Share <Embed>

Buy new:

$10.05

List Price: $18.00

Save: $7.95 (44%)

FREE Shipping on your first order. Details

Arrives: Aug 18 - 21

Fastest delivery: Saturday, Aug 15 Details

In Stock.
As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

Secure transaction

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Add gift options

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Paperback – April 4, 2017

by Anthony Doerr (Author)

34,186 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$13.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$14.53

$6.00

$1.91

Paperback

"Please retry"

$10.05

$2.99

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$15.29

$16.10

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book, National Book Award finalist, more than two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

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. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

Frequently bought together

More items to explore

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Kristin Hannah

45,256

Paperback
$8.29
Lisa Wingate

17,050

Paperback
$10.27
Delia Owens

61,152

in American Literature
Hardcover
$9.59
M.L. Stedman

17,147

Paperback
$7.89
Markus Zusak

604

Paperback
$9.45
Kristin Hannah

4,306

Paperback
$13.05

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

Review

"All the Light We Cannot See" is a dazzling, epic work of fiction. Anthony Doerr writes beautifully about the mythic and the intimate, about snails on beaches and armies on the move, about fate and love and history and those breathless, unbearable moments when they all come crashing together. --Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins"

A beautiful, expansive tale Ambitious and majestic. --Steph Cha "Los Angeles Times ""

A revelation. --Michael Magras "BookReporter.com ""

A tender exploration of this world's paradoxes; the beauty of the laws of nature and the terrible ends to which war subverts them; the frailty and the resilience of the human heart; the immutability of a moment and the healing power of time. The language is as expertly crafted as the master locksmith's models in the story, and the settings as intricately evoked. A compelling and uplifting novel. --M.L. Stedman, author of The Light Between Oceans"

Anthony Doerr again takes language beyond mortal limits. --Elissa Schappell "Vanity Fair ""

Dazzling Startlingly fresh. --John Freeman "The Boston Globe ""

Doerr conjures up a vibrating, crackling world Intricately, beautifully crafted. --Rebecca Kelley "Bustle.com ""

Doerr deftly guides "All the Light We Cannot See" toward the day Werner s and Marie-Laure lives intersect during the bombing of Saint-Malo in what may be his best work to date. --Yvonne Zipp "Christian Science Monitor ""

Doerr is an exquisite stylist; his talents are on full display. --Alan Cheuse "NPR ""

Doerr sees the world as a scientist, but feels it as a poet. He knows about everything" radios, diamonds, mollusks, birds, flowers, locks, guns but he also writes a line so beautiful, creates an image or scene so haunting, it makes you think forever differently about the big things love, fear, cruelty, kindness, the countless facets of the human heart. Wildly suspenseful, structurally daring, rich in detail and soul, Doerr s new novel is that" novel, the one you savor, and ponder, and happily lose sleep over, then go around urging all your friends to read now. --J.R. Moehringer, author of Sutton and The Tender Bar"

About the Author

Anthony Doerr is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See. He is also the author of two story collections Memory Wall and The Shell Collector, the novel About Grace, and the memoir Four Seasons in Rome. He has won four O. Henry Prizes, the Rome Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award, the National Magazine Award for fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Story Prize. Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and two sons.

Product details

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Scribner; Reprint edition (April 4, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1501173219
ISBN-13: 978-1501173219
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 34,186 customer ratings
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Military Historical Fiction
- #57 in American Literature (Books)
- #6 in War Fiction (Books)

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Start reading on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer reviews

5 star		73%
4 star		17%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How does Amazon calculate star ratings?

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Jason Cornelius

There's no doubt this is a fantastic book. Beautifully written

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Tough to review. There's no doubt this is a fantastic book. Beautifully written, palpable characters, fantastic backdrop. I can see why it's recieved so many accolades.
But all that said, I didn't find it enjoyable to read.
It took a while to figure out why. Even while reading it I'm thinking to myself "This is so good", but at the same time wondering why I'm bored and looking forward to the next book.
Finally I think I nailed it. Nothing really happens. It's all set in amongst the background of a lot happening, but other than hearing about it, there's not much that really goes on with the characters that so much time has been spent making us love.
This feels like all the parts of a fantastic book that happen BETWEEN the major plot points.
I spent the majority of this book waiting for something to happen, and when it doesn't it feels like there no payoff for the time invested in these characters.
Maybe this is what literary fiction is about. I can see why people may like it. It's life through the eyes of others.
But books are a form of entertainment. This wasn't entertaining to me, and I couldn't wait to start a new book.

629 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Marcia R. Johnston

Reading this novel will make you a better writer

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Want to write masterfully? Read masterful writing. For example, open a Doerr—something written by Anthony Doerr, that is. His "All the Light We Cannot See" is the opposite of a page turner. What would you call that … a page lingerer, maybe? As I read this story, over and over I set aside my curiosity about what happens next to slow down, reread, and savor the language.

For one thing, Doerr’s verbs nail the action in arresting ways. Bombers “shed” altitude. Pigeons “cataract” down a cathedral spire and “wheel out” over the sea. Teacups “drift” off shelves, and paintings “slip” off nails. Dread “trundles” up from the blind girl’s gut. Car horns “bleat.” Snowflakes “tick and patter” through trees.

This prose begs to be read aloud or at least heard by your inner ear. Consider these snippets:

“…the low moonlit lumps of islands ranged along the horizon.” (Oh, the consonance—all those lush l’s, not to mention the two soft m’s woven in: “moonlit lumps”!)

“…the last unevacuated townspeople wake, groan, sigh. Spinsters, prostitutes, men over sixty. Procrastinators, collaborators, disbelievers, drunks. Nuns of every order. The poor. The stubborn. The blind.” (Oh, the rhythm—you can practically see the conductor’s baton twitching to the beat of “wake, groan, sigh.” My toe is tapping at the next line: “Spinsters, prostitutes, men over sixty.” I’m clapping along as if to a jumprope chant by the time we get to “Procrastinators, collaborators, disbelievers, drunks. Nuns of very order…”)

”…each storm drain, park bench, and hydrant…” (Each DAAH-dum, DAAH-dum, and DA-dum!)

“Cold fog hangs in the budding trees.” (Each of the first three words—“Cold” and “fog” and “hangs”—takes a full beat, slowing the sentence down, defying forward movement. It’s as if these three words themselves are hanging there—BOM BOM BOM—in the budding trees.)

No wonder this novel took me so long to read. I read it for the poetry.

Whether or not you read for this singular kind of pleasure, you’ll find this story a timely reminder of humanity during a time of inhumanity.

And you’ll write more masterfully for reading it.

222 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

bjo

A must read!

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It has quickly become one of my absolute favorite books...it's truly captivating and well written.

Call me old-fashioned, but I used to love browsing bookstores in person, and the rise of the internet has made it all too easy to find and purchase subpar (albeit popular) books. There are so many entertainment alternatives that many truly great stories go under the radar...until it's announced that they'll be made into a movie (in fact, many read like screenplays, as if the author anticipates that's where the paycheck is). And yes, the characters and the interwoven storyline and the dramatic WWII backdrop could make for a blockbuster hit.

But. This is a book you really should read, and relish. (I read this on my kindle and hid the progress percentage because I didn't want it to end.) Doerr writes with absolutely beautiful imagery. It's emotional and vivid and earnest. A wonderful reminder that books were written to provide a unique insight into how others think, and feel, and live, and love.

149 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Melinda D. Wiselka

Rich in detail. Perhaps a tad too rich.

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

The writer is obviously a very talented storyteller who devoted a considerable period of time to writing this novel (10 years). It is quite vivid in detail. Those who like literary fiction will enjoy it immensely. Those who like a story that is plot-driven, not so much. I kept reading, because I wanted to see it to the end, but at any time, I could have put this book down. I kept checking to see how many pages I had left to wade through. Not a good sign. I never really connected to the characters, particularly Werner, who played his one string of homesickness for all it was worth. I think the story would have worked much better if it had been arranged in chronological order. All the flashbacks at the beginning were distracting. Frankly--irritating--particularly when they occurred during a "present" scene, when the reader was quite unwilling dragged away from the action for a lengthy flashback. The flashbacks were also confusing (time-wise), since the book was written entirely in present tense. Dates were posted before the chapters, but they were hard to keep in mind when everything was happening right now. One last word on detail before closing. This book is RICH in detail. The problem, for me--and you may come away with an entirely different take on this--reviews are only opinions, after all--was finding a detail that would stick with me. The story was just too busy--noisy--for me to pick up something that resonated personally. If you boil away all the detail, what are you left with here? A somewhat improbable, and disappointedly brief, intersection in the lives of two persons that apparently had no lasting effect on either. I need more from a story than that to enjoy it. But other readers will come away with an entirely different experience.

289 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Top international reviews

Lady Vibart

A page turning, brilliantly sensitive story of courage, love and the cruelty of war, studded with characters we all recognise!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I came across this novel accidentally and it's one of the most moving and exciting I've read for a long time. The story is set in WW2 Europe, mainly France and Germany but also Russia etc. It tells the story of a young girl, Marie Laure who went blind as a child and lives in Paris with her father, Daniel Leblanc, a gifted locksmith and miniaturist who works at a prestigious museum as keeper of the keys, and makes models of the city and its streets to teach his daughter how to find her way around the city. They live for each other. At the same time, we meet little Werner Pffenig, and orphan who lives in an orphanage in Germany with his sister, Jutta, under the maternal eye of Elena, the French matron. They listen to broadcasts in French that speak of the earth’s wonders, of brilliant birds, flowers and stars , on a recycled radio that Werner has managed to assemble from street detritus. That is his great skill, working with all things electrical, especially radio transmitters. His future is mapped out for him, he will be sent down the mines to help the Fatherland, the Fuhrer, etc - the same mines that killed his father. But life had other plans for him. The story weaves backwards and forwards with a rich caste of characters both simple and complex, evil or kind, - there are greedy traitors, cruel psychopaths, heroes and heroines on both sides all told with detail that makes the scenes come alive. Does the silken voiced broadcaster really live in a house with 1,000 rooms? And how is he linked to The Whelk? Who is the giant Werner meets at training school who terrifies all the boys by his presence? What must Marie Laura find in ‘the house ‘ at Etienne’s - the last command her father gave her before he left for the museum? What have Captain Nemo and The young girl broadcasting on a forbidden radio have to do with the psychotic Nazi hunting relentlessly for a priceless treasure as his life ebbs away? So many questions all slowly and gradually linking up. The suspense is heightened - then comes the calm only to be jerked back onto a knife edge! We witness mindless cruelty and incredible kindness and love, and as the bombs blitz Paris under German control, then St. Malo as the Allies close in, the different threads, the pathos, the horror and yet courage, hope and survival, sometimes purely physical since minds have been lost, is so gripping, so moving I couldn't put the book down. You keep hoping that the various characters will be found - will return somehow, and the wounds, both physical and emotional will be able to heal. It's very sensively written, with characters that you feel you've shared sunny mornings and untold terrors with. A great novel to remind us all of the horror and inhumanity of war, and yet the indomitability and also the kindness that humans are capable of. A novel for baby boomers and millennials alike. Highly recommended.

70 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

M. Faulkner

Steel yourself, this one really tugs at the heart strings.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is a simply beautiful book. It is however, deceptively long, if you are reading electronically you will plough through 10 or 15 chapters (they are extremely short) and think you are flying through only to discover you have only moved on 3 or 4%. But the story, the characters depth and fullness and the descriptions of times and places are just perfect. It is one of those books that gives you a pain in your chest and brings tears springing to your eyes even when you think you are inured to what you may already suspect is coming.

87 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Ashwini A.

An absolute must-read

Reviewed in India on May 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

The language in the book is perhaps one of the most important bits, it is written with such rich and lively details that at times, I could almost see myself in places where Marie-Laure was or where Werner was. That was one of the most brilliant things about the book. There are many more. I think the fact that the author could transport me to that time period, make me as tense as Marie-Laure or Werner just makes me so happy?

Is happy a word to be used when talking about this book, this time period? Maybe not but the author did make me very happy. It’s very important to me that I feel connected to the characters and transported to places in the books and it did that and more.

The book jumps from time periods of Marie-Laure’s and Werner’s life, from their teen years to their younger years and back and forth. Sometimes it was a bit confusing to keep track of it, sometimes because it was an e-book, it was even frustrating to not be able to flip back to the pages I lost my thread. (An actual paperback really helps with this, it just gives me satisfaction if nothing else.)

Everything about the book made me fall in love with it. There are the usual World War II horrors and you can’t escape them, most times, I was so acutely uncomfortable with the scene but I moved ahead anyway. This book is an absolute must-read if you like reading about the World War II. Not because it’s super informative or because there’s tons of other things that could make you relate to the people of the times more. It’s more to understand how it felt for the children, for those who grew up in Germany and had to join Hitler’s army. For the children who had nobody left, those who couldn’t do much for themselves. Marie-Laure and Werner might be fictional but there were real people who were in their places at some point. They must have faced countless problems and horrors.

It is that feeling that makes me think that people should really read it.

I have a lot of wonderful things to say about it and I could say it but there’s also the one bit that I felt almost unnecessary in the book. Yes, the hunt for the Sea of Flames. The diamond. That part always felt unnecessary and almost tacked on as if it was an afterthought. I am not saying I didn’t enjoy the fantasy of it and there was a realistic part to it but at the same time, it just didn’t click with the rest of the book.

However that does not negate all the awesome things about this book and so, this remains a five-star book.

I would recommend it to anyone who loves to read World War II fiction or who wants to see how language can be elevated to this level. If you wanna read in leisure, you totally can!! This book, despite it being based during the World War II, has an almost unhurried pace to it. It’s just me who wouldn’t stop reading.

And if you still have any doubts about this book, it’s worth mentioning that it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. So, there’s that?

82 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Kaffmatt

Thought Provoking Account Of The Occupation of France in WW2

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

This evolved into a powerful account of the effects of WW2 on two innocent children during the occupation of France. I found the book difficult to ‘get into’ at the beginning. This was down to the author’s writing style, the short chapters and the rather confusing jumps backwards and forwards between the 1930s and 1944.
Marie Laure is an 11 yrs old blind girl, who is taken from Paris to St Malo, by her father for safety. Werner is an 11 yrs old German boy, who is a genius with technology i e old fashioned radios of the era. He attends an elite school for the German Ideal. Werner progresses to be an important part of discovering illegal radios used by the Resistance in the St Malo area.
Some very interesting facts are given and there’s obviously a lot going on; mostly about the sadness, hardship and devastating consequences of war. Paths cross along the way. Various plot threads interact. There are some heroic pleasing characters and equally some distasteful cruel individuals.
Would recommend but advise sticking with the unusual style.

40 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Peter Best

Best book ever!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is an amazing book of characters, history, time, the moment and the 20ies century with the story of 2 amazing people. Giving insight into blindness and agarophobia as well as ethics and unconditional love. A book that will touch every fibre off your being and open your heart. Dr Bianca Best

43 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Kindle Customer

I just lost the plot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a very well written book but just a little too slow to get going; in fact I was still waiting when it came to an end! The main problem for me was just as the excitement of the action was getting you hooked it suddenly changed to a different time frame. The author then takes you back but by then you have lost the grip on the plot. I had empathy with both main characters but lost contact with the author but was determined to get to the end.

The idea was good but too many switches of timescale.

8 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Mr. Tempo

Kids might like it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Once upon a time... well almost. Starts with a magic diamond with red fire that is trying to get back to the sea. Alas it is found in a river by a Prince or some other title who is riding his horse across. Gets made into a jewel and brings back luck to everyone who owns it. Continues like this with a blind French girl and a German soldier in 1945 and end of WW2. French girl's farther is a museum custodian and the jewel now resides behind 13 locked doors like Russian dolls. Guess the girl and soldier meet up … could not take any more.

Terrible recommendation but on holiday and nothing to read and only the Kindle with me: should have got a Sample.

3 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Kee Lady

3.5* Beautifully Written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

All the Light We Cannot See is about Marie-Laure, a blind French girl and Werner Pfenning, a young German boy whose paths are destined to collide in the chaos of World War II France.

I enjoyed reading this novel. It is wonderfully written with some stunningly beautiful passages. Anthony Doerr is an immensely talented writer and I am not surprised he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. However, I was quite disappointed with the ending. After much anticipation, the meeting between Werner and Marie Laure was all too brief and lacked any kind of impact. In addition to that, there was no real resolution regarding the Sea of Flames storyline. Sadly, the ending just fell flat which is a shame as the story up until that point was very enjoyable.

3 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Mig Bardsley

A joy to read. Highly recommend.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book was a delight in every way. The subject of WW2 is hardly a new one and neither is that of the struggles and difficulties of individuals living through it but Anthony Doerr has found a completely original way to explore it with wonderfully unusual characters and deep sympathy and understanding. The writing is heartbreakingly beautiful and the sense of place is powerful. The scope of it is enormous too, reaching from ancient history and the wonder of science to the tiny intimate details of individual lives. Each character is given just enough loving attention that you can see them clearly and there are so many fascinating threads of marvellous ideas running through it and all meticulously connected without ever seeming cliched or contrived. It was just a joy to read and I can't praise it enough.

3 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Mrs EJ Blackwell-Combe

Unrewarding.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

I had high expectations of this book, due to the quantity of 4 and 5 star reviews. Unfortunately, I was left feeling rather disapointed. There were elements which I enjoyed, such as some of the beautiful descriptive passages in Marie Laure's chapters and the portrayal of Werner's friendships with Frederick and Volkheimer. However, I felt that most of the characters were impassive. Their lack of emotion made it difficult for me to feel fully invested in the story.
I found the pace of the narrative quite slow and the lengthy, detailed descriptions of radios tedious. Endless talk of wires and connections didn't really do it for me, but I appreciate that it may be fascinating for anyone with an interest in that area.
I really expected to love this novel, but it left me feeling flat and unsatisfied.

3 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Mrs. Kimberley J. Barnetson

Please read this book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The two main characters, the minor characters, the plot and sub plots all weave together into a inspirational, heartbreaking story. I have read so many books about the second world war but I am ashamed to say that I had never considered how people with disabilities would have coped. I also never thought I would care so much about the fate of Nazi soldiers. Doerr really shows us the futility of war and how normal, nice, regular people just trying to make their way in the world are swept up by the machinery of war and whether they come out unharmed, traumatised or chewed to pieces seems to be a random twist of fate.

9 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

andy

Started well but became a chore

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

I downloaded this novel three-and-a-half years ago, but have only got round to reading it over the last few weeks. I kept thinking that I must start reading it as I must surely be missing out on a very good read (as it certainly is according to the number of five star reviews on Amazon).

Well it wasn't such a good read for me and I don't now feel as though I'd been missing out at all not reading it for all those many months

One of the main problems I had was the prose. I didn't care for the one and two word sentences (though they are not actually sentences). I didn't care for the way that the author liked to use obscure words, for example: Towards the end of the novel – the word “praxis” is used. The word originated in the late sixteenth-century (according to the kindle dictionary) via medieval Latin from Greek, literally “doing”, from prattein “do”.

The sentence it was used in was talking about the making of paper planes by a six-year-old: “...different wing tips, tails, noses, mostly seeming to love the praxis of it”.

It is what the author wanted to say, but when: “... wing tips, tails, noses, mostly seeming to love making them” would have given the same sense and been understood by more people.

A little bit further on the author says: “On the front door come knocks, three.” Now why not simple say “Somebody knocked on the front door three times”. “Come knocks, three” sound like it could have come from a children's nursery rhyme.

Alright once again it is what the author wanted but I found it irritating.

The problem was that the more I read of the novel the more I was irritated by it, and the more I was irritated by it, that I then started caring less about the novel – and about the characters in the novel.

Too many obscure lists of thing – molluscs etc.

Another issue for me was that I was reading American English (I'm not American) so that if I was reading about something happening in France that was happening to French people in a French town and I am by this time IN FRANCE and I can believe it even though I'm reading it in English but then I read an Americanism and it becomes less convincing somehow as all of a sudden I've got an American accent in my head.

Then there was the models. Instead of spending hours and hours making the models why not use those hours to walk with her around the real streets and familiarise that way – like anyone else would do with any sense. So a bit of a week point plot-wise.

I think it's a shame because this novel had a great deal of appeal for me initially but having now finished it (and it became a chore towards the end) I know to avoid this author in future.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Aldebs

Good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well depicted and it was easy to read and in my minds eye I could see the characters.

The story can be unpleasant at times and it was interesting to read a book which was done from a German point of view, even if it did just consolidate what we already know about the dreadful Nazi regime. The description of the blind girl and how she gets about was excellent and certainly would make me more understanding.

I would very much recommend, The only thing that attracted was the ending was too long I did want to know what had happened to each character but unusually I found the level of detail given too much.

2 people found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

Winifred

A thoughtful book about two young people in WW2 from an original perspective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a fascinating book following the experiences of two young people, one French and the other German during WW2. The reason why I have not given it 5 stars, although it was exceptional in its depth of understanding of the circumstances and the dilemmas of the characters was because the frequent use of the flashback spoiled the unfolding of the plot, and also, because it was too long. By the last quarter, I just wanted to know the outcome and skipped quite a lot. Nevertheless, well worth reading.

One person found this helpful

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

JaquiP

Achingly sad and beautifully written.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

The book opens at the time of 7th August 1944. I began reading the book 7th August 2018. The message about the futility of war, the legacy and cost to those who survive war and those who do not, echoes to succeeding generations including this reader.
The book felt very long, and I appreciated the short chapters leading me deeper into the story which is multi layered. We jump back in time with chapter one to 1934 and follow Marie -Laure in France and Werner in Germany up to the siege of St. Mali and into the present.
The book expresses and gives me a glimmering of understanding how it must have felt to grow up as a child and young person in Hitler's Germany uncomprehending until it was too late or almost too late, what the regime was asking if them or doing to them, unaware of becoming aware as Werner did of what that made him or what he had lost in human terms of himself and what perhaps he could have it should have been. This is not an aspect or perspective of the war from the German side I have not given much thought to before or read much about, and it was beautifully written and conceived and thought provoking. A wonderful multi layered well written book.

Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again