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adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
holy crap. this book left me so overwhelmed that i am sitting here, rethinking history and life and stories and everything else around me. i dont think ive read a book so immersive and beautiful to where i feel addicted to it. i was in tears and laughed out loud and felt so hopeless about this world and still loved everything so much. a part of me was worried that i would get confused from reading five different storylines but NOPE! do not fear. you will remember each storyline and they will change you forever. i hope to read this again in the future, as it was the most unforgettable and exciting novel ive ever read :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, War
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a bizarre book. I loved it, but I'm not sure how to talk about it. It's the kind of story I just want to shove into everybody's hands.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a story about stories. It's a love letter to books and libraries. It shows how stories are passed down through generations and give us the courage to keep moving.
At the center of the novel is an ancient myth called "Cloud Cuckoo Land." Other stories branch off from that myth like spokes. In 1453 Constantinople, a farmer and a seamstress are trapped on opposite sides of the city wall during a war. In 2020 Idaho, an elderly librarian is directing a play when a teenager on a deadly mission walks into his library. Sometime in the future, a young girl is alone on a spaceship and searching for a new home for humanity.
I know that sounds confusing, but the stories actually work together beautifully because the author is great at juggling multiple points-of-view. I was equally invested in each story. It's amazing how real the characters feel. Their kindness and willingness to take risks really shines through.
This book is confusing at first because there are a lot of characters, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Once I got invested in the characters, I couldn't put the book down. I love the way the stories converge at the end. It took a lot of skill to write this novel. I suspect it'll be one of my favorites of the year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, War
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This feels like a combination of _Map of Salt and Stars_ and _Cloud Atlas_ and I liked it.
I really enjoyed the way the separate stories were connected by a single in-world story, and yet none of them actually read the same story. Bits were made up, lost, reorganized, transformed into a different format, etc. I didn't like all the stories equally, and I was rather disappointed in the endings for all the characters. The endings weren't unexpected, I was just hoping for something a bit brighter and more hopeful. I loved the Konstance and Zeno stories. I would have been happy if the book was just their two stories intertwining.
The bookclub questions at the end are disappointingly trite. I was hoping for something more worthy of such a thoughtful book. I wanted questions more like: "Why do you think the author chose these specific time periods and how do they reflect the way each character reacted to the events in the book?" and "The author traps three of the main characters inside prisons/sieges, even as the character in Cloud Cuckoo Land is trapped inside the body of a donkey, a whale, and a bird. Are there parallels that can be drawn there?"
The bookclub questions at the end are disappointingly trite. I was hoping for something more worthy of such a thoughtful book. I wanted questions more like: "Why do you think the author chose these specific time periods and how do they reflect the way each character reacted to the events in the book?" and "The author traps three of the main characters inside prisons/sieges, even as the character in Cloud Cuckoo Land is trapped inside the body of a donkey, a whale, and a bird. Are there parallels that can be drawn there?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, War
Moderate: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
4.5* I loved Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, and I really enjoyed this new novel as well, though it's very different. Cloud Cuckoo Land is a sprawling novel that spans ages and follows multiple characters in the past, present, and future. I enjoyed all of the storylines, though one in particular dragged a bit in the middle, and that was the one we spent the most time in. But Doerr's writing is amazing as always, lyrical and smooth and such a joy to read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is my favorite book of the yea so far! It’s three main story lines all woven together and fantastic epic tale!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Gun violence, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Rape, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very thought provoking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Animal death, Death, War
Beautifully describes how reading and preserving books is important.