Anthony Doerr: All the Light We Cannot See (2023, Scribner)
English language
Published Jan. 22, 2023 by Scribner.
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. In another world in Germany, an orphan …
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall. In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure. Doerr's gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work
beautiful writing, but I really disliked the brutality. The whole book was ominous, just not my thing.
I didn't know what to expect when I started All the Light We Cannot See. Right away, I was concerned that there were going to be too many characters and I wouldn't be able to fully connect with any of them enough to keep me engaged in what is a pretty long book. What happened, instead, is that, to varying degrees, I cared about them all.
Once the characters were introduced, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how they were all connected. It didn't take long, however, for me to stop thinking so much about that and become completely engrossed in their individual situations. When I did start to unravel the connections, I wasn't disappointed. Twice I could feel my eyes widen with the realization and I wished I had someone close by that I could share it with.
This is a beautifully written, thought-provoking book. …
I didn't know what to expect when I started All the Light We Cannot See. Right away, I was concerned that there were going to be too many characters and I wouldn't be able to fully connect with any of them enough to keep me engaged in what is a pretty long book. What happened, instead, is that, to varying degrees, I cared about them all.
Once the characters were introduced, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how they were all connected. It didn't take long, however, for me to stop thinking so much about that and become completely engrossed in their individual situations. When I did start to unravel the connections, I wasn't disappointed. Twice I could feel my eyes widen with the realization and I wished I had someone close by that I could share it with.
This is a beautifully written, thought-provoking book. There were many passages that forced me to stop and re-read them because the prose was just that gorgeous. Some of the metaphors demanded that extra attention. The author's descriptions allowed me to be fully present with the characters. I haven’t been this moved by a writer’s style in a long time.
My only regret is that I didn't have more time to read it in much larger chunks. Having to listen to only a few chapters at a time for most of the book made it harder to stay connected to the characters. But even with that obstacle, I still fell in love with Werner and Marie-Laure. Hell, I even felt that I understood the "bad guy", Von Rumpel.
Part of me wishes the book would have ended well before it actually did, but another part is glad to have had some closure - not a lot of closure, but some.
I know I'm late to the party here but if anyone out there is still on the fence about diving in, don't wait any longer. I can definitely see myself reading this one again. There aren't many mainstream novels that I reread but I'm certain I missed details on my first time through.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. Once I realized I'd wouldn't have time to read it with my eyes, I picked up the audio version and am happy I did. To hear the French and German pronounced helped to keep me immersed in the story. Besides the fact that the narrator did a great job.
