All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2014; vuoden 2014 painos)

Absolutely gorgeous book. The writing was beautiful, and the story was woven together perfectly. ( )

This is the best book I've read in some time. Is there a 6 star category? I loved the structure. Each short chapter is like a mini novel, beautifully written and constructed, that inexorably build to the thrilling final chapters. The switches in time are superbly handled. It is an excellent exploration of how major international events (in this case WW 2) effect ordinary people and how it brings out the best and worst in us all, no matter what side we are on. I closed the book for the final time with a very satisfied sigh. ( )

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE won the Pulitzer Prize, was a National Book Award Finalist and was on the NY Times Best Seller list for three years. It’s been reviewed over 65,000 times on Goodreads. I doubt I can add anything that hasn’t already been discussed in detail by much better reviewers than me. But I’m trying to review everything I read (it helps me to remember the book when I look back a year later) so I thought I might offer one of those lists that are so popular nowadays.

10 things I liked about ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

1. Great title – intriguing; makes me want to pick up the book and check what’s inside and it actually has something to do with the story;

2. The characters – a blind French girl and a German boy soldier who is a mechanical wizard are not your typical war story protagonists. The odds are hugely stacked against both of these kids, but their struggle to endure and survive makes for a compelling and moving story.

3. Short chapters with helpful titles – the story moves at a great pace and I think the shortness of the chapters (probably average less than 3 pages) is a factor in the great pace that this novel has. The titles help to frame each chapter, which is helpful especially since there are many changes in point of view.

4. Chronology – the story starts in 1944 and then jumps back to 1934 and keeps jumping. Because of the flash forwards we know what is going happen to a certain degree, but we get just enough advance information to keep us focused on trying to figure out how this is all going to turn out.

5. Surprises – even with all this flash forwarding I was often wrong at predicting how the story would evolve; many clever, believable surprise developments;

6. Technology – radio – the light we can’t see – plays a key role in the story; I like stories where people do technical stuff – Werner’s talent for solving technical problems, fixing broken radios, etc. was fascinating for me (perhaps because I have no talent for fixing things).

7. Sensory descriptions – Doerr is so talented it is easy to forget how challenging it has to be to write a novel when one of the main characters can’t see. But we see Paris and Saint-Malo vividly through Marie-Laure’s other senses.

8. Realism – this is a war story viewed at a micro level. It’s not about grand strategy or politics. We see the carnage on the ground from aerial bombardment (by the good guys) and we see the guerrilla campaigns where Werner’s radio wizardry hunts down resistance fighters.

9. Relationships – Marie and her father; Werner and her sister; Marie and her agoraphobic Uncle Etienne; Werner and his big friend/protector Volkheimer;

10. The Mystery of the Jewel – this is a great literary novel that has cool mystery aspects (and a curse) that make it hard to put down.

Great story for readers of all ages. Highly recommended. ( )

I wish I could give this book SIX stars, or seven. I typically don't read, or enjoy, or appreciate, what I call "period pieces" but this book got special consideration. Not just because it's written by a fellow Falcon, a fellow BGSU alum, or because it/he won a Pulitzer Prize for it, but because it hooked me within the first 10 pages. I never wanted to put it down. Characters and places so well developed that it was not difficult to "see" them and become fully immersed in their world. Needless to say, I highly recommend this book! ( )

Lovely. Made me cry. I would read this again and again. ( )