All the Light We Cannot See

A beautifully detailed story set in occupied France and mostly told through the eyes of a blind girl and a boy with big hopes and dreams (and the brain and skills to achieve them) who is forced to become a Hitler youth.  The plot was extremely original for the subject matter, and the characters jumped out of the pages.

I'm very ashamed to say that i didn't love this book as much as the critics, literally every end of the year list, and my mom said I was supposed to. Maybe I'm just perverse. I really did enjoy the writing style and the two main characters but I never felt like I really engaged with it.
When I found out it took the guy ten years to write, I understood my issue: it's too darn cleanly written. Everything is as perfectly placed as the machinery this guy's so fond of eulogizing. And it pisses me off. I wanted some sort of spark, something that added a weird, unexpected dimension and threw a wrench into these flat little characters, who are all so conveniently obsessed with poetic pursuits.
Also, I just kept thinking of this as like the more political version of the invention of Hugo Cabret and honestly I liked that book better.
I also despise too explicit epilogues; I don't need to know how gross, old, and purposeless my spunky lil characters have gotten.
This is an extremely crabby review and I did actually enjoy this book so I'm giving it a four. But that's mainly so I don't bring down its exceptional rating. Heaven forbid.

I shouldn't like this. Historical fiction set in World War 2 with the obliquely titled “All the Light We Cannot See” featuring a blind French girl?! With George Clooney's Monuments Men, Angelina Jolie's Unbroken and Brad Pitt's Fury it's only a matter of time before Sandra Bullock snatches this up for her own bit of WWII movie relevance.

Marie-Laure LeBlanc is the blind daughter of master locksmith for the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Werner Pfennig and his sister are orphans in the coal mining town of Zollverein. He's destined for the mines as soon as he turns 15 until his skill at repairing radios gets him a ticket out via a Hitler Youth academy.

Reviewers have found his language overly decorated - “no noun sits upon the page without the decoration of at least one adjective, and sometimes, alas with two or three“ while others complain about the zig zagging timeline that shuttles back and forth over the years and flips between narrators. Screw them. This is one of those books you tell people to just read. It was one of those books I finished and didn't know what to read next, assured that anything else would just be words on a page. Individual results may vary.

The writing was very good however I just couldn't get into this book. Too much flipping back and forth through time. It was a bit confusing at times. Just not my kind of book.

What a heart-wrenching and beautifully written book! The author spent ten years on this story, and you can tell. I was skeptical about this book from the beginning, because although I enjoy historical fiction, I feel that WWII can be overdone, and the concept of a French-German relationship during the war did not appeal to me as an original story. However, I couldn't have been more wrong about the book.
It is impossible not to empathize with the two main characters, and the development of the secondary characters was just as gripping. I personally fell in love with Frederick, a young Nazi who struggles to fit in.
Probably one of the novel's strongest traits is how it portrays Nazi soldiers as more than just goons. The other fascinating feature was the beauty and depth of description used to portray the perspective of the blind girl. The way the cities and houses are described make you almost feel like you are blind.
For all its description and depth, it does not drag at any point. The book is written in short chapters with a back-and-forth timeline that forces you to want to read more. Furthermore it is written over a back-story of fantasy and folk-lore, with a deep underlying symbolism, which gave the plot far more life than one usually gets from a historical piece.
I hold back on giving it a perfect score because despite how well-written the characters are, the main ones can feel too perfect, and though the story was deep and powerful, it did not impact me in the same way others stories have. All in all though, it was a beautiful story.

Loved this book. Interesting characters, engaging plot and wonderful writing weave a moving tale that I won't soon forget. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys literary fiction.

One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. Great, great writing, and it's refreshing to read a book centered around WWII that doesn't fall into the usual tropes. Even though it's pretty long at over 500 pages, the structure allows you to take breaks easily; most sections are less than five pages long.

I usually keep only the highest quality books, and donate the rest of what I read to the local library. This one stays on the shelf. If you want intelligent writing, an intricate plot, and tons of great characters, this is the book for you.

This is a story of small lives—an orphan who is an expert with radios, a blind girl who makes her way through her town by way of a miniature village her father has made for her—small lives that come together miraculously during a terrible war. It's a long book that builds slowly, beautifully. You really must read it for yourself.

This book does a great job of showing you WWII through a different lens. A blind girl and a german orphan, science, and radio transmitters – none of which individually are appealing to me – combined to create a beautiful story.

Stories centered around the second World War have become trite. Yeah, I said it, and that probably makes me an insensitive jerk in some way. But really, the story of WWII has been so rehashed and watered down that it is a huge surprise when an author paints the story in a different light than we've come to expect. Maybe that's not entirely true. There are many great accounts of WWII with only small amounts of propaganda sprinkled in. But there are so many Hollywood-style stories where the Germans are all heinous bastards and the allied forces are wonderfully perfect heroes who save the universe from the dark force in a style that rivals the best (or the worst, depending your perspective) epic space operas. Sprinkle in a Disney ending and you've got a bestseller.

Given my feelings toward WWII lit, it's not a surprise I had such polar sentiments when I learned of Doerr's latest novel. I really love Doerr's writing, but could he pull off such a novel without descending into the conventional western tale? Largely, I think he pulls it off. That's not to say that All the Light We Cannot See doesn't pull occasionally from the bag of Allied stock footage, but overall he makes the story real and original.

All the Light We Cannot See teeters a line of being over sentimental, but for me it never crossed that line. Maybe it did in the concluding chapters, but by that point I was a believer. Overall, Doerr was wise in deciding when to terminate a scene, when to let the reader feel without manipulation. Aside from the drama that may be too much for some readers, Doerr writes perfectly. The characters are distinct and memorable; I felt for them as though they were real and they'll stick with me for some time. The writing is lush and the scenery is painted so vividly that I feel as though I have visited these cities. The many different threads all come together in a way that is satisfying and logical. The story is told in such quick, alternating chapters that the novel never slogs despite its length. The pacing is near perfect and the story is riveting without becoming overly worked. And the use of objects—I love how masterfully Doerr utilizes objects throughout the story. If any writing instructor is looking for a novel to use for an objects-based lesson, I recommend this one. Oh, and the science broadcasts for children—did anyone else wish they could hear those broadcasts in their entirety? The voice was so perfect, the text so fascinating. If they do not already exist, someone needs to write scientific books for children told in that voice. (And if they do exist, someone let me know what they are.)

All the Light We Cannot See is going to be successful and I'm really happy for its author. 2014 has been a great year for literature (see also Mira Jacob's [b:The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing|18507827|The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing|Mira Jacob|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403176148s/18507827.jpg|26201262], Cynthia Bond's [b:Ruby|18282970|Ruby|Cynthia Bond|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1384734193s/18282970.jpg|25756743], Karen Gettert Shoemaker's [b:The Meaning of Names|18467397|The Meaning of Names|Karen Gettert Shoemaker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1395263120s/18467397.jpg|26126854], as well as others I have yet to read), but Doerr's latest novel will likely be the most well-received and widely acknowledged of the year's literary choices. If you're one to read award winners and those “best of year” books, this one will be one to take note of now.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

All the Light We Cannot See focuses on the events of World War II in Europe, specifically France. The main character is really “the war”... and there are beautifully written, snapshots that capture the true nature of the war and the emotion of those effected by the war. There are 3 storylines going on: (1) A blind girl, Marie Laure, is forced to leave her hometown with her father, the security warden for a museum, who may or may not hold the “Sea of Flames” - the most precious, most cursed, but most powerful stone ever made because the holder is said to be unable to die. (INTRIGUE!!) (2) An orphan Werner, who has a fascination with learning and engineering, specifically re-making radios so that he and his sister can listen to an old man who broadcasts “illegal” educational shows. (2) Sgt von Rumpel who is dying and is searching for the Sea of Flames.

The way that all of these stories tie together in the end is really great! It felt like a true story - the ending actually felt like I was sitting next to a World War II survivor letting them tell their story. So it was very well researched and well written. However, the beginning took me a very long time to get into. I kept reading though because I could tell that this writer is truly talented. Eventually, you start seeing how everything connects and the book is much more readable.

The only thing I disliked was the setup... the book jumps back and forth in time and also jumps from character to character, so it gets confusing. I found myself having to check the dates often. The jumping through time just feels unnecessary and does not add any suspense or glamour to the story. I think it would have been much easier to follow and get into if everything had been in chronological order. But that's just me.

Overall, this is a beautifully written story. I would recommend it... when it starts lagging, just know that it does pick up and the ending is worth it.

Best book of 2014 so far.