I finished Cloud Cuckoo Land over a week ago and have been struggling to find the words to describe why I loved it so much. I think that many book reviewers can agree, it is really hard to review a book that you love! (And pretty easy to explain why you dislike a book!)
If you want to read about why Doerr’s latest is well written and excellent, definitely check out the New York Times book review. It’s what convinced me to buy it, rather than waiting for my library hold.
I’m pretty sure this doorstop of a novel landed on my all time favorites because I am a sucker for interconnected stories that come together in a surprising and poignant way, recurring motifs, and secular musings on the meaning of life. It also came out came at the right time for me: when I was really wanting to sink my teeth into something after devouring a lot of romance, and feeling a little sad and lost - like each of the protagonists in the story. I found such lovely reassurance about the human spirit, of perseverance, of hope. I was reminded that pain and loss, our impermanence, are also what makes life meaningful. And books about the wondrous nature of the written word? Yes, please.

“By age 17 he’d convinced himself that every human he saw was a parasite, captive to the dictates of consumption. But as he reconstructs Zeno’s translation, he realizes that the truth is infinitely more complicated, that we are all beautiful even as we are all part of the problem, and that could be part of the problem is to be human.”