Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel

Anthony Doerr

Sep 2021 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Marin Ireland and Simon Jones

About this audiobook

AudioFile Magazine’s Best Audiobooks of 2021

On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more

“If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a “wildly inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences” (The New York Times Book Review).

Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope, and a book.

In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.

In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege.

And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father.

Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.

Ratings and reviews

I don't understand what everyone sees in this book. It's confusing, too long, ponderous, and did I mention it's confusing. Seriously, there is way too much going on in too many locations and times with nothing to anchor the reader to a coherent plot. Because of all the time hoping I couldn't develop any connection with the characters. After honestly trying to get through this book three different times, I've just given up. I've made it through more than half the book and there's still nothing to connect me with the plot or characters. Nothing to make me care about who they are, why they do what they do, nor anything to make me care about where the story is going. Cloud Cuckoo Land is just a tedious waste of time with no resolution in sight and no indication that the author cares that reader is confused. Don't waste your time. There are so many well written books out there that one shouldn't torture themselves trying to comprehend this failed experiment.

Loved this book, so many great ideas: ecology, freedom, disability issues, challenging authority, “breaking down the walls”, literacy and how it changes one’s life, big ideas from people with power executed on the backs of those they govern. Loved character developments. Especially loved Anna and Odemir. Bravo, Anthony Doerr and huge thank you for such an amazing book.

It's a little bit confusing in the beginning. Really back and forth with the characters and time periods but it really begins to come together. I didn't expect much but I really ended up enjoying it.

About the author

Anthony Doerr is the author of the New York Times bestselling Cloud Cuckoo Land, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Alex Award, and a #1 New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of the story collections Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, the novel About Grace, and the memoir Four Seasons in Rome. He has won five O. Henry Prizes, the Rome Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Story Prize. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two sons.

Simon Jones Broadway credits include: The Real Thing, Benefactors, The School for Scandal, The Herbal Bed, and Waiting in the Wings (Outer Critics Circle nominee). Off-Broadway credits include: Woman in Mind, Terra Nova, Privates On Parade (Drama Desk nominee). Film and TV highlights: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Devil's Own, Brideshead Revisited, PBS's Liberty and HBO's Oz.