Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

62 reviews

pershie13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

I knew simply from reading Anthony Doerr's most popular novel, All the Light We Cannot See, that I would likely enjoy every piece of writing of his that exists on this planet, and I was certainly not disappointed by Cloud Cuckoo Land. The novel throws the reader into a five-POV story that transcends centuries and continents, all centered around the themes of longing and self-discovery that are illustrated through Antonius Diogenes’ Cloud Cuckoo Land.

This novel was fantastic, drawing on incredible symbolism to illustrate the human experience while weaving five stories together in one. Doerr's writing style draws you in and provides depth while causing you to pause to reflect on how your own experiences and beliefs mimic those of the characters. I developed great empathy for many of the characters while also recognizing the struggles they each went through in their own times. Seeing multiple people's experiences throughout their lifetimes, some of which overlapped, also provided multiple sides to the same story, which showed that everything has a flip side and there can good and bad in everything.

This book completely lived up to the hype and now rests alongside All the Light We Cannot See as another one of my favorite novels. I look forward to exploring the remainder of Anthony Doerr's writings because he is a truly phenomenal storyteller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Deportation

lri_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Slavery

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

aniquegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

in case anyone is wondering, it’s absolutely worth carrying around this massive book this summer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death

ekgranstro's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Racism, Rape, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

jlblumenfeld's review

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

It took half the book for me to get into it. But once I did, I ended up quite enjoying it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lydderbox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

elisacarlene's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and War

Minor: Dementia and Death of parent

_wilhelmine_'s review

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: War

Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Abandonment

h4ppycupcake's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

“Stranger, whoever you are, open this to find what will amaze you.”

A heart breaking, heart warming look at how small we as humans are, and yet we are still deeply, unfailingly interconnected. I hope that as both the beauty and the horror of this world, humanity continues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail