He, too, is ostracised, an “undersized orphan with foreigners blood and a weirdo name.
Meanwhile, in 20th century Idaho, Zeno is born – in 1934, to be exact.
She daydreams about a better life than this, and, as Constantinople falls, sets about achieving it. Over the way, in Constantinople, is Anna, a poor orphan, living with her sister in a great embroidery house where they sew for a living. Omeir “imagines the adventures that might lie beyond”. Those were superstitious times, so he, his siblings, mother and grandfather are ostracised and find themselves living in a ravine miles from their village. In the fifteenth century, in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, Omeir is born with a cleft palate. The critical thing about these five characters is that they are outsiders – subversives, even – each confronting the received wisdom of their times. “It’s like we’re about to walk into the book” (Alex, fifth-grader) All the light we cannot see ( my review) has two protagonists from the same era, but Cloud Cuckoo Land takes it to another level with five protagonists spanning multiple centuries. Anthony Doerr, from my limited experience of two novels, seems to like two things – multiple-points-of-view and young protagonists. Those of you who have read the novel will know what I’m talking about, but for the rest of you I’ll take a step back. Indeed, the central event of the book takes place in a public library. Thank you Anthony! Cloud Cuckoo Land, at over 600 pages, is a big book and, like most big books, is about a lot of things, but threading through it is the idea of the book – and of the role played by librarians in fostering knowledge and reading. It goes like this “For the librarians then, now, and in the years to come”. There was a collective cheer from the four librarians in my reading group when one of our members read Anthony Doerr’s dedication for his latest novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land.
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