Cloud Cuckoo Land
By Anthony Doerr
(626 pages, historical and literary fiction, 2021)
Cloud Cuckoo Land is an ambitious matryoshka-doll-of-a-book. This riveting story spans the 1400s to the future, occurs in several places geographically (space, Constantinople, Idaho), and is held together by an invented ancient text, written by Anthony Doerr but inspired by the works of 2nd-century author, Antonius Diogenes. This is a deceptively quick read due to the vivid alternating narratives. If you loved traveling through time and place in David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas then this might hold appeal. It is similar in structure but the story is more accessible and has a more personal tone.
Omeir, born in 15th century Thrace, is deemed cursed after birth due to a physical deformity. His father dies on the day of his birth which increases the perception of his arrival as an ill omen. Omeir’s grandfather is instructed to take Omeir to the woods and abandon him. His grandfather watches the infant quietly gazing up at the snowflakes in the woods and cannot find it in his heart to abandon him. The family takes Omeir and flees their village in order to avoid persecution and violence. As he grows, Omeir finds he has a gift for communicating with animals and forms a deep bond with twin oxen that he raises from birth. Upon his coming of age, he and his beloved oxen are conscripted to help move artillery to the siege of Constantinople and set out on a long journey.
Anna, a 15th-century adolescent girl, lives in a house in Constantinople with women who spend their days embroidering robes for the clergy. Anna is not thoroughly uninterested in the tedium of embroidery, but she has an ill sister to care for and they need shelter. She harbors a strong desire to learn to read, which she pursues diligently and covertly. This knowledge aids her when Constantinople falls under siege and her life becomes threatened.
Zeno is a veteran of the Korean war and a self-taught scholar of the Greek language. His narrative flashes back and forth between present-day and other periods in his earlier years. Upon his return to Idaho and his retirement, he spends his days in the local public library translating a long-forgotten ancient text, “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” written by Antonius Diogenes. He eventually is called to service by the librarian to help entertain a group of children who come to the library. Together, they plan a theatrical production of the recently translated text.
Seymour is an idealistic teenager consumed with frustration over climate change. He spends his days at the same library that Zeno does where he spends his time looking up information about nature and climate change. He is socially isolated and finds solace in his connection with an owl that lives in the forest near his house. When the forest that the owl lives in is cut down to make way for a real estate development, his devastation leads to a drastic decision.
Konstance lives on an interstellar ship with a small community of people who have been voyaging to a new planet for several generations. They hold on to the hope of starting a new home with their seed library from Earth. Their artificially intelligent ship attends to all their needs and is programmed to keep them healthy and safe. When Konstance comes of age she is allowed entry into the virtual library where a whole world of knowledge awaits her. She quickly finds that knowledge comes at a cost and the loss of her innocence leaves her seeking more answers.
These five characters unwittingly influence each other across time and space. Zeno’s translation of the text of “Cloud Cuckoo Land” progresses and is interspersed between each narrative. As each person’s story unfolds, so does the message of Cloud Cuckoo Land, both the imagined text of Diogenes and the novel by Anthony Doerr. This deeply thoughtful story of people imprinting themselves across time as they seek knowledge and connection will transport you and may even rouse personal reflections of your own.
Visit Concord Public Library online at concordpubliclibrary.net.
Sarah Frost
