BOOKMONGER
The enduring
power of story
Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Anthony Doerr (“All the Light
We Cannot See”) didn’t need any
help from this book review col-
umn to ensure that his latest book,
“Cloud Cuckoo Land,” got atten-
tion. When the book came out this
autumn, it was an instant best-
seller, accompanied by plenty
of rave reviews. So — call me a
reverse snob — I didn’t rush to
jump on the bandwagon.
But Doerr does live in Boise,
and sections of this new book do
take place in the interior Pacific
Northwest, so when a hole unex-
pectedly opened up in my review
schedule, I eyed the “Cloud
Cuckoo Land” book cover with its
enticing golden towers and flutter-
ing pennants and spangles of birds
and distant stars. I weighed the
heft of the book in my hand, and
wondered if it were even possible
to get through the 600 plus pages
in time to write a review.
I needn’t have worried. The
first night, I consumed 100 pages
easily, drawn in by this complex
weave of a story, which takes
place in 15th century Constantino-
ple, as well as during the Korean
War, in present-day Idaho and on
a spaceship that — decades in the
future — is hurtling away from a
ruined Earth and toward the uncer-
tain hope of finding another liv-
able exoplanet some 4.2399 light-
years away.
The next day, I sat back down
with the book and didn’t get up,
except to refresh my cup of tea,
until I finished the remaining
more than 530 pages. Simply put,
“Cloud Cuckoo Land” had me
spellbound.
Doerr has created a trea-
sure chest of stories, loosely
bound together by the frayed
but still-glimmering thread of an
actual, ancient Greek romance.
Although only fragments remain
of the original text of Antonius
14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
This week’s book
‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ by Anthony
Doerr
Scribner – 640 pp – $30
Diogenes’ “The Wonders Beyond
Thule,” the tale has been trans-
lated and retold and passed down
through the ages by scholars and
librarians and lovers of story.
It is about Aethon, a simple
shepherd who, after seeing a mag-
ical land portrayed in a play by
Aristophanes, abandons his duties
to go in search of that place —
“far from the troubles of men
and accessible only to those with
wings, where no one ever suffered
and everyone was wise.”
Now Doerr imagines how that
original tale could plant seeds of
imagination and perseverance in
youth who have been, are or will
be forced to navigate troubled
times in the centuries since then.
Taking Diogenes’ original tale,
Doerr introduces it to characters
in new stories that he has created
and intertwined: of orphaned sis-
ters and a boy cowherd who are
about to get caught up in the 15th
century siege of Constantinople;
of 20th and 21st century witnesses
to war and environmental catastro-
phe; and of a young, lone survivor
of a plague that breaks out amidst
a group of interstellar pioneers
traveling through space.
Ultimately, each of these char-
acters derives solace and meaning
from Diogenes’ ancient tale.
As will readers of this novel.
“Cloud Cuckoo Land” is a paean
to the enduring power of story.
The Bookmonger is Barbara
Lloyd McMichael, who writes this
weekly column focusing on the
books, authors and publishers of
the Pacific Northwest. Contact her
at barbaralmcm@gmail.com.
‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ is by Anthony Doerr.