Cloud Cuckoo Land is an audiobook by Anthony Doerr, narrated by Marin Ireland and Simon Jones. The unabridged Audible edition runs 14 hrs 52 mins.
Publisher’s Summary
AudioFile Magazine’s Best Audiobooks of 2021
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more
“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 recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land 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 the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old 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. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.
In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses 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.
Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland and Simon Jones
- Length: 14 hrs 52 mins
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Release year: 2021
- Audible category: Literature & Fiction / Genre Fiction / Literary Fiction
Listener Ratings
Cloud Cuckoo Land holds an average listener rating of 4.6/5 from 9597 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.8/5
- Story: 4.6/5
- 5-star ratings: 73% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “Trust the Cuckoo”
We are all connected, right? Sometimes it seemed like the threads of Anthony Doerr’s "Cloud Cuckoo Land" would never come together, but when they finally did, the slow, urgent burn burst into flames. Loved that characters across the entire timescape could all be reading and comforted by the same book. I listened to the beautifully produced audiobook narrated by Marin Ireland and Simon Jones. I’m suspicious that Doerr must have a little Seymore in him, or how could he paint that indelible picture (trusty friend, the ear protectors), though all of the major characters were interesting, sympathetic, and nuanced. It was also hard not to connect some of the ideas with the biblio-continuity from Canticle for Leibowitz, or the eco-messages and gut-punch from Appleseed and Overstory – but also for books as the last, fragile, final copy of an idea — almost like a white rhino, about to go extinct. And about that burn? That’s what the gods do, they spin ruin through the fabric of our lives, just to make a song. Doerr mourns the losses of books and species, and doesn’t look away from our endless human conflict and tragedies, but does have an optimistic twist — with the help of a little pluck and fire, at least some of us can escape and continue the thread.
— Woodley Wonderworks, Audible listener
4/5 stars — “Story that interweaves centuries…”
Love a good book that tells a story across multiple eras…. ancient history, present day, and the future. The concept of a book withstanding the test of time is so inspiring.Only reason it didn’t get 5 stars was because I felt like the character and plot development in the first 1/3 of the book could have been condensed into just a couple chapters. It was a bit too slow to start, but once the stories started interweaving, I was hooked.
— Dana G, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “A Worthy Read”
This is the human experience in all its messy, painful, joyful glory. There is suffering, ignorance, tragedy, violence, forgiveness and ultimately hope and redemption. The characters are complex yet relatable. There are several different time periods explored here intermittently but they are (imo) skillfully woven together in the end.— emma ward, Audible listener
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