His teacher, Mrs. Onegin lets him wear them during Recess, Snacks and Reflection Time. In its belly, he meets a great wizard who tells him that Cloud Cuckoo Land doesn't exist, but who agrees to turn him into a bird. Zeno gets Rexs attention later by quoting Zenodotus (first librarian at the library at Alexandria), which Rex recognizes. Afterwards, they go to visit the Italians to sell the stuff, but they find the place emptied out. Hes also off his meds so hes feeling things a lot stronger right now. As Rex talks about rediscovering ancient lost texts, Zeno daydreams about Rex and Hillary getting into a fight and Hillary leaving. These were my exact questions after finishing the book. It seems that by the time the Argos mission was being set up, things had gotten truly dire in many places on earth. Shes with her mother in Compartment 17, their family compartment. It consists of 24 parts. The next day, they see one of Kalaphatess servants quickly pack up the valuables and load them on a donkey. Zeno sneaks outside and goes walking in the snowy expanse. She also finds Zenos translation of the folios. It tells of a shepherd, Aethon, known by. He spends a lot of time with Rex, who teaches him Greek. The next day, Widow Theodora comes back with deadly nightshade for all the women, saying that they will leave their bodies behind in this world. "Cloud Cuckoo Land" is told in a series of manuscripts that has survived through the centuries by the sheer will of those to whom the story has touched - and which over the centuries ends up . These manuscripts had been storied for centuries at the ducal library in Urbino and then had been moved to the Vatican library. Aethons story begins when he drunkenly sees the play The Birds and thinks it is a depiction of a real utopia, Cloud Cuckoo Land. At the end of May, Maria dies. This chapter opens with an excerpt from Folio of Cloud Cuckoo Land. It turns out to be Omeir, who did not realize she was a young girl. Before dark, Widow Theodora sends Anna to fetch caper buds (a plant) outside. It takes months to teach Anna basic things because she doesnt understand what they are saying, however, Omeir is patient and kind with her. In this section, Aethon announces that hes leaving for Thessaly, the Land of Magic. One of them mentions a lost Greek tale called Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antonius Diogenes, which is about Aethon, a shepherd, who undertakes a journey to a utopian city in the sky. By now, she has taken most things of value from the priory, but she manages to find a goatskin codex. She sees lines of words written in Greek welcoming her in. The next day, Dr. Pori (who is elderly and had also gotten Zekes vomit on him) dies as well. Seeing that, Seymour finds Bunny at work, and the consoles him, reassuring him that there are plenty of other forests where Trustyfriend can live happily. Meanwhile, 200 miles away from Constantinople, a infant boy named Omeir is born with a cleft palate, and on that night his father has an accident and dies. She tells Zeno that she thinks that two of these folios are out of place. Finally, one Thursday in May, Rex announces that they tonight is the night for their escape. Then, in October, on Arcady Lane, which is the road home, he sees a sign indicating that Edens Gate Reality is developing properties in that area. He feels panicked. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Their algorithm automatically flags certain images, but they need to be manually verified. By mid-September, the kids have suggested that Zeno transform Cloud Cuckoo Land into a play for them to perform. This chapter opens with an excerpt from Folio X of Cloud Cuckoo Land. At the public library, the two twin librarians, both named Miss Cunningham, explained that books could transport you to other places. Around the same time, Omeir reluctantly travels to the capital as instructed, and his oxen haul coal to help build a huge cannon in preparation for war. He also burns the pages. As he enters the palazzo, he recognizes the double-turreted building from the snuffbox. When they finally near his home, he has her hide her sack in a hollow tree, promising her they will return and that it will be safe there not sure if shes able to understand his gesturing at all. Omeir's family is driven out of the village since the villagers believe they boy is demonic and caused his father's death. The woodcutters village is a superstitious one, probably partially because of the time they are living in. By 2146, she has a 3-year-old son and is pregnant with another child. The quartermaster responds by giving his whip a loud crack. She is also introduced to she ship's library, assessible via a virtual reality device (Vizer). Based on this, we know that the kids are doing some type of performance of the story Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antonius Diogenes, which was referenced in the prologue. The ending of the Cloud Cuckoo Land reveals that the Argos was a seed pod waiting for Earth to cycle back to a safe climate. The Argos / Mission Year 64, Day 276 Inside Vault One. She twists her ankle as a result of the fall, but she is alive and breathing air, not knowing if the air is safe. One day, after a series of storms have deluged the area with rainwater, the cottage is flooded. Zeno notices that Mrs. Boydstuns gait is off, but she says its nothing and that it happened with her dad, too. As an infant, Seymour grows up living in a motel with his mother Bunny, who works as a cleaner there. Each night, he disables the connectivity on his terminal and gets to work on harvesting the objectionable images that have been removed from view on the Atlas. She also bought some new electronics with the extra cash she had, though Seymour points out they dont have the Wi-Fi setup to use most of it. As he remembers Zeno, he feels dizzy (something has gone wrong inside him), falls off his treadmill and breaks his wrist. It serves as an embroidery house run by Master Nicholas Kalaphates. Theres also a preface that notes that the story consists of 24 folios, the exact order of which is debated by scholars. How does the virtual library of Konstance?s time differ Meanwhile, by August 2019, Seymour has now reached out to the "Bishop" and his organization. On each page of the book, one side is airy and happy and the other side is death. Then, Zeno comes down the steps. He hurriedly tries to repeat her ritual (of undressing and rubbing himself with an ointment, etc.). She looks it up to see that Scheria is a mythical island of plenty from Homers Odyssey. In Chapter 5, in present day, Seymour has shot Sharif, and the police have arrived outside at the library. In sixth grade, the teacher is unaccommodating of Seymour's condition and refuses to allow Seymour to wear his earmuffs in class. However, upon inspection, she sees that this parchment is cheap and likely of little value. Your email address will not be published. At night (referred to as NoLight), Konstance gets night terrors when she sleeps. They demand that Omeir (and his two bulls, Tree and Moonlight) report to capital at Edirne to join in the upcoming war efforts as part of the Saracen army. As his captors dance around a fire one night, he escapes. When the man starts to frown at his partially-unzipped backpack, Seymour panics and pulls out his pistol. When Seymour is 22, as a good behavior innmate, hes given an opportunity to work for the Ilium Corporation by manually identifying objectionable images like homeless people, obscene graffiti, demonstrators, etc. What was the point of the experiment, given that K was able to live on earth and have children? From 1972 - 1995, Zeno returns to Lakeport, works on his Greek and takes care of Mrs. Boydstun (who has Huntington's). He waits until he believes the library is empty, though we all know that Zeno, the kids and Sharif are inside. He is slowly radicalized by Bishop, an internet persona who advocates for extreme retributive actions against climate destruction. The next day, Konstance thinks about all the things that Sybil doesnt know, including some things Konstance knows like what it meant to be held by your father inside the leafy green twilight of Farm 4. After they took away his Vizer and Perambulator, he took to trying to destroy the wall of the Argos, imperiling everyone. She has been in the room continuously for nearly a year. Sure enough, its soon destroyed. On Qaanaaq, Anna lives in a 49-person village. The story flashes back to the day at the library on February 20, 2020. This time, Himerius talks about fleeing before the attack comes. He doesn't know what happens to Rex. Seymore makes his way through Zenos translation. Rex comes up with an escape plan for then, but Zeno backs out at the last minute. They continue to travel together, and he no longer binds her wrists. In present day, 7-year-old Anna is the youngest person at the convent. Zeno longs to be with Rex after the war, but when they meet in 1971, Zeno is too scared to confess his feelings. In Argos in Mission Year 65, after Konstance escapes the vault, she uses a makeshift axe to break through the exterior of Argos. He sees that it was replaced by a hotel with a rooftop bar. As they near Constantinople, the weather is stormy, the men and animals are weary and tensions run high. As Tree and Moonlight to take on the extra weight, the two animals in front of them are killed and butchered. In this section, Aethon-the-donkey is about to be killed by the bandits for being a useless donkey, but a miller offers to buy him instead. In April, they reach the permanent camp area, and Zeno and Blewitt are sorted into the group of healthier prisoners and put to work. He find himself visiting Edens Gate and then he heads to the library. Hes woken by Hillary just before his flight. from their scans of Earth so they can be removed. She thinks about what the Italian trader had said about books being destroyed: Day after day, year after year, time wipes the old books from the world. That night, Anna starts reading the story to Maria to distract her from her woes. Meanwhile, in the city, rumors abound that an attack is imminent and that soldiers are marching their way. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is a historical science fiction novel published in 2021. He goes by the name the "Bishop", carries an assault rifle, and is seeking people to "join him". It tells story of Aethon, a man who goes looking for a "utopian city in the sky" called Cloud Cuckoo Land. Anna continues her work, and Maria continues to try to stitch even despite her worsening vision. I believe the Argos is in the future as Rachel's grandchild. As the story progresses, we learn that Anna and Omeir end up fleeing Constantinople, meeting and building a life together. Finally, as the oxygen reaches 8%, the door to Vault One opens. Sybils directive is to keep the crew safe, and Sybil believes that Konstance is safer in Vault One. Soon, they hear that the time has come for a final assault. In the fall, Omeirs sister Nida gets married to a woodcutter in a village 20 miles away. The preface notes that some scholars argue that this (severely degraded) section belongs earlier in the story. The Lakeport Public Library / February 20, 2020 5:08 PM. Translation by Zeno Ninis.. Ask the Author. Even before the public could get their hands on it when it was finally released in late September of 2021, Cloud Cuckoo Land had already been longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction . Right before the final assault, Anna flees the city on a rowboat. Inside the vault, Konstance discovers what happened at the Lakeport Library in 2020. He says that the foreigners in the city will pay a lot for these antiquities. It's about a character named Aethon who goes on a journey to find a "utopian city in the sky" (the titular Cloud Cuckoo Land). Finally, on December 21, 1970, Zeno gets a letter back from Rex Browning. The various English translations of the text are largely boring or too fragmented. At home, Bunny tells Seymour that the motel she works for is shutting down, so shes being let go. One of them reads to him from Homers The Odyssey, and he listens in rapt attention. Meanwhile, Seymour grew up living in a motel with his mother Bunny. When Omeir is 12, a royal emissary traveling with an entourage of soldiers and carts shows up. Konstance retrieves the list of names of the kids from the Librarys records. Meanwhile, Anna reads the story of Ulysses by candlelight at night. Eventually, an interpreter comes, and Omeir show him the book, saying that I have heard that this is a place that protects books. 3. He died when he was 86 on February 20, 2020. Even as a young boy, Seymour understands what is the matter with him. He makes the determination of whether the boy will live or die and the family accepts his authority and judgment. A police car shows up. Seymore dreams of himself walking on a tree-lined trail towards a cluster of white tents, but the trail changes and lengthens each time he steps forward. Konstance understands now that situations like this are why her father chose to leave Earth in order to be a part of this mission. Meanwhile, she continues to try to learn about Zeno Ninis. [The experiment was about testing whether humans could live in a spacecraft ark and make it to another star system over multiple generations. Three weeks later, Zeno's release is negotiated, and he is sent back to the United States. On the stage, theres an epitaph written on tombstone next to a Styrofoam sarcophagus prop that reads Aethon: Lived 80 Years a Man, 1 Year a Donkey, 1 Year a Sea Bass, 1 Year a Crow. The theme of seeds and their magic was prominent in Konstances relationship with her father, and it was the only thing she insisted on rescuing from the ship during her escape at the end. A housekeeper shoos Anna away, but the old man, Licinius, comes outside the gate to talk to her. They contained him, but then he ended up killing himself with sleeping pills. At some point after its "launch" Ilium possibly dissolved or diminished as an entity, and/or climatic conditions caused an apocalyptic setback in society's functioning capacity. The story of Beta2 let the entire crew 'slip the trap'. Still a donkey, Aethon is driven north. The mother then learns that her husband has died on his way home shes told that his horse mustve slipped in the river.