Cloud Cuckoo Land

A Novel

De: Anthony Doerr

Narrado por: Marin Ireland, Simon Jones

AudioFile Magazine’s Best Audiobooks of 2021

On the New York Times bestseller list for 19 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A Barack Obama Favorite * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more—one of the ten books that appeared on the most lists for 2021

“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 2021, Anthony Doerr’s gorgeous third novel 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 Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr has created a magnificent tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness—with other species, with each other, with those who lived before us, and with those who will be here after we’re gone.

Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a 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. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five 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. She has never set foot on our planet.

Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders who find resourcefulness and hope in the midst of gravest danger. Their lives are gloriously intertwined, and Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own. Dedicated to “the librarians then, now, and in the years to come,” Cloud Cuckoo Land is a beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship—of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart.

©2021 Anthony Doerr. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Narrator Mars a Great Tale

Anthony Doerr can spin a tale. This one, a little wilder and more scattered than his previous, brilliant "All The Light We Cannot See" is nevertheless compelling. However, I found the narrator grating and unpleasant. Honestly Audible you couldn't do better? The guy is a Pultizer Prize-winning author! I struggled through to the end and now I will read the book and try to get the irritating sound of that narrator's voice out of my head and just enjoy the prose.

Amazing and Wonderful

So beautifully written
Please read this lovely book. or better yet please listen to it.

Doerr does it again

Cloud cuckoo land is a slam dunk. He seems to have truly found his stride in this novel. Hopping through time through the intermingled stories of the lives of people who came in contact with a lost book, doerr paints a complex and gripping narrative. Easily the best book ive listened to in the past 5 years. 11/10

A most perfect novel

This is a book upon books, looming large, and thematic of the human journey itself through several periods of time. It shows our peril and frivolity on this planet, touching and hopeful.

I hope not 7 years till his offering.

A well written fools errand

I have mixed feelings about this story. I enjoy that it actually made me think. I can appreciate how well written it is. But the overall theme of survival of people, earth, hope, knowledge, culture, nature, etc. against the force of both time and human nature is futile, beautiful and heroic, but futile. While this may be true it’s no great secret or hidden truth and isn’t presented with any sense of a greater truth of perseverance being worth the effort. I left feeling apathetic and depressed.

Fabulous!

I especially appreciated/loved this book because I'd read "Queen of Cities" (about the heart-breaking fall of Constantinople) before I spent five weeks there and along the Aegean coast of Western Turkey (a marvelous country, by the way). Thank you for your story, Mr. Doerr; I agree with your dedication of the book to librarians, who have been kind to me, as well.

Slow start, but worth it

A brilliant book, beautifully performed. It took me about a quarter of the book to get into it, but once I did I couldn’t “put it down”. Brilliant.

It deserves a second read

Loved it. The listening was easy, the story will keep your attention. Worth the money.

Utterly enthralling.

An extraordinary mash-up that brings together any number of genres. Think "Hail Mary" meets Aristophanes with a smattering of Jean Auel and a pinch of "The Historian". Well performed.

Wonderful amazing book. Another Doerr masterpiece.

Like All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr, with an economy of words, paints a wonderful story. At times his prose is more like poetry.
He weaves stories from 3 different eras into a beautiful human tapestry that provides great insight into the human condition and enriches us.
Since there is no book jacket for Audible I recommend reading about the book prior to listening. I listened to most of it while driving and it takes a while to learn the characters. Once I read about the book I had no problem at all.
This book is on my very short listen again list.