Cloud Cuckoo Land

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Doerr, Anthony, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Doerr, Anthony
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of perhaps the most bestselling and beloved literary fiction of our time comes a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world, who find resilience, hope, and story. The heroes of Cloud Cuckoo Land are children trying to figure out the world around them, and to survive. In the besieged city of Constantinople in 1453, in a public library in Lakeport, Idaho, today, and on a spaceship bound for a distant exoplanet decades from now, an ancient text provides solace and the most profound human connection to characters in peril. They all learn the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land, a better world. Twelve-year-old Anna lives in a convent where women toil all day embroidering the robes of priests. She learns to read from an old Greek tutor she encounters on her errands in the city. In an abandoned priory, she finds a stash of old books. One is Aethon's story, which she reads to her sister as the walls of Constantinople are bombarded by armies of Saracens. Anna escapes, carrying only a small sack with bread, salt fish-and the book. Outside the city walls, Anna meets Omeir, a village boy who was conscripted, along with his beloved pair of oxen, to fight in the Sultan's conquest. His oxen have died; he has deserted. In Lakeport, Idaho, in 2020, Seymour, a young activist bent on saving the earth, sits in the public library with two homemade bombs in pressure cookers-another siege. Upstairs, eighty-five-year old Zeno, a former prisoner-of-war, and an amateur translator, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon's adventures. On an interstellar ark called The Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to all the information in the world-or so she is told. She knows Aethon's story through her father, who has sequestered her to protect her. Konstance, encased on a spaceship decades from now, has never lived on our beloved Earth. Alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to "all the information in the world," she knows Aethon's storythrough her father. Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Konstance, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, the young Zeno, the children in the library are dreamers and misfits on the cusp of adulthood in a world the grown-ups have broken. They through their own resilience and resourcefulness, and through story. Dedicated to "the librarians then, now, and in the years to come," Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land is about the power of story and the astonishing survival of the physical book when for thousands of years they were so rare and so feared, dying, as one character says, "in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants." It is a hauntingly beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship-of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Oh my submitted by mandevil on December 31, 2021, 4:40pm I truly enjoyed his beautiful previous books. Unfortunately i could not get far in this one.

I loved it! submitted by lridl on January 11, 2022, 6:18pm It was hard for me to put down. Yes, you have to pay attention to the years, but we are only following 5 people. I keep thinking that if one person hadn't done something, then something in the future wouldn't have happened.

Beautiful submitted by Mama Liisa on June 12, 2022, 8:48pm Truly a magnificent novel. Read it slowly.

Incredible. Absolutely loved it. submitted by Trix on June 13, 2022, 6:54pm This book was a happy surprise from Anthony Doerr. After reading his other novel, All The Light We Cannot See, I didn't think it could get any better. It did. The changes in perspective and time period make it a compelling page-turner. I truly could not put it down, and I have probably recommended it to everyone I know.

Worth the dive submitted by kpkozloff on June 15, 2022, 8:40pm I was a bit intimidated by the page count- not sure if it would be worth the time invested. However, Doerr does a fantastic job weaving these stories together and in the end I was thankful he had given so much detail to each of the storylines.

Very long submitted by nmrhoads on July 27, 2022, 6:17pm This is a long book but it’s a good story. I read it really fast because of all the different storylines

Rare treat submitted by kath on August 3, 2022, 8:38pm This wonderful work of fiction has all the elements of great story, engaging characters, and beautiful writing. As the separate plot lines come together, it is just so well done. I loved this book. The changes in time period and life experience - yet all the human experience - are so well done.

Loved it submitted by joelle1 on August 13, 2022, 3:55pm Really enjoyed this novel - the way it weaved together the different storylines and past and future. Hard to put down.

Hard to stick with submitted by glazewsk on October 11, 2022, 9:54pm Having trouble slogging through this work of literary fiction. I’m at page 279-does it ever get better, or should I give up on it? The author seems a bit taken with himself.

Long, but worth it submitted by mjacobs on June 9, 2023, 10:43am I loved the jump between time periods and how all the stories connected. A long, but worthwhile read!

An Incredible Read submitted by alemmon100 on July 6, 2023, 8:14am This book gave me chills. Incredible writing with several narrators and storylines woven together to make one story that I couldn’t put down.

Wonderful twisting tale submitted by camelsamba on July 12, 2023, 4:14pm My husband recommended this to me. Our reading tastes don't often overlap but I'm glad it did this time. About halfway though I asked if the various threads / characters were connected. He assured me they were, and that he figured out aspects of the connection before they were revealed - and then I started to see them not long after. So if you are mystified early on how a girl in 1400s Constantinople is connected to a girl on a futuristic interstellar voyage, just rest assured that they are.

(I listened to the audiobook version via MEL and Libby. If you have difficulty with the Greek that appears in the book, I recommend the audiobook, which is more of a production than a reading and masterfully done.)

The power of stories submitted by sara.samuel on July 16, 2023, 11:24am The book follows characters that are set in 3 different time periods - the past, present, and future - and how they each interact with one particular story called Cloud Cuckoo Land. I loved seeing how it all connected in the end, and to me, it seems like this book was ultimately about the power of stories and how they can provide hope. Loved it!