A review by angorarabbit
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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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