Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Title: All the Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Historical Fiction, Adult

Pages: 530

Publisher: Scribner

Year Published: 2014

Format: Paperback Physical Copy

First Line: "At dusk they pour from the sky."

"Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure's reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum's most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Marie-Laure and Werner, from warring countries, both having lost many of the people they loved, come together in Saint-Malo, as Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another."

My Rating: 4/5

This is a book that I bought based on the premise as well as the lovely cover. I know.. I'm that person who takes that into consideration if I'm buying books. As soon as I started this book I expected to enjoy it. The characters captured the reader's attention easily and the writing kept me thinking late into the night. I think that the subject matter is important for youth as well as adults to read about. While we are taught about the war to an extent in school, or through post-secondary education there is still so much you can't get from facts alone. Many people still view all the German soldiers who fought in this war as villains, but this book (similar to parts of the Book Thief) showed that many people weren't willing participants but were motivated in some way to participate. It's horrible to think about but it's a fact. I think that the author did an excellent job of showing how integrity and resistance were viewed in Nazi Germany. I also think that the beginning of the book portrays the change in a society. I enjoyed this work overall, just found that it didn't give me a huge wow factor for this reason I rated this book 4/5 stars overall.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny