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A review by august_ambrosia
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
5.0
easily 5/5!!
wow, this was long.. however, i am so grateful i read this. it's a beautiful book. the pacing is lovely and the characters are unique and diverse with flaws and strengths, making them feel unflinchingly human. it's a story about a story, following five characters through different periods of time as they interact with an ancient greek text called cloud cuckoo land by antonius diogenes. we are given small extracts of the text as we read through, and the content of it feels like a fairytale, certainly something you'd read to a child. however, that is what the characters do. it is loved by children, all throughout time, and it is read to them by adults who loved it as children once.
this is a book, ultimately about humanity, and the things people will do for love. i have an incredible soft spot for people recognising the beauty in the mundane, and this book ticked that box by the first page.
one thing i particularly loved about this was that everything seemed to have a reason behind it. nothing, even the particularly upsetting (spoilers ahead!) the scenes were all well placed and didn't feel like they were just placed for shock value.
HOWEVER!! and here are spoilers
this is my other gripe. why was it that only the autistic and the queer people didn't get romantic interests? omeir and anna found each other, and we are to assume that konstance also finds some sort of love, if not in a long-term partner, at least in her son. rex is killed off, admittedly to give zeno motivation to translate the text, but zeno doesn't find love AFTER rex either. he dies alone, and it wouldn't have taken much effort to just shift his story to include a husband. again, (albeit begrudgingly) willing to let this slide under the rug, but i just wanted to point it out. also, last thing, but hillary's presentation felt kiiiinda transmisogynistic to me. i won't say anything more because while i am queer, i haven't done enough research into the specific dogwhistles and stereotypes, but i hope this can prompt someone else to do so.
despite my somewhat negative points in the spoiler, i did enjoy this book a lot. it felt very storytale-esque and i will be reading again. :)
wow, this was long.. however, i am so grateful i read this. it's a beautiful book. the pacing is lovely and the characters are unique and diverse with flaws and strengths, making them feel unflinchingly human. it's a story about a story, following five characters through different periods of time as they interact with an ancient greek text called cloud cuckoo land by antonius diogenes. we are given small extracts of the text as we read through, and the content of it feels like a fairytale, certainly something you'd read to a child. however, that is what the characters do. it is loved by children, all throughout time, and it is read to them by adults who loved it as children once.
this is a book, ultimately about humanity, and the things people will do for love. i have an incredible soft spot for people recognising the beauty in the mundane, and this book ticked that box by the first page.
one thing i particularly loved about this was that everything seemed to have a reason behind it. nothing, even the particularly upsetting (spoilers ahead!)
Spoiler
like the deaths of the crew of the argos, and zeno's, maria's and rex's.HOWEVER!! and here are spoilers
Spoiler
i did not appreciate the way doerr vilified seymour, someone clearly (at least to me) written to be autistic. i appreciate the redemption he got, but it seemed a little off as i was reading. i am willing to sweep it under the rug because autism can make people more susceptible to being pulled into cults because of the desire to fit in and having a strong sense of justice that can be manipulated, and it would be worse to treat seymour like a child. he knew what he was doing, and the way he was sucked into bishop's cause was very believable.this is my other gripe. why was it that only the autistic and the queer people didn't get romantic interests? omeir and anna found each other, and we are to assume that konstance also finds some sort of love, if not in a long-term partner, at least in her son. rex is killed off, admittedly to give zeno motivation to translate the text, but zeno doesn't find love AFTER rex either. he dies alone, and it wouldn't have taken much effort to just shift his story to include a husband. again, (albeit begrudgingly) willing to let this slide under the rug, but i just wanted to point it out. also, last thing, but hillary's presentation felt kiiiinda transmisogynistic to me. i won't say anything more because while i am queer, i haven't done enough research into the specific dogwhistles and stereotypes, but i hope this can prompt someone else to do so.
despite my somewhat negative points in the spoiler, i did enjoy this book a lot. it felt very storytale-esque and i will be reading again. :)