Review of CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr

4.5 Stars

I thought I’d begin 2024 with a book that’s been on my to-read pile for a while.  I’m so glad I finally got to it!

This novel, dedicated to librarians and described by its author as “a paean to books,” certainly does celebrate the transformative power of storytelling, books, and libraries.

It consists of interlocking stories from past, present, and future, all with a connection to an invented text of Greek antiquity which tells the story of Aethon, a simple-minded shepherd, who hears a story of an imaginary city in the sky where there is no want or suffering and sets out to find it.  In the past, in 15^th-century Constantinople, there’s Anna, an orphan who becomes adept at thievery, and Omeir, a boy with a cleft palate born into poverty.  In the present, 2020 in Idaho, Zeno, an octogenarian, works with a group of children to stage a play in the public library when Seymour, an autistic teenager hyper-concerned about the environment, arrives with two bombs.  In the future, Konstance, a young teenager, spends her days in a hermetically sealed spaceship headed for a distant planet.  Very slowly, the connections among these various characters in their different timelines emerge. 

The structure is complicated and the plot intricate, but I never found myself confused.  The characters are likeable, and each of their stories is engaging.  Often in books with multiple protagonists and storylines, one or more narrative will be less interesting, but that is not the case here.  I was as captivated by Zeno’s experiences in the Korean War as I was by Omeir’s during the siege of Constantinople.  Konstance’s curiosity about the world is as fascinating as Anna’s.  Each narrative is sufficiently suspenseful so the reader is impelled to continue reading. 

Though each character is distinctive, they do share similarities.  All have experienced loss; all five have at least one missing parent.  They are often outcasts:  Zeno is scorned because he is an immigrant; Omeir’s disfigurement means people fear him; and Seymour’s autism makes him a victim of bullying.  Virtually all are trapped by poverty.  All find themselves in danger, but they persevere.    And perseverance is definitely a lesson in Aethon’s story.  Their search for knowledge and understanding is evident:  Anna’s begging to be taught to read and Konstance’s fascination with the Atlas stand out.  A connection to nature also characterizes them:  Omeir has his oxen; Seymour, an owl; and Konstance, a Bosnian pine. 

As mentioned, the book emphasizes the consolation stories have provided for millennia.  When her sister is ill, Anna reads her Aethon’s story and “her sister doesn’t seem to suffer as much.”  Later, Anna uses the same story to ease her son’s pain.  Zeno is told that “’for as long as the story lasts, you get to slip the trap,’” and he applies this during the hostage situation.  Konstance’s father tells her Aethon’s story to entertain her and teach her lessons.  And, of course, stories connect people, both to the characters in the stories and also to other readers of the same story.  Anna and Omeir, Zeno and the children, and Konstance are all told and tell Aethon’s story. 

Anna is told that books are precious repositories but they can die:  “’Day after day, year after year, time wipes the old books from the world. . . . One bad-tempered abbot, one clumsy friar, one invading barbarian, an overturned candle, a hungry worm – and all those centuries are undone.’”  People must work to preserve books, and the author seems to suggest that we must also work to protect the natural world.  Aethon realizes that perhaps he wasted his time searching for a distant utopia because “What you already have is better than what you so desperately seek.”  He learns to appreciate “the green beauty of the broken world.”  Maybe we can fix the broken world because, though the protagonists are ordinary individuals of humble status, their actions have major ramifications in the future; each demonstrates that “’there is nobility in being part of an enterprise that will outlast you.’” 

There is much to unpack in this novel.  If I were still teaching literature classes, I could see myself assigning any number of possible topics for essays about this book which combines historical fiction, fable, speculative fiction, coming of age fiction, mystery, tragedy, comedy, and social commentary.  Though over 600 pages, it doesn’t feel like a lengthy book; its short, punchy chapters and masterful storytelling mean that it’s a fast-paced, thoroughly engrossing read.