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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Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.Highlighted by 13,216 Kindle readers- “Your problem, Werner,” says Frederick, “is that you still believe you own your life.”Highlighted by 12,345 Kindle readers
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See the Light through Superb Writing with Profound Lessons
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2018
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!
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2018
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Anuradha Gupta
This is the story of an interrupted childhood, broken families, and shattered dreams.
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on September 29, 2020
Anuradha Gupta
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on September 29, 2020
War stories have a way into the heart that none others have. More than 8 decades and counting, World War II never ceases to be astonishing when it comes to writing stories about it, more when it becomes the center of human life. Having recently watched the documentary about the war, I was keen on picking up novels based on it and this one came highly recommended by my online readers’ group.
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is the story of the blind Marie-Laure, the self-doubting Werner Pfenning, and the scared old Etienne LeBlanc. Living in places miles away from each other, their lives intertwine in a manner that is beautifully ugly.
Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.
At the age of 6 years, Marie-Laure lost her eyesight, irreversibly. Living with her locksmith father in the city of Paris, she soon learns to navigate the city with the help of the proportionate city model that her father makes for her. Accompanying him to his workplace, the Natural History Museum, she gels up with the researchers and professors there, learning from them their art and work. In the time she is by herself, she reads novels in braille which her father gifts her on her birthdays.
Miles away, the young Werner and his little sister Jutta live in the Children’s House with many other children who have become orphans, listening to the radio broadcast of a science program for kids. Smart and inquisitive, Werner has a talent that makes him popular in his neighborhood, and soon he is being sent to the military school. There, he learns to hone his skills and use them when the time arrives.
In the seafront town of Saint-Malo, Etienne finds himself amidst the war again, this time not as a soldier but a shelterer of his nephew and his young pre-teen daughter who, one day come knocking at his door, all the way from Paris seeking refuge. 20 years and he couldn’t get over the Great War, and this second one has come to haunt him again.
Time flies (or rather crawls with all the horrors around) and the lives of these three people which collide in a manner no one could have imagined. Amidst the atrocities that the marauding armies commit, in Germany occupied France, these people try to survive, save and see another day.
How do you ever know for certain that you are doing the right thing?
Let me begin by saying this, war stories leave you with a heartache you never knew existed. Although it is a fictional tale set during the second world war, the emotions are as real as they could get. Beginning with the characters, there aren’t many characters, primarily the three, Marie-Laure, Werner, and Etienne, whose lives the story focuses on and the others come in and go. While Marie-Laure’s character was shown to grow beautifully, embracing her condition and adjusting to the new society post-occupation, Werner, on the other hand, remained the same throughout the years in the book, the same self confused boy and then, a young man. Even Etienne managed to break out of his reverie and embrace the situation as well as he could. Of the other characters which I thought were remarkable were Marie-Laure’s father, Frau Elena, Volkheimer, Madame, and Jutta. Others didn’t make much sense to me, especially the disillusioned Von Rumpel.
This is a slow read, extremely slow at the beginning, tedious to labor through, I really thought of giving it up for the sharp and short sentences that Doerr wrote, but hung on because it felt it will serve its purpose well. Things did improve when I reached halfway, but I still was frustrated every now and then flipping between years which were almost always left on cliffhangers. Doerr made it suspense at a snail’s pace with his fabricated subplot about a diamond and the curse it held. There was also a hint of realism, with the invasion, also came admiration. The shiny boots, the crisp uniforms, the greed to get more to survive better than the rest of their townsfolk and countrymen of occupied France, the Resistance, the normalcy that everyone tried to bring by going about their daily work, coming to terms with vanishings, and natural and violent deaths, and the hope of liberation.
The beauty of this book isn’t in its story or even the way it is told, it is in the details. The lives that get disrupted when war strikes the heart, the emotions of families when they leave the only place they’ve ever known, the dangers that lurk for them at every corner (both sides alike), the predators, the humans who became monsters, the aftermath, all of it is horrific. I had recently watched the documentary of this war, and I could relate to these scenes so much, yet I felt the detachment that one has when they read about things that have happened to others. This story pulled me into two different directions, one part of me wanted to go with Marie-Laure and comfort her for suffering without her father under the Nazi rule, the other wanted me to go and jerk Werner into his senses and let him know his humanity was worth more than everything that he did.
This is the story of an interrupted childhood, broken families, and shattered dreams. This book is so hauntingly beautiful, that you would wish it was true yet you don’t want it to be true. Recommended for everyone, one who reads and one who doesn’t, this book is what the war truly did.
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Diya B.
Excellent book as expected
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on May 1, 2023
Diya B.
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on May 1, 2023
But , the book is torn.Few pages are torn too.I had to download it again to read those specific torned pages.
But managed it.I hope amazon will look into these matters cause its all about a book.
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Kee Lady
3.5* Beautifully Written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 29, 2018
