Please Note:  I received an advance audio copy of this book from Libro.fm (and a print version from NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a 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. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.

Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five 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. She has never set foot on our planet.

Review:

All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, is one of my favorite books of recent years.  So when I heard the author had finally written another book, I was eager to get my hands on it.  I was not disappointed.  This book is a slow burn.  There are really four stories going on here.  Each storyline is completely different from the others.  They take place at different times, and places, and are filled with vibrant characters.  You know that they are related somehow, but it takes reading most of the book to understand how all the pieces fit together.  I did find it frustrating, at first, because I couldn't understand the structure of the novel, as it does jump around quite a bit.  But I stuck with it and was rewarded with a rich tapestry of people, eras, and stories that are expertly woven together by the author.  

I think it's worth listening to the audio version over the print version, as it has wonderful production values, and clues that I picked up that I know I would have missed if I had only read the words on the page.

This is a truly special book.

What I Liked:

Audiobook Narration:

The book is narrated by Marin Ireland who does a wonderful job with three of the four stories.  She inhibits such a variety of characters from a fifteenth century nun to a sullen modern-day teenage boy.  With each person, she finds just the right voice to fit the character.

Cloud Cuckoo Land (in the book) is presented as a story from ancient times that one of the characters in another story has translated.  Simon Jones is an inspired choice to narrate this fantastical story within the story.  This is the actor who was the original Arthur Dent of BBC Radio's version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and he brings the same sense of wonder and awe into this story.  Also, as his style is completely different from Marin Ireland's, it is an easy reminder for the reader that these sections in the book are a fable, and not actually happening.

Characters:

There are so many characters to love in this novel, but Zeno, the translator, is my favorite.  We meet Zeno as an old man.  The novel opens in 2020, as Zeno assists a group of fifth graders in putting on a play at the local Idaho library.  The play is, of course, Cloud Cuckoo Land.  As the story unfolds, we learn about Zeno's life as a young immigrant to America, to a POW in the Korean War, to his finding his life's work, translating Cloud Cuckoo Land from ancient Greek.

Zeno has had quite a life, but he has also squandered many opportunities for happiness.  As a man learning he is gay in nineteen-fifties America, Zeno has lived with fear all his life.  He is constantly trying to find a way to pass as straight.  When he meets the love of his life in the POW camp, he can't really bring himself to show his feelings.  But all is not lost for Zeno.  Through Rex, the man he loves, he develops a love of ancient Greek, and for translating.  This becomes his life's work.

I also loved Constance, another character who lives on a space ship sometime in the future.  She was born on the ship, and later learns that the journey she is on will take hundreds of years.  She will never live to see the final destination.  While the ship is filled with all the knowledge of the Earth, will it be enough?  If it isn't, how can she find a way to accept this?

I thought Constance (who we see from about age nine through about age fourteen in the story) shows a tremendous range of feelings and maturity.  She is faced with the fact that her life is but a stepping stone for future generations.  But isn't that what all our lives are, really?

Themes:

The themes of this book concern the enormity of time and how we confront that in each of our lives.  The author does this through the vehicle of a book, Cloud Cuckoo Land, that moves across all the stories over hundreds (and thousands) of years. Cloud Cuckoo Land is a story of a journey, rather like Homer's, The Odyssey.  It shows a rather silly man dreaming of a better life, if he could just become a majestic bird.  The story is filled with magic, and is diverting for the other characters in the other stories who read it.  Each person who encounters Cloud Cuckoo Land, comes to cherish it, and fights to preserve it.  But can a book, made of paper and ink, survive the ravages of time?  Won't all material things disintegrate over the centuries?  

For the characters, how do they find meaning when, eventually, everyone is forgotten?  What is important to the characters (family, position, wealth) will not continue on after they die.  Can anything last over time?  I think the author sees stories, and the task of preserving them, as a means to immortalize those who lived before us, and to continue the journey for those who will come after us.

About Libro.fm

This is a wonderful audiobook subscription service!  Instead of supporting billionaires who want to cosplay being astronauts, you can actually support your local independent bookseller!  Part of the subscription prices goes to support the independent bookseller of your choice.  You get one book credit per month, plus 30% off other audiobook purchases.  If you're interested, please use my link, and I will get a credit if you sign up.

http://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm75477

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  September 28th, 2021

Author:  Anthony Doerr

Genre:  Literary Fiction

Print Publisher:  Scribner

Page Length:  640 Pages

Audio Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Audio

Audio Length:  14 Hours, 51 Minutes

Narrators:  Marin Ireland & Simon Jones

Format: Audio Book (and print)

Source:  Libro.fm, and Netgalley

Recommendation:  This is a complex book that may try your patience at first.  But stick with it.  All the stories come together to create a masterful novel.  I highly recommend this book.