, I was extremely excited to receive Cloud Cuckoo Land. The story was enveloping--I could NOT put it down, as I cared for each character and silently cheered them on! Sometimes the chapters ended too quickly and I wished I could have spent more time with that character before moving onto the next. I loved that this book is about libraries, books and librarians as they have a positive effect on so many lives.

Have you ever read a book and you just think : "what a breathtaking and captivating read"? Well, that is exactly what I think after I read All The Light We Cannot See years ago, and now, I think of it again after I read Cloud Cuckoo Land. It's really amazing to think that there are people who can write a book beautifully, and luckily, Anthony Doerr is one of the best among them. Words can't describe how beautiful this book is, but what I do know : if you haven't read Anthony Doerr's books yet, you should give it a try and I guarantee that you will never regret you made the decision. I love that this book centers around a magical Greek-based story, and the cover adds the magical realism to the book. Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for the free ARC, and also to Anthony Doerr for writing such a beautiful book❤. I am really grateful I got to read this beautiful and oh-so-remarkable book.

Do you ever let out a deep exhale after finishing a book? The type of exhale where you know you are forever changed, in even the smallest way, by experiencing that book? The story has come to an end on paper but begins a new life in your cognitive life experience. I let out this exhale after finishing 'All the Light We Cannot See', and the same contemplative exhale after finishing 'Cloud Cuckoo Land'.

Doerr has written another masterful piece in which stories are spun together with fine silk prose, connecting one character's story to the next. I initially raised an eyebrow at the thought of exploring multiple characters across three distinct time periods without the story turning too convoluted or losing the depth and meaning Doerr is known for. Any initial trepidation I had was abated two chapters in, and I was instantly engulfed in the worlds the story creates. This story goes above time to deeply connect the reader to the fragility of life, the chaos, and confusion of what it means to be quintessentially human and is a literary morsel to be savored. By far, one of my all-time favorite books, you will not be disappointed.

Wow! I just finished this book and what an amazing feeling. I want to talk, write and read more about it. This is my best book of 2021 so far and Doerr remains one of my favorite authors who just gets better and better. This has everything I want in a novel and such a satisfying ending. SO much work has gone into providing the reader with an amazing experience with a few lessons and nudges to do and be a better citizen of the world.

Thank you to Anthony Doerr, Net Galley and Scribner for an advanced copy of this book for a review. I LOVED it. I was SO excited when I saw my request was approved. I had no idea what to expect as I chose it simply because I loved Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. This book is completely different. To be honest, I’m not sure how to describe it as it includes history, romance, suspense, science fiction and possibly more genres.

Despite using three very distinct timelines and at least five main characters this is still an easy enough read. That takes talent and work! I read in two days and was completely hooked for the last half. This book is engaging and entertaining as we switch between past, present and future worlds with unrelated people and plots. Even within each timeline, we get back stories and flashbacks that help flesh out the plot, the characters and their motivations. I trusted Doerr to connect the dots and it does all connect but not in a tidy neat way. It’s complicated but understandable and believable without being a “happy” ending.

Anyone who loves books and libraries will be in heaven with this book. It really showcases the human need to tell stories; how storytelling connects us and teaches us over generations. I love how the people in this book take care of and honor stories and books and appreciate their power to heal, soothe, teach and connect us. The fact that it is dedicated to librarians says it all.

The descriptions of earth from Konstance made me nostalgic for a planet I live on. I guess I’ll appreciate it more now. Despite how bad things can be, we end with a strong note of hope. The human being will fight for life and survive despite the hardships and suffering. And there is a lot of suffering in this book. Until about the 75% mark, I was feeling a lot of doom and dread, but it does turn around and in a way that was foreshadowed all along. I guess the lesson is to be more optimistic and trust in the natural yearning to not just survive but to grow, improve, and leave things better for the next generation.

So I've waffled around trying to articulate my feelings about this book and the truth is, I think reviewing it is difficult because I neither hated it nor loved it. All the Light We Cannot See made an impact and I found it gripping and engaging the whole way. This novel, however, was confusing and made me lose interest part of the way. Although all the storylines and timelines come to make sense and fall together in the end, I found the length of this novel tiresome and there were times I skimmed a little just to get through it. Overall, I liked it, but it wasn't anywhere near as gripping and powerful as All the Light...

Plus, I think the title is clunky sounding. I don't love it.

Regardless, thank you so much to Scribner and Netgalley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think my words can do justice to how amazing this book is. I loved All The Light We Cannot See and it is always on my top list of books to share/recommend. Cloud Cuckoo Land now will be on my "must read" and "must share" list of books. The writing is so beautiful and the characters are so carefully developed that I didn't want it to end. The premise of the book revolves around an Ancient Greek story that is shared in 15th century Constantinople, present day Idaho, and in the distant future - the thread of the story and the characters connections are beautifully woven. I am not one who often re-reads a book but this is one I know I will pick up again. Bravo Anthony Doerr!

I’m so uncomfortable writing a review for this book. At the half-way point I was completely uncertain about what was happening. But the writing and the various characters were very engaging.

There are three main characters in different times and locations. Anna is a girl in Constantinople in the mid-1400s. She and her sister Maria toil in an all female workshop where Maria is one of several women embroidering lovely fabrics for priests.

In the 1940s we meet Zeno who went to war after Pearl Harbor and now as an octogenarian is organizing a children’s play in the local library.

Finally there is Konstance who is a young girl heading through space. It is somewhere in the future and she is part of a human experiment.

Connecting all of them is the story of Aethon, a character from an ancient Greek manuscript called Cloud Cuckoo Land. The three characters reveal the story to us through alternating chapters.

Gradually I had a dawning awareness of the bigger picture. I should have been confident in Doerr’s plan and I should have relaxed into the worlds he was building for each of the characters with his beautiful writing. I’ve seen really strong ratings and great early reviews for this book but I’m going to hazard a guess that it won’t be for all readers. It is nothing like Doerr’s *All the Light We Cannot See*. I guess this one most reminded me of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (not sure I can defend that comp in any way, just a feeling.) It’s another wonderful story by Doerr in a really big package—nearly 700 pages. I guess my advice if you are reading it and feel undecided, keep on going. Much becomes clear in the end.

Thank you to @scribnerbooks
for this #advancereaderscopy.

4.5 stars! This is a beautifully written, carefully plotted tale of epic proportions. It blends narratives set in 1453 Constantinople (during the seige), in 2020 and sometime in the next century. A few things did bother me: (1) The past and present-day story lines are much more compelling and better developed than the futuristic section. (2) The book ran very long; some parts could have been trimmed or removed. (3) The title did not grab me; I think it could deter some folks from selecting this book.

All griping aside, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a wonderful, new work from a brilliant writer,