Review: “Cloud Cuckoo land” by Anthony Doerr

May 27, 2022 | Dara Marie | @thornfield_lane

Anthony Doerr is among my favorite authors. I fell in love with his Pulitzer-winning All the Light We Cannot See nearly four years ago and haven’t looked back since. I’ve gone on to read his first novel, About Grace, as well as his collection of short stories, The Shell Collector. I have a copy of his other collection, Memory Wall, which I have not read but I plan to soon. Throughout every piece, his craftsmanship and sheer wisdom about the human experience astounds me. I admire his work more than I can say and consider myself his ‘student’; trying to understand his secrets so I can emulate them in my own creative work. 

Ever since finishing All the Light…, I’ve wondered when he will write another novel. My wishes came true last September with the release of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Doerr visited the University of Utah for a Q&A around the book’s release and I was fortunate enough to go because it is only ninety minutes from where I go to school at Utah State University. That hour I got to spend in the room with him, listening to him talk about writing, his inspirations, and his writing processes was one of the best of my life. I was about as starry-eyed as you could get. 

I was already pumped for his novel but hearing him speak brought that excitement to new levels. I received a hardback, signed copy of the book that night but waited months for the right time to read it. I knew I wanted to dedicate my whole attention and mind to it and I couldn’t do that while taking eighteen credits and struggling with mental health. It wasn’t until several weeks ago, in my break between spring and summer semesters that I finally devoured the novel. 

I adored it. 

The novel spans over five hundred years and five main characters in Constantinople, Idaho, and outer space. While each of these characters has their own struggles such as war, sexuality, isolating quarantines, and mental health issues, they are connected in one way or another by a book. A book most of the world has forgotten or doesn’t even know exists: Aethon of ancient Greece who believes there is a kingdom in the sky, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and uses all magic available to get there. Books survive through their readers and this shows exactly that. Each character finds solace in the pages of this book across time and (literally) space. 

Doerr himself named it “a paean to books” in his author’s note. I completely agree. It is a love letter to books, stories, and the people who love them. Because of this, it is written for so many people. 

Personally, I loved the two storylines on opposite ends of the timeline–one of a young girl and boy in the 1400s amid a Christian and Pagan struggle over Constantinople, and that of a young girl a hundred years in the future flying through space to reach a new planet with the last of humanity after Earth died from pollution. I was able to slip easily into these two worlds I’ve never been a part of and could imagine it all. Don’t get me wrong, the scenes taking place in 2020 hit as well, but I’m a sucker for period stories (and kinda sci-fi, I guess?). 

I often say I know a book is good if, even if it has nothing remotely related to my own creative work, it gives me inspiration for my characters and plots. I say this as a high compliment to the authors for writing at such a level it makes my brain race trying to figure out what they’re doing and how I can emulate it in my own projects. I’m currently developing a novel that, like Cloud Cuckoo Land, has multiple main characters and spans generations (though mine only has four main characters and spans one-hundred-and-twenty years). While halfway through reading, an offhanded detail turned into a major piece of one of my character’s storylines in my mind. 

It was everything I love about Doerr tenfold. And while this led me to love it, it’s the same reason I caution other readers. 

This is not a good novel for your first impression of Anthony Doerr. His slow burn, jumping timeline style as well as microscopic detail is incredibly strong throughout. There is nothing wrong with this, but with such an abstract plot on top of it, it might throw some readers off, which is the last thing I want when given a recommendation. I remember him saying something at the Q&A along the lines of ‘Well a lot of people liked my last book, so my publishers let me try something stranger.” I’ll let that speak for itself. 

So, all in all, I highly recommend this novel to book lovers. But, if you’re new to Doerr’s work, I first recommend All the Light We Cannot See or his short story The Shell Collector. While still unique in his style and voice, they’re a bit more conventional and will help warm you up before Cloud Cuckoo Land. 

I know his last novel is just shy of seven months old, but I’m already wondering when his next will come out and am beyond excited by the possibilities. 

Have you read Cloud Cuckoo Land? What did you think of Doerr’s abstract work? I'd love to hear from you! You can connect with me through thornfield.lane@gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter: @thornfield_lane.