Absolutely stunning and surreal. I requested an ARC of this book solely on the basis of who the author is, having fallen in love with Anthony Doerr's previous novel "All the Light We Cannot See." Had I just based my decision whether to read this off of the book jacket description, I would have passed. I mean, some stories surrounding a seige of 15th century Constantinople, an attack on a library in present day times, and something about traveling on an interstellar ship in the future? No thank you - "not my thing" I would have said. I humbly admit I would have been SO WRONG. Those things are all part of what makes it so perfect.

This was absolutely the most beautiful and well-written novel I've read in along time. Only Doerr could weave the stories of Zeno and Seymour, O'Neil and Anna, and Konstance together so seamlessly using the framework of the old Greek story of Aethon in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The imagery of the worlds and the beauty of the prose that Doerr has created deem this novel worthy of re-reading, because surely it is impossible to have fully absorbed it all the first go-around. There is much here to be learned of what makes us fully human - what drives our emotions and how we all can relate to each other. If this book doesn't leave you with a wellspring of emotion, you need to check if you're still alive!

Somewhere and someday I predict entire semester long courses will be taught on this novel along with Doerr's other works. He's simply one of the best writers of our time.

What an outstanding novel from Doerr! His ability to write such cohesive and complex characters is completely mind boggling. Doerr is sure to strike a chord with lovers of the written word everywhere in this book about books. What does is mean to connect and preserve the stories of the past? Cloud Cuckoo Land follows several characters across timelines Each character tugs the heart, following along across their incredible journey in time. Reading this book reminded me of the ancient manuscripts housed in the British Library, dutifully preserved which at the time seemed so abstract and difficult to wrap my head around the grandeur of something as simple as a parchment of paper.. These artifacts had actually lived lives, they had been on journeys, journeys which shaped the world we live in today. Doerr captures the beauty and power of this uniquely human literary triumph, the ability of our stories outlive the days we walk this earth (or elsewhere). Well done! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

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

4.5 ✨

Wow what a book! If I could suggest one book for everyone to read, it's this one!

I absolutely adore Anthony Doerr's books and writing style. Cloud Cuckoo Land has so many things that I love:

- It's a book about books
- Talks about preserving books and passing down stories
- Discusses the hurdles of translation but the uniqueness of each translator's interpretation
- Contains Greek words and phrases
- It's narrated through multiple perspectives in various moments in time (past, present, and future)

This book is diverse and brings up a lot of issues (loss, war, prejudice), but the main one is the future of our planet with the chapters narrated by Konstance examining a completely different world in the aftermath of climate change and those narrated by Seymour facing the realization that we're running out of time.

Every character offers something unique in this story, but my favorite was Zeno. I believe he had such an incredible journey and I was always looking forward to read more about him.

This is a story that has to be reread a few times to completely absorb its meaning and multiple teachings. I can't wait to get a print copy of this once it gets published later this year!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Cloud Cuckoo Land is ambitious, covering ancient history and predicting the future of an Earth dissolved from climate change and a contagious virus. It is a book for our time, a novel (I hope) of great inspiration, reliant on the belief that humans are resilient and loving.

The book is epic, weaving through time using an ancient story written by Aristophanes in 414 BC as the thread to integrate stories set in ancient Constantinople, current days in a public library in Boise Idaho, and in the future in an encapsulated spaceship leaving earth. The weaving tale is Cloud Cuckoo Land. A person who lives in CCL thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen! How true for this gem of a novel.

I was particularly enamored of the idea that books and libraries are really the main characters, with humans rescuing them so the world can survive. In Constantinople in the 1400s, we meet Anna tutored by an old Greek scholar who teaches her that ‘people die but memories live in books, but when books die, so does memory’. Libraries and books, attended by people, save us, inspire us, and ultimately make us worthy.

This is a book that can be read multiple times--finding new impressions, new sub-stories and a greater understanding of humankind. It made me proud to be a reader.

This is a marvelous read! At first tough to get into, you begin to understand the threads that bind these different people and times together, all through an ancient manuscript that we read fragments of throughout the novel. Libraries play a huge part in this novel as both gifts and entrapments, gateways to knowledge and to misinformation. At first it is hard to see how 1453 Constantinople's Omeir and Anna, today's Seymour and Zeon, and the future's Konstance, bound into the infinity of space for beyond her generation, are connected. All are in some way misfits, not conforming to the world around them, but there is so much more to this novel. Yes, it's long but so worthwhile reading as ultimately Doerr gives us a world where hope still exists, despite all the problems humans pile up, and he doesn't miss many of them, if any. Environmental pollution, destruction of our natural world, misinformation, hatred of the "other" whether it be a baby with a cleft palate, a girl who does not want to do her assigned tasks, a black homosexual man who cannot find love anywhere, a disturbed young man who must wear ear muffs to hide from the sounds of what he perceives as the dying world around him, and always there is war, whether it be human vs. human or human vs. the earth. This novel made me think and I will remember it far longer than the time it took me to read it! I highly recommend this book. I thank Scribner for the advance copy and all my comments are my own.

So, I have not read Anthony Doerr's other book (I know, I'm the worst), but this book got on my radar because a lot of people were throwing around the phrase "metaliterature" and THAT is exactly my brand. I love books that are complex and strange and ergodic in nature, and this is so hard to describe...which means it's perfect for me. It's not a book for everyone, and I think a lot of people would not get the point of it, but I am one of those people who's willing to put in a lot of work for books that may or may not have any payoff. I think part of what draws me to these types of books is the journey more than the end or the climax. Books like Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky or The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern or even House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. This book is over five hundred pages of character studies and vague references to a book we'll never actually read, and all of the threads are pulled together in the last 100 pages or so. And it is euphoric.

This is the type of book that is built up because of the themes and ideas that surround it. It relies on its concept and pitch to make the book worth reading, and a lot of times that can be such a slippery slope as a reader. Many will wonder if the book can live up to its incredible concept, if it can follow through on what it promises. I'm not always the best person to recommend books like this because I can easily make excuses and appreciate lackluster endings purely because I can appreciate good intent.

But thankfully, I don't think this ending is lackluster by any means. I really think this lives up to its promise.

Our story follows five characters, and so this book constantly bounces from one character to the next. Most of the chapters are actually very short and quick, and I read somewhere that the author did this on purpose - he did a similar thing in his first book - and I personally LOVED how it was all structured. I think the short chapters made me even more excited about reading it because I constantly jumped between characters and timelines and it kept everything moving. Most of this book you're trying to figure out how these stories intersect and where the common thread lies — how do two people in 1453 Constantinople match up with two people in Idaho in 2020 match up with a girl in the distant future on a spaceship? I kept trying to figure out the mystery and I thought the plot unfolded beautiful in the end. It was a lot of little epiphanies at once, and by the last page I was so satisfied with everything that it gave me a sense of peace. I absolutely loved the author's writing style — I highlighted so many things and it was so easy to dive into his world, even 1453 Constantinople, which was probably the most difficult part for me to get into since I absolutely hate reading about history. I think I'll have to pick up his other book because I just really enjoyed the way he writes about the world!

Also I cried. Like...more than once.

I think what really got me was that this book is a massive commentary on what it means to be human and to carry a story as far as it can go just because it made you feel alive. Obviously there's a lot more to it than that and this book touches on things like climate change and finding your place in the world and whether or not life is worth living (the usual, totally not depressing at all, easy to think about stuff), but at its heart it's about story. It's about how a book can help you through hard times and then sharing that book with as many people as you can. It's interesting what people are creating in the pandemic - and I'm sure this has been in the works for years now, even before COVID - because I think it shows how each of deal with trauma and loss and grief. How do you find hope when all hope is lost? And that is the center of this story. How do we take the darkest things that happened to us and carry on anyway? How do we keep going when the road is hard? Reading it now (after I had a particularly rough afternoon mentally might I add) really gave me this weird sense of hope. I felt less alone, like maybe this weird greek story touched me too.

I'm really excited to see where this story finds me in five years or ten years or when I'm eighty. What truths will find me in these pages the next times I read it?

Kudos to the author. He really did something here.

Thank you NetGalley for this early copy of Cloud Cuckoo Land. I was thrilled to have the chance to read it! This is the kind of book you wish you could give extra stars to - round up to 10.
Anthony Doerr does it again with an amazing story woven around multiple characters spanning multiple times with a core story interlacing them all together.
Doerr takes us on a journey to into space and the future, back to Constantinople of the 15th century, to a Korean War prison camp, to modern day Idaho with characters so wonderful you can't wait to hear more of one's story and yet lamenting when you have to leave another to do so.
Not only is Doerr a master story teller, he is such a writer of words. I love his imagery and how each person, each place, each happening was told in such beautifully worded sentences. A joy to read!
I would say at the core of the book is a love for the written word and for the power of hope.
Highly recommend this book to everyone, you are in for such a treat!

First, thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of All the Light We Cannot See by Doerr. I loved it and was so excited to see that he was publishing a new title. I was a very happy girl when I received an advanced copy from Netgalley. It is a totally different genre and quite unlike the previous title, but so enjoyable. This new title is all based around an ancient text written from an uncle to entertain his ailing niece. The text is humorous and silly, yet also insightful and meaningful. It is interesting how the text was found and read in such different cultures and time periods throughout the book. I found each storyline very interesting and well thought out and was amazed to see how they linked together as the book progressed. Very creative and interesting, this book was so original. I really enjoyed it and will recommend it to friends.

This book encompasses so much. Most stories take you to a place, whether familiar or strange. This book takes you to many places by telling several seemingly-disconnected stories. I found the page count slightly daunting. But once I started it moved quickly as the story worked into my bones and I needed to understand how these stories connected.

It revolves around an obscure Ancient Greek fable hat is revealed in pieces through the points of view of five characters. Anna is an orphan in Constantinople and works with her sister as an embroiderer, but she wants so much more. Her city’s enemy produces another character, Omeir, who was born with a cleft lip that left his family ostracized. He grows up sweet and caring, learns from his wise grandfather, and devotes himself to his oxen, Tree and Moonlight.

In the future, there is Konstance, who is inquisitive and bold. Growing up on a ship bound for safety on another planet after Earth is uninhabitable.

In the present is Seymour, an impoverished boy who has problems fitting in.

The most interesting POV for me was Zeno. Doerr works all the way through his life and his struggles. I found him so compelling and well-written. We see him as a child, young man, and mostly as an charming 84-year-old in Oregon.

If you’ve read, All the Light You Cannot See, you know Doerr’s writing is rich, beautiful, and flawless. And as the reader, what you think could never come together is woven seamlessly into a vibrant story that I will read again. This book is so very good, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has another prize on his shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing an ARC.

Wow, oh wow.

All the Light We Can Not See was so good that I didn't think Anthony Doerr could top himself.

But, he sure did with Cloud Cuckoo Land.

There's something for everybody. The future scenes are like science fiction with an all-knowing presence named Sybil controlling the "spaceship." There's two wars, the siege of Constantinople in the 1400'.s and the Korean War, and there is an ancient book that manages to show up across thousands of years. Ultimately, it is a book about survival, family, love, religious intolerance (a child and his family are persecuted because he was born with a cleft pallet, a sign of God's disfavor) and the love of knowledge. It may be one of the first great climate change books of the 21st Century.

It also points out the things we're still struggling with a thousand, two thousand years later. The shepherd is poor, the family shunned by their religion is poor, the girls in Constantinople who embroider for a living are poor, Bunny, the mother of a main character in 2020, struggles to find jobs cleaning hotel rooms to support her son. It seems like we can never defeat poverty.

But, like I said, ultimately it is a hopeful book and one that will dwell in my mind for a long time.

Does all this sound like a downer? It's not. It left me with a hopeful feeling, that we will get through this. It's also so beautifully written that I sometimes felt as if I were walking through a dream.

Cloud Cuckoo Land tells the story of an ancient manuscript and its story told through 3 very different periods in time; the distant past, present and the distant future. The ancient story is threaded through each time period with each characters arc telling/deciphering a piece of the original manuscript connecting all the stories together. It is a fantastical journey that has a lasting impact portraying the power of words, of stories, and searching for your answers in the world.; whatever time period you are from.

It has taken me days after finishing this book to even begin to write about it. Words like breathtaking, stunning, and tremendous barely begin to describe what Anthony Doerr has accomplished with this book. The prose is elegant, lucid, and rich with specificity which make the characters and places leap from the page. The characters are drawn with such exquisite compassion that even the initially unlikeable win a place in your heart by the end. The craft with which the novel’s disparate stories and timelines eventually find their way to one another is impressive. The book is a masterclass in empathy, in finding the connections that tie us all to one another. This is a book to return to over and over again.

Wow. This was STUNNING. The pacing and structure of this made it so hard to put down. Very early on I knew my heart was about to be ripped from my chest, but I couldn't fathom how much so. I was a little overwhelmed at first with all of the different timelines (Anna and Omeir's being hardest for me to follow), I quickly found myself needing to get back to each character to check in on them.
It got to a point I'd tell myself I'd finish a chapter and go to bed, only to turn the page and see the name of exactly who I wanted to next and curse myself.
Stunning, stunning, stunning. I will be purchasing a physical copy when it comes out and fully anticipate it being well loved and worn from many rereads.

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Doerr for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Here is one of those times when I feel so fortunate to get my hands on an early read of what promises to be THE book of the fall. Anthony Doerr has such a well honed reputation, and already has one beloved masterpiece under his belt, but he'll have to make room on his shelves for more awards because he's not done yet. Cloud Cuckoo Land is a title I would not usually gravitate towards, nor is the subject matter -- three disparate eras, all connected by an ancient Greek text with an imperfect provenance and folios out of order and incomplete. And yet, the life of a fifteenth century Bosnian farmer's and a young orphan girl's slavish experience in a Constantinople embroidery factory kept me enraptured with each page. Then there is an event in a library in Idaho in 2020. Finally, a young girl and her family in a spaceship headed to a planet simulating earth that won't be reached for generations into the future. Each of these segments, told contemporaneously, seems to carry no connectivity, and yet in conclusion they mesh perfectly. This is not just a work of art but also a wakeup call. And worth every minute you spend reading it. Kudos.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Cloud Cuckoo Land is defined as a perfect utopia. It’s also a fictional story around which this book is based. This book navigates between past, present and future, focusing on how the readers are impacted by Cloud Cuckoo Land throughout time. There are some really dear characters that will stay with me and I didn’t mind the switch in time periods however it did feel long at times (656 pages). I’ll continue to read more by this author in the future.

The heart of the story begins with an ancient text called “Cloud Cuckoo Land.” It is a Greek story about Aethon who wants to be a bird and see the world, but the gods change him into other animals along his journey to help him find out what we all know…”What you already have is better than what you so desperately seek.”

The plot flips from present day, the 1400s, and decades into the future. It is not told linearly. Their stories are entirely different, but the ancient story is the common thread between the characters.

This book will have you flipping the pages to find out what happened, and make you thankful for those who have gone through extreme measures to keep history alive.

Many thanks to Anthony Doerr, Scribner, and Net Galley for providing me with an advance copy of this astonishing, beautiful novel. I don’t think I have adequate words to express how moved I was by this story — the lush, wonderful language, the intricately woven plot, the expertly rendered characters! This is sure to be one of the best novels of the year, and I am so grateful to have read an early copy. Everyone needs to put this on their to -read list. What an extraordinary book!

A beautiful, inventive story about 5 seemingly random people across 3 vastly different time periods who are all connected by a long-lost and long-forgotten Greek tale. It took quite some time for me to get into the story, and there were certainly some characters I enjoyed reading about more than others, but I ultimately found this to be a masterful, unique story that I highly recommend.

This book is another triumph and gift from Mr. Doerr. And totally different from his Pulitzer Win. I loved every page of this provocative and emersive book. Bravo, And what a way to weave what ends up to be the coolest environmental novel....while mixing in Greek. Owls and everything in-between.

Anthony Doerr returns with this page-turning new novel, an intricate tapestry of short chapters transporting us to the ancient past, to a mind-boggling future, and to a despairingly familiar present. With a cast of unforgettable child characters and a careful construction, this book is everything we loved about All the Light We Cannot See. While some lines felt a bit dense, they only added to the complexity of the prose, giving the reader reason to slow down and savor each word. This will certainly be a book to return to over and over again both for the astonishing story and the hope it offers when we learn to embrace our interconnectedness.

With gratitude to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.