If I could give “All The Light We Cannot See” more than five stars, I would. I read this amazing book on Kindle and listened to it on Audible, as well. BTW the narrator on Audible, Zach Appelman, is really excellent. His ability to pronounce the French and German names, his articulation and his pregnant pauses really added to the reading of this book.
Anthony Doerr’s book is simply stunning. Dazzling is a good word for it. I have reviewed many other books and have sometimes said this or that writer writes fluidly and well. I have given five stars to quite a few writers. “All The Light We Cannot See” is a higher level of excellence that not many authors achieve. No wonder Anthony Doerr won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this book!
The chapters are short and beautifully written. I could say “beautifully and elegantly painted”; they remind me of a painting. This book is poetic, creative, imaginative and historically enlightening as well. Science and technology, it’s fascination and the power to help or harm, is explored along with the characters’ thoughts and feelings; we learn about their courage or lack of and why they make their individual decisions during the rise of Hitler and on into World War II. The descriptions are incredibly sensitive and vivid. Objects are palpable; I could see and feel them. The book pulled me in so much that I was part of each scene. The poignant images remained with me and made the characters come alive.
The author skillfully writes using a juxtaposition of events in the life of a blind French girl, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, and that of a German boy, Werner Pfennig. Towards the end of the book their lives meet.
Marie-Laure, the blind French girl, lives with her father in Paris. She became blind at 6 years old due to congenital cataracts. She has developed her other senses, namely, hearing, touch and smell to compensate for her loss of sight. In her imagination, she can see colors when she uses her other senses to explore her world. Her father carves wooden replicas of all the buildings in Paris for her to learn to find her way home by herself. He is a very devoted and loving father and teaches her independence but promises her he will always be there for her and will never leave her. He is the master locksmith at the Museum of Natural History. Marie-Laure, who is a curious and bright child, goes with him to work and studies paleontology, archeology, geology and other branches of science with Dr. Gefford, while her father works.
The boy, Werner, lives in an orphanage, “Children’s House” in Zollverein, Germany. The children in the orphanage are very close to starving. A good deal of the population is very poor and not getting enough to eat. When Hitler comes to power, the economy improves dramatically. People are getting more food (meat even) and new appliances. The German population is inundated with radio propaganda. Only state supported German radio channels are allowed. The German population is brainwashed. The people think Hitler is helping them climb out of poverty, build a better society and take pride in their Country again.
Yet the future looks bleak to Werner. Nazi officials tell the boys in the orphanage that they will all have to work in the coalmines when they turn 15 years of age. Werner’s father had died in the coal mines, and Werner is not happy with the prospect of being underground in the dark pit of the mines. After finding a broken radio in the city trash, Werner gets it working. His fascination with radios and his skill in fixing them gives him a chance to escape the coal mines and go to paramilitary school. He has a chance to pursue his interest in radio technology and contribute to the new Germany. He visualizes a glorious future.
In the attic at the orphanage, Werner and his sister Jutta had listened to foreign radio stations that were illegal under Nazi rule. A French radio station with science lectures fascinated them. How magical it was to hear a voice from afar, transmitted through the air! Jutta liked a program on magnets. Werner liked the program on light. “What do we call visible light? We call it color. But the electromagnetic spectrum runs to zero in one direction and infinity in the other, so really children, mathematically, all of light is invisible.” The radio was a symbol of freedom for them both, the freedom to learn and dream.
Before he leaves for school, however, Werner smashes the radio. He does not want anything to interfere with his chance for what he thinks will be a better life. Listening to foreign radio stations is illegal and dangerous. Jutta, a free spirit with a strong moral compass, feels betrayed. She thinks her brother is turning into a cold, brutal Nazi like Hans and Herribert, two older boys in the orphanage who have joined the brown-shirted Hitler Youth. She insists that the broadcasts from the foreign radio stations say the Germans are committing atrocities, just the opposite of what they hear on the state-owned German stations.
Werner gets caught up with his study of radios and blocks out the brutality around him at school. Despite his lack of courage to go against the dictates of his German superiors, the reader can see his conflict and the goodness in him that he wants to embrace. His friend, Frederick, a bird-lover and dreamer, is called the “weakest” by the field commander but shows his courage by refusing to participate in the brutal death of a prisoner. Frederick pays for it by being beaten so badly that he becomes no more than a living vegetable.
With the invasion of Paris in 1940, Marie-Laure and her father escape to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast and find refuge with Marie-Laure’s great uncle, Etienne. Again her father observes and measures the buildings of this new city and carves a wooden replica of all 865 buildings. Unfortunately, his efforts cause suspicion, and he is arrested on his way back to Paris on an errand for the Museum of Natural History. He is convicted of “theft and conspiracy” and sent to a prison in Germany. Feeling abandoned but gathering her inner strength, Marie-Laure continues to live with her great uncle, Etienne, and his housekeeper Madame Manec. Madame Manec starts working for the French Resistance and Marie-Laure takes over some of her activities when the housekeeper becomes ill. Upon Madame Manec’s death from pneumonia, Etienne gets his courage up and joins the French Resistance.
Werner finds himself caught up in the brutality with no way to escape. His skill in detecting enemy radio transmissions results in many deaths, some of them innocent civilians. He is haunted by the deaths, especially that of one little girl in Vienna who reminded him of his sister, Jutta. Werner is sent to Saint-Malo to find the source of the radio transmissions of the French Resistance. He finds Marie-Laure’s broadcasts, but does not expose her. He recognizes the radio programs that had inspired him so much as a child. When he hears her voice saying that someone is in her house and is going to kill her, he vows to save her if he can reach her in time. Werner finds her and saves her life. The Americans are bombing the town, but during a lull, he helps her escape Saint-Malo.
Intertwined with the lives of our two main characters, Marie-Laure and Werner, fairytale and reality collide. The legend of the “Sea of Flames”, a 133 carat diamond said to be the intended gift of the Goddess of the Earth to the God of the Sea, parallels the calamities the characters experience in their lives. It was said that the person who had the diamond would live forever, but those he loved around him would die. If the stone were returned to the sea, the curse would be lifted.
Especially during the bombing of Saint-Malo, Marie-Laure and Werner both draw parallels to their own predicaments and Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. Trapped in the basement of the Hotel of Bees in Saint-Malo, Werner listens to Marie-Laure’s broadcasts of the science programs and music that had been recorded by her deceased grandfather. He thinks of Captain Nemo being trapped under the sea in the Nautilus. Werner and his fellow German soldier, Volkheimer, have run out of food and water and have very little air. “Who could possibly calculate the minimum time required for us to get out? Might we not be asphyxiated before the Nautilus could surface?” Are more monsters awaiting them when they do surface?
Marie-Laure is trapped in her uncle Etienne’s secret attic room where he had broadcast codes for the French Resistance. Down below is an intruder, the Nazi Sergeant Major von Rumpel. He is there to find the “Sea of Flames” diamond, which her father hid in the wooden house replica of her great uncle’s house. Instead of giving it to the Reich for Hitler’s dream museum in Linz, Austria, he wants to have the enchanted diamond to cure his cancerous tumor. He is dying, and he believes the diamond will save his life. Marie-Laure has not had food for two days and has had no water for one and a half days. She starts to think maybe this Nazi will spare her life if she gives him the diamond. Maybe the curse would end and her father would come back. Not trusting her safety, however, she has a knife handy. She thinks of Captain Nemo when he said to Ned Land, the Canadian harpooner, “But let me tell you that if we’re caught, I’m going to defend myself, even if I die doing it”.
There are many levels to this book and much to think about. The reader can get many insights into the human condition and why someone like Hitler could take over Germany and spread his sickness into so many other countries. The book is well researched and taught me a good deal about how it was to grow up in Germany when Hitler came to power. Additionally, I could understand more concretely how it was for the French when France was invaded by Hitler's armies. Good historical fiction brings all these events to life. Anthony Doerr brings a powerful humanism to the events in World War II. He made the characters come alive for me. This is a book to ponder, reread and treasure. The author brings an incredible immediacy to his writing that will draw you in and stay with you, perhaps, forever.
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| More books from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Novelist | “If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” –The Washington Post | "The Shell Collector is breathtaking.... Perilously beautiful." –Boston Globe | Doerr's first novel: "One of those novels that works its way into your very dreams." –Newsday | "Doerr writes about the big questions, the imponderables, the major metaphysical dreads, and he does it fearlessly" –The New York Times Book Review | A "dazzling" (Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran) memoir about art and adventures in Rome |
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Reviews with images
See the Light through Superb Writing with Profound Lessons
Being the recipient of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, my expectations for 'All the Light we Cannot See' were extremely high. With all things considered, I feel confident in saying that the critical acclaim was warranted and deserved in this case. Despite two minor annoyances, which I cover at the end, 'All the Light we Cannot See' is a phenomenally written, percipient, and remarkable example of sound literature.Author Anthony Doerr tells the story of how 18 years old Werner, a geeky, crafty, and thoughtful engineering prodigy in Germany, meets 16 years old Marie-Laure, a sweet, astute, and affable blind French girl during the siege of Saint-Malo in 1944. WWII, with all its stentorian and fervid trappings of war is the backdrop to Werner and Marie-Laure's fateful encounter. Written in short but vividly described, intricately woven chapters, the backstory of how they are brought together is told over the course of ten years starting in 1944 and flashing back as far as 1934. Through alternating timelines from both their perspectives, they meet and thereafter, the aftermath and implications of the encounter is written about up until the year 2014.Several pages into the novel, I knew I had a special literary piece in my hands. Werner and Marie-Laure are easy to fall in love with as Doerr writes them in a way that is honest and open. They are both multi-faceted in their strengths and their vulnerabilities, without either one playing a victim. Or at least, I never saw either one as a victim. I also appreciated that foibles, frailty, and other unsavory personality traits are depicted for both, allowing them to be alive with authenticity. I never want to read about characters who are too perfect and give the sun, the moon, and the stars all of the time. In the case of this novel, the two main protagonists are realistic for their time and for the circumstances they find themselves in. Joining Werner and Marie-Laure is a dynamic, and at times unfortunate mix of supporting characters who collectively illuminate the radiance and light of when humanity is good and kind. Juxtaposed, others in the mix depict the ugly darkness of when humanity resorts to selfishness and evil. Though they are fictional, we should all be so lucky as to encounter characters like Frederick, Madame Manec, Frau Elena, and Dr. Geffard, and hope the world breeds less of Dr. Hauptmann, Bastian, and Reinhold von Rumpel.'All the Light we Cannot See' has many lessons to impart on the reader, with one of the most profound being the titular Light that we must all see. The novel soundly shows us how those who are blind in the literal sense, can see more than those who have the ability to gaze as far as their eyes will carry. Additionally, the novel allows the reader to see for themselves how people whose visions are symbolically foggy, can still find goodness of heart and lightness of mind in unlikely places, and in the unlikeliest of people. Thought-provokingly, Doerr weaves for the reader how darkness creeps and consumes those who choose to be figuratively blind and who later become disillusioned by their own rancor, malevolence, and enmity. In the heart of strong-willed characters, we see how love, patience, understanding and empathy become the key that open and illuminate the path into light.I very much enjoyed this read, and surprisingly, the short chapters were not an annoyance as can sometimes be when the author is not skilled enough to execute them. Doerr is skilled and in the case of 'All the Light we Cannot See,' he, in what was in many instances only a page and a half, or even only half a page, has written cohesive chapters that are richly dense, brimming with cerebral atmosphere that envelopes the reader at the turn of every page. In this regard, I could see Marie-Laure's loneliness, and Werner's moral conflict. I felt the fear and uncertainty in Jutta, Daniel LeBlanc, and Etienne's reticence. I could taste the saltiness in the breeze that wafted over Saint-Malo, while also I could smell the acrid, grey, and gritty skies of Zollverein. Each time a character was famished due to scant war rations, I tasted the sweetness of the cool water they drank and I could taste the crust and crumb of the loaf of bread they tore apart. These are not things easy to achieve in books. Doerr however has done so fantastically.It goes without saying that there is plenty beauty and radiance to be found in 'All the Light we Cannot See.' Some of it emanates directly from the characters, while other times, it comes from the reader's own willingness to be open-minded. Taking that into mind, there were only two minor concerns I had with the novel. First being that when the author went into descriptive details of radio repair and engineering principles, my eyes would on occasion glaze over a bit since neither subject matter are strengths of mine. Nevertheless, as a curious reader, I know that it was necessary for me and other readers to know Werner's technical acumen when the author painstakingly described the workings of transmitters, transceivers, and the intricacies of repairing electronics.The second minor concern I had with the novel was the very last chapter, which covered the year 2014. So that I don't inadvertently give spoilers, I will simply say that I would have liked this chapter better if it was written differently. I loved the significance of it and the observations made, but I would have liked it better minus the game playing grandson. Also, I would have preferred the scene take place during a final visit to Saint-Malo rather than where the scene is depicted. Even better would have been if this very last chapter had been cut altogether. Ending the novel on the previous chapter labeled "Frederick," would have had a better impact in my view.Despite the minor misstep in the last chapter, 'All the Light we Cannot See' is superb all around and I absolutely recommend it. I also want to point out that unlike some readers, the back and forth narrative depicting differing timelines and differing character perspectives did NOT bother me one bit. This is a technique that I appreciate and think it is one of the reasons why this novel is so special. Readers who complain about this non-linear technique must challenge their ability (or lack of it) to retain multiple levels of story details as the plot progresses. For serious readers who like their books to have weighty, loaded implications, and for readers who appreciate intelligent writing that give literary gifts every turn of the page, 'All the Light we Cannot See' is for you. Read carefully and "open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever." 5 Stars!
Top reviews from other countries
Devyani Sen
Unputdownable, Page-turner, Intriguing
Reviewed in India on August 30, 2020
Devyani Sen
Reviewed in India on August 30, 2020
It’s 1934. Marie-Laurie Le Blanc lives in Paris and is six years old when she loses her eyesight and for the first time learns about the priceless “Sea of Flames”- an accursed gemstone with a brilliant blue color and a touch of red at it’s center which lays hidden for the past 200 years in the vaults of the National Museum of Natural History, where Marie’s father, Daniel Le Blanc works as the principle locksmith. Marie shares a very tender and solicitous relationship with her father. Her father builds her a small and an artistic model of the city in which they live, gets her books in Braille, makes her solve ingenious puzzles and tries his best to make Marie-Laurie capable of living life on her own. Her father, with strong dedication and utmost determination, tries to make sure that nothing stops his little chérie from pursuing her dreams and flying high.
Werner Pfennig is an eight year old German albino boy who lives with his sister Jutta at an orphanage in Zollverein, Germany. Since his very childhood, Werner has been extremely inquisitive and agog about things going on around him. He shows great enthusiasm and love for radios, transmitters, electronics and mathematics which eventually leads him to acquire schooling in the National Political Institutes of Education. Though he’s thrilled to escape the sentence of working in the mines and dying young like his father, and is delighted to be able to study in the open and tinker with the radios, Werner gradually finds himself all caught up and cornered in the brutality and malevolence of the premier school of Hitler’s Youth.
In 1940 as the German hostility advances and Marie and her father, who has been entrusted with the “Sea of Flames”, escape Paris and take shelter in Saint Malo where Marie’s great uncle, Etienne Le Blanc resides, their lives take an unexpected and unsolicited turn and Marie-Laurie some years down the line bumps into the eighteen year old, field expert, Werner Pfennig.
What happens next? Will Werner and Marie be able to survive the devastation of the global war? Can they succeed against all odds? Or shall they give into their wretched fate? Shall the “Sea of Flames” cast it’s spell?
It will take me one whole day if I get to start talking about this book in particular. There are so many entangled feelings and emotions harboring in me rn that it becomes hard to express myself, really. My heart aches, I am totally bewitched and it’s gonna take me a while before I start reading another book! I simply loved everything about this book. The chapters are short, hardly 2-3 pages long and it makes sure that no reader develops a sense of apathy while proceeding. I loved how Doerr gave a clear insight into the world of Marie-Laurie and Werner Pfennig. I could literally get blind, for a moment, like Marie and feel the things just as she did! Nazi Germany, it’s hostility, malevolence, the lives of the innocents lost, love and power, everything allured me to such an extent that it left me in a complete state of melancholia and tears. This book is certainly not a conventional war story. There’s so much more to it! The radiant beauty of the prose and the intricate details of the things going around, add up to the fine quality of the novel. It was like I am experiencing the haunting era of the WWII. I guess that’s the power of writing. Isn’t it?
It took me 5 days to complete the book and 3 days to be done with the review. I literally restrained myself from writing too much and giving out the spoilers. When you a love a book so much, then it gets really hard to express your feelings about it! You fall out of the correct words and actually fail to explain how you feel about it!! And that’s what is happening with me rn lol.
I am sure this novel would indeed be a piece of luck for anyone with a long plane journey or a beach holiday ahead. This is a complete page-turner, certainly unputdownable and an entirely absorbing piece of work! I can’t thank the author much for giving me this priceless experience! You guys won’t believe how desperately I want you people to read it! Recommending this novel to all the book lovers out there and even if you aren’t comfortable with the genre, then trust me it wasn’t my genre too until I read this one! I’m sure this particular narrative shall not disappoint you in any way!
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