An eloquently written journey spanning decades with 5 separate POVs and 4 different timelines with an Ancient Greek book at the center.

This was a difficult story to follow on audio. There were just so many quick transitions between characters and timelines. I ended up getting an e copy on Libby to follow along and that made it much better. There were timelines I was more engaged with and characters I was far more curious about. The writing is descriptive and melodic. But when I say descriptive- I mean super descriptive. If that is a writing style you are drawn to then you will absolutely love this one. On audio, the descriptive parts made me lose focus often. That being said, I really enjoyed the narrators. This book is just a lot to absorb auditorily. I loved listening and reading along so I highly recommend that method.

I have seen so many glowing reviews for this book and it is totally deserving of them. The writing is beautiful and the story creative. For me, the story took a little too long to get into and some parts seem to drag on. I still consider this a solid read, but not one I rave about. That you to Simon & Schuster Audio for the giveaway win copy!

This is an amazing book and completely lives up to the expectations for this remarkable author. I loved the storylines and though this is a long book, the characters are endearing which makes it difficult to put the book down. It is a masterpiece.

The book tells the story of the lives of the five main characters and the impact a Greek story holds for each of them. All have tragedies in their childhood. All connect to the world through their interactions with others whether human or animals. All find curiosity and wonder in the story and seek to find out what can be different in their circumstances.

Konstance is a young girl living in the future who loves deeply, isn’t understood by her peers but possesses the hunger to learn at a deeper level than artificial intelligence provides to her. Anna lives in the 1400s, has no parents but loves her sister deeply. Her personality and talents aren’t well designed for her circumstances therefore she takes her life beyond her protective residence and into danger that leads to great discoveries. The same is true for Zeno; he doesn’t fit the expectations of society in the 1950s but wants something beyond the limits of his circumstances. Zeno struggles with regret in his young adulthood but sees hope in his efforts to decode the Greek story contained in heavily damaged pages which has been previously left closed to the world. Omeir is living through the same historical times as Anna. He is considered damaged and therefore the people outside his home are a threat to him. He has a wonderful heart and connects to animals in his care. After unwilling participating in and enduring a war, he wants to return to his childhood home and live in peace. Seymour is a teenager living in the same town as Zeno during the 1990s. He struggles with the overwhelming world around him but is deeply sensitive to the condition of the world which pains him deeply. He is lost in how to deal with the world and takes seriously misguided approach to produce change.

All their lives reflect the struggle of finding your place in the world and the need to be brave to make it a good life. The stories show how interconnected we all are and how things that happen in the past can impact the world itself as well as the lives of individuals in the future. It speaks to the care and responsibility we each have to each other whether we want that responsibility or not.

Categorization of this book is difficult as it weaves historical, future and present day storylines together. It really is a category unto itself.

Zeno is a war veteran living in Idaho translating a Greek text — the story of Aethon — when a group of five children surprise him with their interest in making the story into a play. The library group gets to work on the production with no clue how huge an impact this story has and will have on both the past and the future. 500 years prior, Anna, a 13-year-old girl in Constantinople risks it all to learn how to read before a journey that takes her to Omeir, a village boy with a face defect that constantly seems to risk his life. The third timeline of the story takes place in the future on a spaceship hopefully on the path to a new world — since the original one was ruined. Onboard, Konstance begins questioning the ship she was born on and the world it left behind.

This is an incredibly unique book and, while there is nothing at all like it, I did find some familiar themes in it that I really enjoyed. The hardest part for me was just how long it was. But, despite the length and the could-be-confusing triple timeline setting, I don't feel like I really got lost in the plot or the characters. We really only get a handful of main characters and a handful of secondary ones. The details of each story are so beautiful, if you want a book that will truly transport you and immerse you in a world, look no further than this one! I never was bored and absolutely loved how the book ends.

I have taken a minute before writing this review because the book was so amazing in so many ways. I don't normally like books that have multiple time lines (three) and multiple protagonists (five) but this book was different in so many ways. This was one of those novels that is so richly written, so cleverly constructed, so impactful that you can’t stop reading and yet you dread the thought of finishing. I found myself reading portions more than once because it was so beautiful and there were times when I closed my eyes afraid to read what was going to happen next.

I listened to the book while reading and LOVED the narrator - she brought each character to life in a unique way!

I have recommended this book to total strangers already - and will continue to talk about it for a long time!!

Thank you Scribner and Net Galley for the opportunity to read!

At first, I had a little trouble understanding what exactly was going on. I understood what the overall situation was, but was a little lost moving from chapter to chapter. It took me about half way before I really recognized what was going on, and I started really enjoying it. I think it's supposed to have you trying to draw the lines between connections over centuries, and that was really interesting to me.

4.5 stars rounded up. Creatively woven writing covering a story & 3 time points (& 2 time points have 2 POV). With all the bouncing around in characters & stories it can take a few chapters to get into the groove, but stick with it because the story is worth it! Once you get the flow of the book it’s so exciting to see how everything falls into place & how all the stories connect.

I love the audiobook version, the narrators brought the lyrical writing to life, provided the perfect tones to convey emotions throughout the book.

I story that spans from the 1400s in Constantinople to the future. The one constant is an ancient manuscript. Told with a beautiful lyrical style that kept me wanting more. The first couple chapters were a bit confusing due to character and time changes. If you enjoyed Doerr’s All The Light You Cannot See you will definitely enjoy this story. I didn’t want it to end.

The combination of Marin Ireland's narration and Anthony Doerr's masterfully-crafted storytelling is one for the ages. Ireland's vocal dexterity allows her to make seamless transitions from ancient Greece to working-class Constantinople to an intergalactic future. She captures a full, rich, nuanced spectrum of emotion in each of the four narratives she voices (the fifth, voiced by Simon Jones, is pitch-perfect as well). While audio is not always the ideal format for literary fiction, Doerr provides ample structural markers to make following this braided narrative easy, even without visual cues.

The story of Cloud Cuckoo Land is as subtle and complex as it is tense and action-filled. From Omeir and Anna, two young people on opposite sides of a siege in Constantinople; to Zeno and Seymour, misunderstood outsiders trapped in a hostage crisis; to Konstance, separated from her community across a divide too fast-evolving and terrifying to fully understand, these characters coalesce around their relationship to a mysterious, ancient text. Interconnected yet isolated, identical yet radically different, the cast of Cloud Cuckoo Land reaches across time and space to join one another in a painfully human struggle to belong.

Without a doubt, one of the best books of the year. Perfect for readers who loved The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel, The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern, and any book as concerned with the phenomenon of storytelling as it is with the process of telling a phenomenal story.

When I first listened to All The Light We Can Not See I was blown away by the narrative, characters and just everything in general. It was a book that I typically wouldn’t read.

My excitement for Cloud Cuckoo Land was fairly high. I was expecting the same levels. The highs and lows, the detail and surprises.

I listened to the audiobook and the narration was fairly weak. I had trouble matching the narrators voice with the characters which added to my disinterest as we bounced between the numerous characters.

Some of the characters are more interesting than others and while I found the distant future character the most interesting, I was left underwhelmed where it all went.

Doerr definitely knows how to create the stage for his characters to perform and I was really into a few but some of them felt too similar to other novels I’ve read. The most common connection my brain was making was to Cloud Atlas.

By the end of the novel I was just tired. I was struggling to determine who I was even following and the twists and connections all felt too obvious that I just kind of tuned out by the end.

If you loved Doerr’s previous novel you’ll probably find some enjoyment here but I was left a little underwhelmed.

3.5 rounded to a 4.

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 Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for making it available.