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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, War
It took me a little over a month to get through this tome, which I thought was at least 300 pages too long. As much as I love beautiful writing, I need things to happen to really appreciate that beautiful writing. When things happened in Cloud Cuckoo Land, it was wonderful. Other times, though, it made reading feel like an absolute chore. I felt like there was a little too much self-indulgent writing that was happening. Relatedly, Doerr barely—and I cannot emphasize “barely” enough—pulled off the intertwining stories at the end. Each timeline and their respective plotlines had their flaws, but I thought the one that took place in the present was by far the strongest and most interesting. The plotlines that took place in the past were somewhat engaging but not all that interesting. Meanwhile, the plotline that took place in the future was interesting but not at all engaging. (This is to say, Doerr should not venture into sci-fi writing, because I don’t think he would be very good at it.) All of them had beautiful writing, but your mileage varied on how much impact any of it had on the story (raising the question, what actually was the story). And, speaking of impact, I found the codex excerpts at the start of chapters rather tiring after a while. It didn’t leave much of an impression on me, especially because it rarely tied to the actual chapter content.
This is making me realize that I may have to revisit All the Light We Cannot See, which I enjoyed when I read it way back when. I wonder if something changed or it just ended up that Cloud Cuckoo Land was a miss. Whatever the reason, I just know I won’t be getting many hours back that was spent reading this book.
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Violence, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying
Minor: Homophobia, Rape
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Abandonment, War
Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt
Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, War
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence
Minor: Slavery
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, Slavery, Excrement, Islamophobia, Dementia, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Mass/school shootings, War
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, War
Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Kidnapping