Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel

Wonderfully imaginative set of intertwining stories. 15th century Europe, 20th century USA, a time in the future on a spaceship. In each, a rare manuscript by Diogenes becomes a guiding force. Beautifully written, this book is a testament to the written word and the libraries that curate them.

I'll admit to struggling a bit to get into this (I checked it out from the library 3 times!) but once I got buried in the stories, I stayed. How in the world Doerr put all of these worlds together and tied it up, I have no idea. But I'm glad he did!

Review here!

The writing is fantastic, the premise is intriguing and the storylines are interesting. I mean, who doesn't love the idea of a book about a book and the role it played in different lives in different time periods? But I just couldn't connect with the characters in this story as I did with those in All The Light We Cannot See. Perhaps it's not fair to compare the two books but it's hard not to! I'm wondering it might be because I listened to the a...read more

The Writer Anthony Doerr’s novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land is about different characters in the past and future interacting with the fictional Ancient Greek text by a real Ancient Greek writer named Antonius Diogenes (Knox 2021). The text is entitled Cloud Cuckoo Land in translated into English language by one of the main characters in the book. The character is named Zero, a Korean War veteran, who spent his retirement translating the fictional text by...read more

Reading this book felt like doing a puzzle with beautiful, imaginatively drawn pieces. You don't know what the final picture will be, but you know it's got to be something fantastic. The book requires some close attention to recognize all the puzzle pieces, but your patience and attention are well worth it, as it all comes together to form an intricate and unexpected picture.

Made up of three stories from different time periods that intertwine a...read more