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Pilvien piirtäjä
Kun valtameriristeilijä Ile-de-France laskee syyskyyssa 1928 New Yorkin satamaan, sen matkustajat hämmästyvät nähdessään joukon poliiseja laskuportaan juurella. Jotkut tietävät, että laivalla on mukana gangsteri ja salakapakoitsija Mantilini, ja ovat varmoja, että poliisit ovat tulleet noutamaan häntä. Mutta hänen sijastaan viranomaisille antautuukin kuuluisa arkkitehti, joka viedään käsiraudoissa pois.
Näin alkaa Pilvien piirtäjä, tunteita ja tapahtumia sykkivä romaani, joka vie lukijansa Pohjois-Suomen syrjäseuduilta 1920-luvun kiihkeän kuumeiseen New Yorkiin. Vuonna 1901 kuuluisa arkkitehti on 11-vuotias poika, Esko Väänänen, joka on kotitalonsa tulipalossa menettänyt sekä äitinsä että toisen silmänsä. Tämän murheen ja lohduttomuuden keskellä hän kuitenkin näkee näyssä revontulien keskellä elämänsä päämäärän, pilvenpiirtäjän. Hän kohtaa myös toisen tähden joka ohjaa hänen elämäänsä, Katerina Malyševan, tytön johon hän rakastuu toivottomasti.
Rakkaus Katerinaan vie Eskon Suomen kansalaissodan katkeriin taisteluihin, ja sama rakkaus tuo hänet Amerikkaan, kohisten kasvavaan New Yorkiin, jota hän rakentaa ensin niittaajana pilvenpiirtäjätyömailla, sitten suunnittelijana piirustuslaudan ääressä. Ja lopulta rakkaus Katerinaan vie Eskon poliisien käsiin murhasta syytettynä.
Näin alkaa Pilvien piirtäjä, tunteita ja tapahtumia sykkivä romaani, joka vie lukijansa Pohjois-Suomen syrjäseuduilta 1920-luvun kiihkeän kuumeiseen New Yorkiin. Vuonna 1901 kuuluisa arkkitehti on 11-vuotias poika, Esko Väänänen, joka on kotitalonsa tulipalossa menettänyt sekä äitinsä että toisen silmänsä. Tämän murheen ja lohduttomuuden keskellä hän kuitenkin näkee näyssä revontulien keskellä elämänsä päämäärän, pilvenpiirtäjän. Hän kohtaa myös toisen tähden joka ohjaa hänen elämäänsä, Katerina Malyševan, tytön johon hän rakastuu toivottomasti.
Rakkaus Katerinaan vie Eskon Suomen kansalaissodan katkeriin taisteluihin, ja sama rakkaus tuo hänet Amerikkaan, kohisten kasvavaan New Yorkiin, jota hän rakentaa ensin niittaajana pilvenpiirtäjätyömailla, sitten suunnittelijana piirustuslaudan ääressä. Ja lopulta rakkaus Katerinaan vie Eskon poliisien käsiin murhasta syytettynä.
649 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
11 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Richard Rayner
53 books17 followersRichard Rayner is a British author who now lives in Los Angeles. He was born on December 15, 1955 in the northern city of Bradford. Rayner attended schools in Yorkshire and Wales before studying philosophy and law at the University of Cambridge. He has worked as an editor at Time Out Magazine, in London, and later on the literary magazine Granta, then based in Cambridge.
Rayner is the author of nine books. His first, Los Angeles Without A Map, was published in 1988. Part-fiction, part-travelogue, this was turned into a movie L.A. Without a Map (for which Rayner co-wrote the screenplay with director Mika Kaurismaki) starring David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, Julie Delpy, Vincent Gallo, and, in an uncredited part, Johnny Depp.
(from Wikipedia)
Rayner is the author of nine books. His first, Los Angeles Without A Map, was published in 1988. Part-fiction, part-travelogue, this was turned into a movie L.A. Without a Map (for which Rayner co-wrote the screenplay with director Mika Kaurismaki) starring David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, Julie Delpy, Vincent Gallo, and, in an uncredited part, Johnny Depp.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
March 24, 2008
I don't know why I bought this book, or even if I bought it (or it could have been in a pack of books I bought cheap). It's been on my bookshelf for more than a few months now and in my attempt to read most of the books I have before buying new ones I picked it up. When I read the quote from the Chicago Tribune on the back "no one who opens The Cloud Sketcher will find it easy to stop reading before the last vertiginous page" I worried that the book would be a little too pretentious for me. I mean, who would use the word vertiginous, now really?
I was, fortunately, wrong. The book wasn't at all pretentious. The writer at the Chicago Tribune was right, I had trouble putting the book down. It was a beautifully written story, with an engaging plot, wonderful characters, highs and lows of emotions, all the things that I expect from a good read.
The book starts with a prologue telling of events that happen near the end of the book. The back of the book also refer to these events. The book then starts from the childhood of the main character, Esko, and tells of his life until the events in the prologue. And so all the time you are wondering how things will unfurl to cause the prologue to happen. Slowly it begins to make sense, and you think you know what is going to happen, except it doesn't actually turn out quite how you expect.
I had to restrain myself from crying on the bus several points throughout the book. And smiling at the happy moments.
It was unexpectedly brilliant. Not a book of my normal genres, whatever they might be. Not something I would ordinarily pick up - as I said I still don't know why I have it. But I am so glad I opened the first page and started reading. I had my doubts when reading the prologue, because the prologue tells you about characters you haven't invested some 400 pages in reading and so you don't really care. But without the prologue you wouldn't necessarily have the urge to keep on reading.
I was, fortunately, wrong. The book wasn't at all pretentious. The writer at the Chicago Tribune was right, I had trouble putting the book down. It was a beautifully written story, with an engaging plot, wonderful characters, highs and lows of emotions, all the things that I expect from a good read.
The book starts with a prologue telling of events that happen near the end of the book. The back of the book also refer to these events. The book then starts from the childhood of the main character, Esko, and tells of his life until the events in the prologue. And so all the time you are wondering how things will unfurl to cause the prologue to happen. Slowly it begins to make sense, and you think you know what is going to happen, except it doesn't actually turn out quite how you expect.
I had to restrain myself from crying on the bus several points throughout the book. And smiling at the happy moments.
It was unexpectedly brilliant. Not a book of my normal genres, whatever they might be. Not something I would ordinarily pick up - as I said I still don't know why I have it. But I am so glad I opened the first page and started reading. I had my doubts when reading the prologue, because the prologue tells you about characters you haven't invested some 400 pages in reading and so you don't really care. But without the prologue you wouldn't necessarily have the urge to keep on reading.
July 16, 2011
I don’t hate Esko, but I do find him distasteful. I don’t like his relationship with Katerina, because she’s just not there — as a character, she simply can’t support Esko’s obsession. Esko’s story is told in close, close third person, but all Rayner can do is repeat endlessly how fascinated by Katerina Esko is. But she has no particular quality of any kind that really seems interesting enough. And given the backstory Rayner offers? It seems somewhat obscene. I should care about her, for that very reason. I hope that isn’t why she has such a back story, all for the plot point.
Is it because Rayner wants to show the horror of war? Just how bad things got? It feels unreal, though, it feels like a device. Katerina doesn’t really show any signs of being effected, or at least Esko can’t see them.
Perhaps that’s what the story is about. Creepy-stalker Esko’s obsesson whith a woman who is ultimately shallow. Or whatever her true story, Esko can’t isn’t seeing her, he’s seeing this fantasy of wealth that he built as a poor abandoned child. Still, I’the text hasn’t really given me any reason to truly belive that, and I can’t quite figure out why.
It’s a ‘telling’ sort of book though, because Esko is a thoughtful, analytic guy, or I assume he must be, because that’s all he does: think at the audience and analyses every little thing unless he comes to an actual insight that might actually move the plot, such as it is, too soon. Esko's narration also feels terribly passive, and yet he is a driving force in his own life. As reactive as his thoughts are, it reads like things simply happen to him instead.
Needless to say, I find this a very disappointing novel.
And I’m not sure architecture works in-text. On paper, in two dimensions, all that’s left is the visual, and at least Rayner doesn’t start giving dimensions. But there’s only so many ways to talk about buildings, and none of them are particularly visual, unless you are already familiar with the architecture. It might be easier for these digressions to be from the perspective of a character who doesn’t know architecture, because he or she could offer concrete detail, not knowing the jargon. But Esko only talks in jargon, and reminds the audience again and again about how awesome modern architecture is, but I don’t see it and I don’t care.
Rayner has also failed at giving me any particlualy strong impression of early 1900s Finland, or 1920s New York. Sure there are props as he talks about the atmosphere, I can’t feel it, or sense it. Because when the character is just telling the reader how he feels, as apposed to what’s there giving him those feelings, it’s hard for a reader to get the same impression.
Still, I hope there's something to tie all this together at the end. I'm okay with protagonists I don't like, though usually because there is at least a side character who's interesting: Esko has several, though Rayner keeps killing them off. But I love the idea behind this novel, Finnish history, architecture, even a character growing beyond obsessions. But it seems to be a story about fate, and a narrator too genre-savvy to even make the journey interesting.
Part 3, Chapter 13, we've suddenly jumped into Katerina's perspective. This is page 277 and shouldn't be here. The only reason it is here, is because Rayner wants Katerina to prove how awesome Esko is, I presume. It doesn't add anything, although now at least I feel a little more sorry for her. But I'm unhappy with the way Rayner writes about her rape, it's just for the traumatic backstory, to give her a reason to not fall into Esko's arms. This is her description:
...at night her dreams were still sometimes hellishly peopled by the men who'd burst into the house that night in Petersburg. At night she experienced all over again the rape, their foul breath on her face, their ramming inside her, the murder of her mother, her grandmother, and her father.
It's just a summary of what she told the crowd back in Finland. And she does so with even more inappropriate distance. There's no pain there, it's too clinical, and not in a coping mechanism kind of way. Despite Rayner's intention though, it does make me feel more sorry for Katerina, not because it's a plot device, but because of what Esko's pursuit ought to be doing to her. He won't take no for an answer; he's as willing to take control from her as her rapists did. She literally has to run away from him.
According to the back cover, Esko is going to be accused of murdering Katerina's husband, and I can't wait to see him destroy himself, I only wish he'd do it faster. Because I've finally found a theme to this book, and it's that Esko ruins everyone's lives. The book is structured by the various groups Esko joins: the village, the Finnish architects, the New York riveters, etc. And he leaves a group after someone dies, and that's the only time he joins another. He abandons people--he hasn't even thought about his father figure in Finland, nor his former wife even though she saved him.
This book has no soul. There's no greater disappointment to me than having to force myself to finish a book like this. I don't mind abandoning books as much. The only reason I'm even trying is the investment of pages, and like Sepulchre, the reason it's taking longer than it should is because it manages to offend me at least once a paragraph. This isn't quite as shallow, and it is better written, so it gets one more star.
I still have 100 pages.
Finished. The last 100 pages could best be described as sensational. As in tabloid. Shocking for the sake of shock, or perhaps I was just so numbed to Esko and the story that I just didn't care. That's why the book failed for me, because Esko as a character never convinced me to care. And the end was just a little too pat.
Is it because Rayner wants to show the horror of war? Just how bad things got? It feels unreal, though, it feels like a device. Katerina doesn’t really show any signs of being effected, or at least Esko can’t see them.
Perhaps that’s what the story is about. Creepy-stalker Esko’s obsesson whith a woman who is ultimately shallow. Or whatever her true story, Esko can’t isn’t seeing her, he’s seeing this fantasy of wealth that he built as a poor abandoned child. Still, I’the text hasn’t really given me any reason to truly belive that, and I can’t quite figure out why.
It’s a ‘telling’ sort of book though, because Esko is a thoughtful, analytic guy, or I assume he must be, because that’s all he does: think at the audience and analyses every little thing unless he comes to an actual insight that might actually move the plot, such as it is, too soon. Esko's narration also feels terribly passive, and yet he is a driving force in his own life. As reactive as his thoughts are, it reads like things simply happen to him instead.
Needless to say, I find this a very disappointing novel.
And I’m not sure architecture works in-text. On paper, in two dimensions, all that’s left is the visual, and at least Rayner doesn’t start giving dimensions. But there’s only so many ways to talk about buildings, and none of them are particularly visual, unless you are already familiar with the architecture. It might be easier for these digressions to be from the perspective of a character who doesn’t know architecture, because he or she could offer concrete detail, not knowing the jargon. But Esko only talks in jargon, and reminds the audience again and again about how awesome modern architecture is, but I don’t see it and I don’t care.
Rayner has also failed at giving me any particlualy strong impression of early 1900s Finland, or 1920s New York. Sure there are props as he talks about the atmosphere, I can’t feel it, or sense it. Because when the character is just telling the reader how he feels, as apposed to what’s there giving him those feelings, it’s hard for a reader to get the same impression.
Still, I hope there's something to tie all this together at the end. I'm okay with protagonists I don't like, though usually because there is at least a side character who's interesting: Esko has several, though Rayner keeps killing them off. But I love the idea behind this novel, Finnish history, architecture, even a character growing beyond obsessions. But it seems to be a story about fate, and a narrator too genre-savvy to even make the journey interesting.
Part 3, Chapter 13, we've suddenly jumped into Katerina's perspective. This is page 277 and shouldn't be here. The only reason it is here, is because Rayner wants Katerina to prove how awesome Esko is, I presume. It doesn't add anything, although now at least I feel a little more sorry for her. But I'm unhappy with the way Rayner writes about her rape, it's just for the traumatic backstory, to give her a reason to not fall into Esko's arms. This is her description:
...at night her dreams were still sometimes hellishly peopled by the men who'd burst into the house that night in Petersburg. At night she experienced all over again the rape, their foul breath on her face, their ramming inside her, the murder of her mother, her grandmother, and her father.
It's just a summary of what she told the crowd back in Finland. And she does so with even more inappropriate distance. There's no pain there, it's too clinical, and not in a coping mechanism kind of way. Despite Rayner's intention though, it does make me feel more sorry for Katerina, not because it's a plot device, but because of what Esko's pursuit ought to be doing to her. He won't take no for an answer; he's as willing to take control from her as her rapists did. She literally has to run away from him.
According to the back cover, Esko is going to be accused of murdering Katerina's husband, and I can't wait to see him destroy himself, I only wish he'd do it faster. Because I've finally found a theme to this book, and it's that Esko ruins everyone's lives. The book is structured by the various groups Esko joins: the village, the Finnish architects, the New York riveters, etc. And he leaves a group after someone dies, and that's the only time he joins another. He abandons people--he hasn't even thought about his father figure in Finland, nor his former wife even though she saved him.
This book has no soul. There's no greater disappointment to me than having to force myself to finish a book like this. I don't mind abandoning books as much. The only reason I'm even trying is the investment of pages, and like Sepulchre, the reason it's taking longer than it should is because it manages to offend me at least once a paragraph. This isn't quite as shallow, and it is better written, so it gets one more star.
I still have 100 pages.
Finished. The last 100 pages could best be described as sensational. As in tabloid. Shocking for the sake of shock, or perhaps I was just so numbed to Esko and the story that I just didn't care. That's why the book failed for me, because Esko as a character never convinced me to care. And the end was just a little too pat.
June 11, 2019
Φιλανδία 1920, αρχιτεκτονική
March 19, 2012
The Last book of the trip that I read most of on
the way home was "The Cloud Sketcher" by Richard
Rayner that I pulled of a book shelf at home
before we went away looked at and had no real
memory of getting it, but liked the blurb on the
back and put it in the bag.
Well I can't remember the last 500 page book I
read as quickly as this one. It's a total page
turner of a life and death story of Esko a
Little Finnish boy who grew up dreaming of
building a Cloud Sketcher, which is what the
Finnish word for Skyscraper translates as.
Wow what a rollercoaster that takes in an epic
love affair and fighting on the other side to
his father in World War 1 on the Finnish Front
watching the atrocities take place and taking
part in them.
Then in the American part of the book you get a
classic start at the bottom American Dream come
true style story as he works his way up from
being a Rivetter on a Building site to building
his Cloud Sketcher via a career building
Speakeasies. That inevitably brings in a Mafia
and Jazz element to the story.
I'm not going to give anything away though as I
guarantee anyone who buys this book will enjoy
it as a thoroughly engrossing read.
the way home was "The Cloud Sketcher" by Richard
Rayner that I pulled of a book shelf at home
before we went away looked at and had no real
memory of getting it, but liked the blurb on the
back and put it in the bag.
Well I can't remember the last 500 page book I
read as quickly as this one. It's a total page
turner of a life and death story of Esko a
Little Finnish boy who grew up dreaming of
building a Cloud Sketcher, which is what the
Finnish word for Skyscraper translates as.
Wow what a rollercoaster that takes in an epic
love affair and fighting on the other side to
his father in World War 1 on the Finnish Front
watching the atrocities take place and taking
part in them.
Then in the American part of the book you get a
classic start at the bottom American Dream come
true style story as he works his way up from
being a Rivetter on a Building site to building
his Cloud Sketcher via a career building
Speakeasies. That inevitably brings in a Mafia
and Jazz element to the story.
I'm not going to give anything away though as I
guarantee anyone who buys this book will enjoy
it as a thoroughly engrossing read.
November 5, 2024
A beautiful story of the transition of a Finnish boy obsessed with elevators into a man obsessed with architecture. Sometimes rambling, the well-researched novel gives insight not only into the life of an ambitious immigrant to New York City at the turn of the 20th century, but also the insight into the mind of an artist with a single-minded obsession and passion for his craft and for his love of a woman. Each time he seems to lose her or rediscover her, his passion for her, and for his dream of building a skyscraper, is redoubled. Ranging from raucous Harlem speakeasies, to stark Finnish countryside, and to blinding battle scenes, the story of Esko Vaananen is dynamic, glittering, complex, and believable.
August 7, 2014
One of the most enjoyable books I have read this year,Richard Rayner`s character Esko Vaananen,is so believable,that if you searched the history books you would find his name somewhere among the pages.
He wont be there!.
This book is about passion,passion for a dream,a woman,a friendship,a political belief,and a future. Esko is someones father,grandfather,great grandfather,he will be in someones family tree,because of him we are were we are today,once you pick this book up you will not want to stop till the last page has been turned as the surprises keep you hooked till the end.
He wont be there!.
This book is about passion,passion for a dream,a woman,a friendship,a political belief,and a future. Esko is someones father,grandfather,great grandfather,he will be in someones family tree,because of him we are were we are today,once you pick this book up you will not want to stop till the last page has been turned as the surprises keep you hooked till the end.
September 1, 2015
Truly a 4 1/2, I could not get enough of this novel! Everything about it captivated me and took me along in vivid, riveting detail. Best of all it kept me guessing. I never could predict or nail down how it would end. I was delighted to read through without a 'knowing instinct'for the outcome and it was such an outcome! My recommendation is to read it.
August 10, 2014
I'm rereading this book as I was very impressed by it some years ago. It captures the ethos of Finland in the time before and after the Civil War with deft descriptions and touches. Poor Esko! He didn't get a good chance, but he made the most of his gifts.
July 31, 2015
An epic novel spanning one man's life from the early 1900's in Finland to the 20's in New York. Many,many interesting characters and a love that entangles the young man's entire life. I loved learning about the architecture and the constant twists and turns of this novel. It was very special
August 20, 2023
I really did not like this novel but the first 100 or so pages are fascinating and the ending is not bad, so I guess it is two stars. But how, oh how, I longed for the main characters, Esko and Katerina, to come to life, to become more than cardboard cut-outs. All kind of things happen to them but they are frozen solid, Katerina in particular.
Being Estonian myself, I rejoiced when I opened the book. It had lain for so long on my shelf, can't remember why I bought it. And then I got a clue: it is about Finland, next door to Estonia. Esko as a young man goes to fight in WWII and the novel describes some battles. However, Finnish independence comes as a by-product, is barely mentioned; Esko himself does not say anything about the republic, either in Finland or later, in the States. I find this odd. The author has dedicated the book to his Finnish wife and I wonder how happy she is. The Finns are a proud nation, proud of their independence.
I altogether felt that the author had too many themes for his book, maybe even too many adjectives or descriptions in general. I feel that it might have been a much better book if Esko had had normal eyesight (his eyes did not trouble him at all in adulthood, it appears) and if the first murder had not happened. I kept, while reading, expecting Esko's facial scars to matter in some way but he sails through the lot to be asked by a small child about his eye-patch - that is all.
So disappointing.
Being Estonian myself, I rejoiced when I opened the book. It had lain for so long on my shelf, can't remember why I bought it. And then I got a clue: it is about Finland, next door to Estonia. Esko as a young man goes to fight in WWII and the novel describes some battles. However, Finnish independence comes as a by-product, is barely mentioned; Esko himself does not say anything about the republic, either in Finland or later, in the States. I find this odd. The author has dedicated the book to his Finnish wife and I wonder how happy she is. The Finns are a proud nation, proud of their independence.
I altogether felt that the author had too many themes for his book, maybe even too many adjectives or descriptions in general. I feel that it might have been a much better book if Esko had had normal eyesight (his eyes did not trouble him at all in adulthood, it appears) and if the first murder had not happened. I kept, while reading, expecting Esko's facial scars to matter in some way but he sails through the lot to be asked by a small child about his eye-patch - that is all.
So disappointing.
May 13, 2019
Only read if you want to read about a guy totally obsessed with a chick
January 6, 2023
This was a heartbreaking story, too much suffering only by chasing somebody.
I believe that Esko’s life could have been different and better, he got tied up by this one person that only brought sadness and suffering to his life.
From child trauma from both of his parents, self-steam issues, bullying, fighting in a severe war with the Russians, death of loved ones, and then clinging to the wrong person that only brought trouble…
Katerina is the meaning of poison.
I am so sad by this story.
I believe that Esko’s life could have been different and better, he got tied up by this one person that only brought sadness and suffering to his life.
From child trauma from both of his parents, self-steam issues, bullying, fighting in a severe war with the Russians, death of loved ones, and then clinging to the wrong person that only brought trouble…
Katerina is the meaning of poison.
I am so sad by this story.
March 1, 2010
It's a slow start but bear with it...once it gets going, it will capture your attention. Politics, idealism, love, passion, hope, uglienss all merge together in a story of a man who uniquely discovers and creates the world around him even as it changes through war, loss and possibility.
October 11, 2018
My usual “beat” in books of late has been Nordic Noir. This is not Nordic Noir but has its connections to Finland so I was in familiar territory. Its hero, Esko Vaananen, wants to build big things. He sees a vision of a skyscraper and trains his one eye on that as his future. He lost one eye in a fire that took his mother when he was young. His father becomes a spokesman for and leader of the Russian Revolution on the Red side while Esko is a White. As a young man, Esko finds himself under the spell of a Russian aristocrat, Katerina Malysheva. She is engaged to his best friend, Klaus, but when Klaus is killed in the Revolution, she is free to pursue or to select any suitor she wishes. Through various trials and tribulations, Esko marries Anna, a plain but very loving Finn. When he hears that Kate (Katerina) has survived the war after being reported dead, he regretfully leaves Anna and goes to the US where Kate is supposed to be living. The two are reunited for a bit, but she swiftly moves onward and upward, fueling her rise with photography. Esko, in the meantime, joins an architect and begins to work as a professional and his reputation grows. The saga continues with a rich historical view of New York in the 1920s that includes murderous mob members, a very rich aristocrat who happens, of course, to marry Kate, and the arrival of Esko as an architect of note. Much of this might strike the reader as soap opera-ish, but the control of Rayner over his subject matter and characters keeps the plot moving logically and inevitably toward its conclusion. The author is married to a Finn and obviously speaks Finnish but that fact does not interfere with the story. I am back at Nordic Noir now, but I certainly do not regret the digression.
November 22, 2018
This book made me want to visit Finland! It also gave me a new perspective on sky scrapers. I loved the New York scenes—want to back there and look at the skyscrapers anew.
I had love-hate relationships with many of the characters. I admired Esko’s drive and determination but was so disappointed in some of his decisions (Anna). At some pints I was touched by his relationship with Katerina and other points I was shaking my fist in the air at their foolishness. Sign of a good book is when you are talking to the characters and trying to advise them.
I loved the descriptive scenes of Finland—especially Esko’s younger days. I learned one Finnish history and culture too. Finland is definitely on my bucket list now! Helsinki is a must see. I also loved how the author depicted 1920s New York—the Jazz, the gangsters, the spirit of the era. I also have a newfound respect for architecture—the descriptions of Esko’s Church of the Shadow was beautiful. Light and space—wow!
This book starts off a little slow but stick with it, you won’t regret it.
I had love-hate relationships with many of the characters. I admired Esko’s drive and determination but was so disappointed in some of his decisions (Anna). At some pints I was touched by his relationship with Katerina and other points I was shaking my fist in the air at their foolishness. Sign of a good book is when you are talking to the characters and trying to advise them.
I loved the descriptive scenes of Finland—especially Esko’s younger days. I learned one Finnish history and culture too. Finland is definitely on my bucket list now! Helsinki is a must see. I also loved how the author depicted 1920s New York—the Jazz, the gangsters, the spirit of the era. I also have a newfound respect for architecture—the descriptions of Esko’s Church of the Shadow was beautiful. Light and space—wow!
This book starts off a little slow but stick with it, you won’t regret it.
June 28, 2021
I read a library hardback after Linda recommended it for the insight into events Finland at the time of the Russian Revolution, and the atmosphere in New York during the original skyscraper building period in the Roaring 20's and Depression wracked 1930's. Like Linda, I appreciated it more for the intense vignettes starring the protagonist, and the descriptions of how and why, than for the overarching story which binds them together, an improbable tale of lifelong romantic obsession.
December 24, 2024
For a novel this innovative, this dramatic, it’s curiously inert. The characters are vivid enough, the action, both war and architecture, are also vivid enough. It’s the setting, the civil war in Finland and New York in the 1920s, that make this book and kept me reading.In comparison, Esko is almost a shadow, and Katrina is almost completely a cipher. She doesn’t seem real at all. I guess that’s the point, she is the object of desire, so reality can’t ever be real enough.
January 8, 2022
Only a 4 star as I found it hard to stay focused during the war part. Apart from that, I loved this book. It is very well written with nothing that seems to annoy me from more amateur writers. Full of surprises, you can't easily predict the outcome of the tale. Can't wait to share this one around :)
May 4, 2017
This book was a saga of a life. Many struggles, an obsessive love, a great insight into the Finnish life style and mindset. Maybe should rate a 4.5 due to a bit of tediousness, but overall a good read.
October 23, 2018
Found this book in a free bin on the sidewalk in Middlebury Vermont, and surprisingly it was entertaining enough to hook me through to the end. Enjoyed reading about Finland and the (fictionalized) 1920s New York, but I wouldn't add it to my list of books I recommend to friends.
January 11, 2022
Interesting book about architecture, starting in Finland and ending in 1920's New York City. It encompasses a man's dream of buildings, with dreams of building skyscrapers, and his love of a woman he meets as a young boy.
February 28, 2023
Read this in 2001, and just remembered it with my son setting off for Finland.
If you are interested in Finland, forests, 20th century architecture and the beginning of skyscrapers--any or all of these topics, I recommend this book to you.
If you are interested in Finland, forests, 20th century architecture and the beginning of skyscrapers--any or all of these topics, I recommend this book to you.
September 3, 2019
Could've been a great work of literature, if the author had turned Katerina into some kind of actual character.
May 3, 2020
499 pages
November 2, 2022
Una maravillosa joya de la literatura
May 9, 2025
Beau, enlevant, captivant.
did-not-finish
November 20, 2025didnt hit in the first 100 pages so i got to quit while i can
May 22, 2010
I'm on about the fourth chapter and loving this book. Rich characters, unique subjects.
Okay --- I have been thinking about this all morning. How to say how amazing and beautiful this book is --- how well-written, rich, full of depth and variety and skillful use of language and characterization. It isn't getting any easier.
One way that I can attempt it is to make a comparison. I've recently read a nice little Southern book about a more-or-less orphaned girl who goes to live with a rich aunt in Savannah. In some ways, the book is compelling... the female characters, their strengths, the love that abounds, and the coming of age (if you allow only about a year or so to come of age). I couldn't connect to it, though, and I finished it probably only because it is the current selection of our book club. When I got to the last couple of pages, I finally found the best part of the book other than Miz Goodpepper's outdoor bath under the stars and her peacock Louie.
So --- I kept asking (myself, and even my daughter), "Why can't I get in to this book? What is wrong with it that doesn't satisfy me? I couldn't really get my mind around it fully until I got back to Cloudsketcher, and then it became perfectly clear.
Cloudsketcher is beautiful, rare, exceptional, well-developed, and thorough. It covers a wide range of human experience from the worst of us to the best. It's everything I want in a book.... an experience that goes on and on rewarding and satisfying my curiosity about what it means to be a human being and to love and forgive and know grace and contempt and exploration on a level that is so far beyond the little Southern coming of age novel, which (and I don't mean this to be ugly) is reading light. Cloudsketcher is reading heavy, reading deep, reading true.
Okay --- I have been thinking about this all morning. How to say how amazing and beautiful this book is --- how well-written, rich, full of depth and variety and skillful use of language and characterization. It isn't getting any easier.
One way that I can attempt it is to make a comparison. I've recently read a nice little Southern book about a more-or-less orphaned girl who goes to live with a rich aunt in Savannah. In some ways, the book is compelling... the female characters, their strengths, the love that abounds, and the coming of age (if you allow only about a year or so to come of age). I couldn't connect to it, though, and I finished it probably only because it is the current selection of our book club. When I got to the last couple of pages, I finally found the best part of the book other than Miz Goodpepper's outdoor bath under the stars and her peacock Louie.
So --- I kept asking (myself, and even my daughter), "Why can't I get in to this book? What is wrong with it that doesn't satisfy me? I couldn't really get my mind around it fully until I got back to Cloudsketcher, and then it became perfectly clear.
Cloudsketcher is beautiful, rare, exceptional, well-developed, and thorough. It covers a wide range of human experience from the worst of us to the best. It's everything I want in a book.... an experience that goes on and on rewarding and satisfying my curiosity about what it means to be a human being and to love and forgive and know grace and contempt and exploration on a level that is so far beyond the little Southern coming of age novel, which (and I don't mean this to be ugly) is reading light. Cloudsketcher is reading heavy, reading deep, reading true.
October 23, 2018
It took me some time to get into The Cloud Sketcher, but that may in part be due to the fact that I had difficulty finding time to read. I also think that the slow start was part of a careful building of the story, which was amazing.
The only reason I could not get myself to give 5 stars is that it lacked emotional depth. The story spans approximately 2 decades, including a war: not surprisingly, people die. These are sad moments where I would have expected to be using several tissues, but did not. It is at times especially difficult to feel sympathy for Esko, I find him selfish and his obsession with Katerina is hard to understand.
The only reason I could not get myself to give 5 stars is that it lacked emotional depth. The story spans approximately 2 decades, including a war: not surprisingly, people die. These are sad moments where I would have expected to be using several tissues, but did not. It is at times especially difficult to feel sympathy for Esko, I find him selfish and his obsession with Katerina is hard to understand.
February 11, 2011
Greatly enjoyed this novel by Richard Rayner that has a few favorite topics of mine weaving through its epic story of romance--architecture, revolution, civil war, Finland, the mafia, prohibition, more architecture and the 1920s. Set in Finland and New York in the range of 1917 to about 1929 with Rayner packing a lot of action and story in this short span of time--almost too much to be honest. Toward the end with the characters talking about all the time that has passed and it's only been a decade--well, that's actually not a lot of time to have gone by really. This has kind of a slow start, but after the first 50 pages I was extremely hooked. I've read a couple of Rayner's non-fiction books--The Blue Suit and Drake's Fortune--and highly enjoyed those, but I will have to seek out other novels if he's done them. This kind of reminded me of William Boyd when he wrote a couple of sweeping epics around WW1--that's a good thing as I'm a very big fan of Boyd's work.
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