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.

After the great book which was "All the Light We Can not See" I was a bit afraid, that Doerr wouldn't be able to recapture the magic. But I shoudn't have. This book is even more ambitious, far greater in scope, spanning not years, but centuries. And it is nearly perfect.

I don't want to go into describing the plot, because the discovery of the characters and their place in the overall story, the connection of the different plot threads (are they connected only in the theme, or is there a more close tie between some of them?) - it's part of the enjoyment I got from the book, and I don't want to rob you of it.

It's a book about stories and their meaning. About ancient Greek, About owls. About spaceships. About ecology. Above all - it's a book about people. It's funny, scary, heratbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful.

What a book. So rich with imagination, yet intricately blueprinted so as to inevitably tie the stories of characters whose lives span the deep past, the present and an uncertain future.

At the same time, the book is a valentine to the persistence and durability of the written word and the power of storytelling. An unusual book where the heroes are ultimately librarians of different stripes (whether the characters think of themselves that way or not).

I will give nothing away about the plot - experience and enjoy this beautiful novel without a clue of where it goes. Like a story you haven’t yet heard.

I'm sad that I'm done reading this story. I want more. I love stories that link together. Very well written. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

A million thanks to Scribner and Netgalley for digital access to this title.

This remarkable novel is better than "All the Light" (hard to imagine, but it's true) and those who are asking "Oh, is it as good as Cloud Atlas?" the answer is, yes, by far.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" enfolds you in its story, an ancient comic tale that surfaces throughout the past, and stretches into a realistic future. It's about words and worlds, and the result is enchanting, comic, mysterious, and filled with longing. You will not be able to tear yourself away.

I recently reread "All the Light" and loved it as much as the first time. Anthony Doerr has a gift for tapping into the power and vulnerability of teens, and the young people in Cloud Cuckoo Land would connect immediately with Marie-Laure and Werner.

So, so good. Do not miss this journey.

Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

Woven through "Cloud Cuckoo Land" is the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antonius Diogenes, a tale about the shepherd Aethon, who dreams of becoming a bird and flying to a magical city in the clouds, everything is plentiful and beautiful.

Constantinople in the 1400s: Anna and her sister Maria, seamstresses inside the city and Omeir, a young boy with a cleft pallet, thought to be a sign of evil, and his oxen Moonlight and Tree, marching toward the city with the Ottoman army.

Lakeport, Idaho in the 1940s and 1950s: Zeno Ninis' father is killed in the war, and Zeno is left with Mrs. Boydstun. When he reaches young adulthood, Zeno joins the military and while fighting in the Korean War meets Rex, a teacher of the classics.

Lakeport, Idaho in the 2000s: Seymour and his mother, Bunny, live in a trailer on the edge of the woods. Seymour does not have friends, except for TrustyFriend, an owl who lives in a Ponderosa pine. As the woods in Lakeport are destroyed to put in housing developments, Seymour becomes disenchanted with the human race.

The spaceship Argos in the future: Konstance and her family are among those traveling to Beta Oph2, a journey that is expected to take over 200 earth years. The Argos has been traveling for over 5 decades.

These 4 stories are all amazing -- and how they blend together through the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land is nothing short of brilliant. I devoured this book. It is a story for our time, and all time. Dedicated to librarians around the world, this book will remind the reader of how important words and books and history are...and how what we do today will be woven into the fabric of tomorrow.

This book was life-changing for me. And as with "All the Light We Cannot See," I will reread the book to capture every single detail of the story, and will then listen to the audio to enjoy it even more.

Pros: I think fans of All The Light We Cannot See will be excited to read Doerr's newest book. Although they may be hesitant due to the title and description, I think they will find their favorite parts of ATLWCS in Cloud Cuckoo Land--characters you cheer for and very readable prose. One of my favorite genres is books about books, and I think this book falls into that genre--it's dedicated to librarians!

Cons: This book felt a tad bit longer than it needed to be--especially the early sections about Anna.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read this book!

I am not able to get into this book. After reading half of it, I could not connect the stories nor with the characters. May retry later, right now just not the read for me.

This is everything a book should be. I wasn't fully engaged up until around the 20% mark and then the book wrapped me up in its magic and took me on a journey across time and space and captured my heart. Beautiful. This is masterful storytelling.

Thank you Scribner and Netgalley for providing the ARC of Anthony Doerr’s upcoming novel. I requested this the minute I saw it based on my feelings about his previous novel All the Light You Cannot See. I didn’t think this topped that (although I think a lot of people will) but it came very close. At times while reading, I thought, boy I would like to see inside Doerr’s brain! Just the connections he was able to make are so unique I was continually amazed. And his writing is beautiful and immersive. Mostly, I loved the heart of all the protagonists. Highly recommend this book for all readers.

This is very good, and I suspect it will sell well. It's obvious that Doerr is very talented after consistently writing highly rated books. This one may be one of his best. Recommended.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!