All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
All the Light We
Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
If you
like historical fiction novels set around World War II that include a subtle
but intriguing fantasy element, then more than likely you’ll enjoy this novel.
If you enjoy well done transitions and point of views that add to the story but
never become overwhelming then you’ll more than likely enjoy this novel. If you
enjoy vivid detail and depth in your historical fiction then you will enjoy
this novel. I can appreciate all these things and I was sucked into this novel
from the very beginning.
When Marie-Laure
was six, before she went blind, she was told the story of the Sea of Flames at
the Museum of Natural History in Paris. The Sea of Flames is a blue diamond
with dancing flames in the center with a weight of 133 carats, whose possessor
can never die. Marie-Laure’s father doesn’t believe the diamond has any bearing
whatsoever on life. When she goes blind he builds an exact replica of the town
for her to memorize, teaches her braille and continues to challenge her mind
with puzzles. They flee Paris in 1940 and head to Saint-Malo, to leave with his
Uncle Etienne. Here he builds another exact replica of the town, with a gift
hidden that may save her life. Meanwhile, young Werner and his sister Jutta, live
as orphans in the mining town where their father died. Werner’s prowess with
technology and trigonometry gets him recruited into the National Political
Institute of Education at Schulpforta. Eventually he is placed in the middle of
the war, hunting those illegally sending radio transmissions. Two different stories
that intertwine with that of a man searching for a cure, in the shape of a blue
diamond.
When I
first heard of this novel I was fascinated but not intrigued enough to pursue
it. My TBR pile is long enough, this one could wait. But a friend of mine insisted
I read it, to the point of giving me her copy and I figured why not. It’s a
Pulitzer Prize winner. I had seen some really great reviews from people whose
opinion I really valued so I opened it up and got immediately sucked in. Doerr’s
writing style is amazingly vivid and detailed. From the very first page, he had
my attention. I love when a writer can drop you right in the middle of
situation and instead of confusing you, he intrigues you. Done. I was so caught
up in the mystery of the story that I didn’t want to put it down.
The
novel alternates not only between the main characters in third person, but
Doerr switched back and forth in time as well. Each part of the chapter is only
a few pages, so you aren’t overwhelmed with the changes in one character’s
life, before moving on. By doing this Doerr created a certain rhythm in his
storytelling that really moved the plot along well. The lapses in time only
added to the suspense. The book starts in 1944, and then backtracks, then comes
back to 1944. Again this never got confusing to me. I rather enjoyed it. I was
being fed little tidbits at a time that all lead to a pretty satisfying result.
Even with this method of writing, all of the characters were very well
developed and full of depth. The world was built beautifully and destroyed just
as beautifully. Overall this was a well done novel.
I did
have one small problem, which is why this is getting 4.5 out of 5 stars. The
ending of the novel wasn’t my favorite. The result of the three different
storylines merging was great but then Doerr just kept going and luckily there
wasn’t many pages left because that’s when my interest started to wane. I still
highly recommend this book. Doerr’s way with words and how he weaved this story
makes this novel worth it.
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