Book Review: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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Title: Cloud Cuckoo Land
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical/Literary Fiction, Science-Fiction
Audience: Adult
Series/Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Format read: Audio & eBook
Publisher: Scribner
Date read: 29 April 2022
First published: 28 September 2021
Content Warning: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, PTSD, Violence, War.

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

Cloud Cuckoo Land, page 6

Mini Review:

Once upon a historical time a Greek writer may have told an epic tale of whimsy and adventure for a temporary escape from every day life. This is the story, about that potential story, and how stories transcend centuries. This is a book for book people and a book for wandering people. This is a story that takes 5 seemingly separate characters and weaves paths between them and their different times. I can’t recommend it enough.

“But books, like people, die. They die in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants. If they are not safeguarded, they go out of the world. And when a book goes out of the world, the memory dies a second death.”

Cloud Cuckoo Land, Page 50

Full thoughts:

This is a new favorite story of mine which I am already eager to reread. This is my second book by the author, the first being All the Light We Cannot See, another great historical fiction work, set during World War II.

Each morning comes along and you assume it will be similar enough to the previous one—that you will be safe, that your family will be alive, that you will be together, that life will remain mostly as it was. Then a moment arrives and everything changes.

Page 66

Somewhere between historical fiction, literary fiction and science fiction, this non-linear story follows 5 main characters over the span of almost 6 centuries. The story is split in three time frames: the distant past (1453), the present (2020) and the distant(?) future (Mission Year 65). It’s filled with beautiful prose and thought provoking statements.

Sometimes the things we think are lost are only hidden, waiting to be rediscovered.

Page 444

As someone who loves multiple points of view, interwoven narratives and non-linear story telling, this book has a lot of components to really capture my attention. There is a whimsical story, Cloud Cuckoo Land, woven into the narrative, connecting the different narratives. There’s the love of books and stories. The love and safety of the library. Characters who lived forever ago and forever in the future. It’s a lot packed into one book, but really well done.

Why is it so hard to transcend the identities assigned to us when we were young?

Page 447

The author’s note tells a little bit about the truth behind some of the historical fiction and I strongly recommend reading that as well.

I can also happily recommend the audiobook which has two narrators who did a splendid job.

Sound like your cup of <insert hot beverage of your choice here>?
If so, I also recommend the Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern!