Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

29 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

TLDR: Beautifully written love story to story. 

 

Lushly written with an attention to detail in both the landscape and characters. The five main characters are diverse and fully realised.The future and historical sections are better written than many books of their genres. The chapters are generally short and have time, place and person headings so there is no guessing where you are or with who. The plot arcs of each character were easy to follow and satisfying in the end. I enjoyed the breakup of the novel with bits of Cloud Cuckoo Land though I am not an ancient literature scholar so don’t have any expertise in how well Mr Doerr executed a translation of a fictional codex. 

 

There is some arithmetic a reader could chose to do regarding time and distance which may give you a clue to something spoilerish ahead. Or it could be the author does not like to do arithmetic. I’m choosing to believe the former; which, when it clicked made me appreciate the intricacy of the book even more. Im a little shocked by how long it took me to tumble it. 

 

I empathised with Seymour the most and found his grief at what was happening to his forest to be the most heartbreaking. Those sections were the hardest to read as I looked at the pines older than me  outside my own window. I do not know what Constantinople or the other places were or will be like but I know that Mr Doerr nailed the pine forests east of the Cascades. 

 

In the end the book is not about heartbreak but the endurance of a story and the ability of stories to heal and sooth in the worst of times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Violence, War, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

congenital malformation, child neglect, child labour

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

There five heavily-detailed stories intertwined in this book and the sheer size can be intimidating but it was a great read. 
We follow several characters from the mid-1400s through early Korean war times to modern age to the not-so-distant future. They're are all beautifully emotional and real; dealing with grief, fear, war, love and finding a way to trust themselves and ensure their survival. I think that's the main thread throughout, outside of the stories being tied across thousands of years by the lives of the characters. What one can do with a greater sense of trust in a world they don't fully understand. 

He lost me a bit with the inner cloud cuckoo land story, though. It was fantastical and fun but I couldn't follow why it was added or what it brought to the story. It was hard to tell if the book we were reading was also the book the characters are reading--they are named the same. You can imagine that ourselves as readers then become apart of the story that binds all the characters together through the ages. They might be stretch but it's fun to think about. 

This was an overall enjoyable book. My favorite character/story section was probably at the end with the spaceship. Konstance is left all alone; everything she's ever known is at stake and still she takes the risk to survive and question what she's been taught. I would have loved to watch her arc a little more so she how she made it through but after 600 pages, it was time to wrap up for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gore, Homophobia, and Murder

mariawjw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage

breaklikeafish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Bullying

justdiana's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Confinement

spookyaz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

puntifexmaximus's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Changed my relationship to books and reading. One of the best books I have ever read. I highlighted so many passages that the Kindle highlight collection was literally 26 pages long.

Cried several times both out of happiness and sadness. Beautifully captures the actual sensations of love and loss and grief, and the gorgeous nature of children and animals and family, queer love and neurodivergent pain, and so much more. Refreshing poetry and ridiculously beautiful world-building in such intricate historical contexts. Addressed so many different issues and experiences with such flair and emotion. Delivers anarchist / anti-establishment / leftist values from the optimistic perspective that to be human is to be a part of the problem, and yet, we must love one another and love the Earth in order to power through the pain of life in order to radically experience the love, because that’s why we are here.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I am very sensitive and I LOVED this book and found it deeply emotionally uplifting despite these very severe content warnings

clairew97's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

carla20's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Mass/school shootings, and Injury/Injury detail