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A review by chemistreadingonthejob
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Meaningful, Evocative, and Deeply Profound
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is a beautiful amalgamation of literary and historical fiction with a hint of science fiction. It contains several different perspectives and timelines, but has 3 main stories; Anna an orphan in 15th century Constantinople under siege by an army with a conscripted oxen farmer Omeir, Zeno in present day Idaho leading rehearsal for a school play while the distressed teenager Seymour plants a bomb in the library, and an isolated Konstance traversing space on the Argos in the near future. Going in blind can be confusing, but you quickly learn that these 3 stories all connect by a book within the book called Cloud Cuckoo Land, a centuries old story by the Greek author Antonius Diogenes. The ancient book is about Aethon who travels the world in search of the golden city in the clouds. The story is like a beacon of hope for all the children in this book. I knew within the first 10% that this was going to be a powerful story. The narration by Marin Ireland is amazing (same narrator as Anxious People). The narrator has a talent for voicing different people in stories with a huge cast of characters. The writing is mesmerizing with vivid descriptions and figurative language that transport you to another world. The characters are diverse and endearing. Zeno's story moved me the most, but Anna was the most relatable. The way these stories finally converged was astounding. There was a satisfying end to each story with every loose end tied up. The ancient story within Cloud Cuckoo Land is fictional, but loosely based a real story by Antonius Diogenes. According to the dictionary, "Someone who is said to live in cloud cuckoo land is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are." There is so much irony with the children reading Cloud Cuckoo Land in the situations they are in. This is prime book club material and the epitome of what books with multiple stories and timelines should be. There are so many wonderful things to discuss about this book. I'll leave it at this and say that I recommend Cloud Cuckoo Land to everybody.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is a beautiful amalgamation of literary and historical fiction with a hint of science fiction. It contains several different perspectives and timelines, but has 3 main stories; Anna an orphan in 15th century Constantinople under siege by an army with a conscripted oxen farmer Omeir, Zeno in present day Idaho leading rehearsal for a school play while the distressed teenager Seymour plants a bomb in the library, and an isolated Konstance traversing space on the Argos in the near future. Going in blind can be confusing, but you quickly learn that these 3 stories all connect by a book within the book called Cloud Cuckoo Land, a centuries old story by the Greek author Antonius Diogenes. The ancient book is about Aethon who travels the world in search of the golden city in the clouds. The story is like a beacon of hope for all the children in this book. I knew within the first 10% that this was going to be a powerful story. The narration by Marin Ireland is amazing (same narrator as Anxious People). The narrator has a talent for voicing different people in stories with a huge cast of characters. The writing is mesmerizing with vivid descriptions and figurative language that transport you to another world. The characters are diverse and endearing. Zeno's story moved me the most, but Anna was the most relatable. The way these stories finally converged was astounding. There was a satisfying end to each story with every loose end tied up. The ancient story within Cloud Cuckoo Land is fictional, but loosely based a real story by Antonius Diogenes. According to the dictionary, "Someone who is said to live in cloud cuckoo land is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are." There is so much irony with the children reading Cloud Cuckoo Land in the situations they are in. This is prime book club material and the epitome of what books with multiple stories and timelines should be. There are so many wonderful things to discuss about this book. I'll leave it at this and say that I recommend Cloud Cuckoo Land to everybody.