Review of CLOUD CUCKOO LAND
Swim through the first 75 pages and then cede control ...
It is a terrible title. The conceit around which this awful title is built barely holds together. In fact, it is the weakest link in this very moving, very confusing, very ambitious novel. I felt its length. I started twice and only after the first 75 pages did I imagine I would get to page 640. At many moments, particularly those associated with its AWFUL title, I paused to recheck, yet again, how long the book really is. But, in the end, I did not want it to finish. It is a remarkable act of the imagination. Doerr’s gift is so expansive and original that you forgive him for putting too much paint on his canvas. It is catnip for a disciplined actual “reading” book club. The characters are so different and beautifully realized, all in their own historical set pieces that begin to connect in a quantum physics fashion. (NOTE: it seems our fiction – in all its forms – is being hijacked by the otherworldliness of quantum physics) It has been called a climate change novel and it certainly is. Those who cannot read about this existential reality might want to avoid it. However, its bigger lesson is about being human and the artistic soul that lives within all the other parts of us. Reading this book reminded me of the recent film “Come On, Come On”. This film was ignored by critics for the same reason I barely got by Doerr’s title. You were worried that you might be receiving a treacle enema as you watched it. It came close but now haunts me almost every day. The film revolves around an out-of-print children’s book, The Star Child, that is delivered in voice over at the end. It is shattering. I want to carry it around in my wallet. The Star Child describes being human to a child in the stars who wonders about life on earth. Doerr’s book is a vast, adult version of this children’s book. So … do yourself a favor. Close your eyes to any immediate preconceptions and read that big book, watch that lovely film and then drop me a thank you note.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr
2021 640 pages