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A review by traceculture
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
5.0
The problem with books this good, is that it makes all the others look shite!
Despite being set against the backdrop of the 2nd world war, it’s horrors, evils and disturbing circumstances, I was naive to the warm light I couldn’t see gathering furtively around me each night as a I read, absorbed and became increasingly more invested in the lives of the characters of this extraordinary book. That was a long sentence. I had obviously been living in a bunker, because I missed the hype and publicity accompanying Anthony Doerr back in 2014. But I’m here now.
Even-though I found the story difficult to lock into at the beginning (which may have had more to do with my own personal state of mind at time than any real fault of the author) I persevered and found characters of strength, courage, loyalty and depth and out of the terrible immorality of war, found kindness and love.
Briefly, the story revolves around Marie-Laure, a French blind girl, and Werner, a German boy whose gift for radio mechanics gets him enlisted into the Nazi army. His job is to locate and destroy illegal radio transmissions - all the while bringing him closer to meeting Marie-Laure in the French coastal town of St. Malo. She and her father evacuated here from Paris after the German occupation. Doerrs’ prose is beautifully descriptive throughout but he handles their exodus so touchingly, how he carries her when her feet hurt (I was listening to Nick Cave’s We Came Along This Road at the time, so tears were spilled). In fact, their relationship is one of the great triumphs of the book, as is the bond between herself and her great-uncle Etienne, voice of the broadcasts we hear at the opening.
I was gripped by these ’children with a conscience’, their experiences, their fates, Marie-Laure’s infatuation with Jules Verne and Werner’s passion for science. I was also very impressed by Doerr’s sentiment, his insights and writing style. He was criticised I think, for normalizing the Nazi historical record, but I don’t believe that was the point of the novel. I didn’t talk about the miniature neighbourhoods, the Sea of Flames, the sea ‘big enough to contain everything anyone could ever feel’, the snails or the messages in baguettes but bravery, intellect, memory and unwavering hope combine to move the reader in innumerably emotional ways. The fact that it’s possible all of humanity, dead and living, communicate in unseen light along inexplicable wavelengths is just pure poetry to me. Full marks all round.
Despite being set against the backdrop of the 2nd world war, it’s horrors, evils and disturbing circumstances, I was naive to the warm light I couldn’t see gathering furtively around me each night as a I read, absorbed and became increasingly more invested in the lives of the characters of this extraordinary book. That was a long sentence. I had obviously been living in a bunker, because I missed the hype and publicity accompanying Anthony Doerr back in 2014. But I’m here now.
Even-though I found the story difficult to lock into at the beginning (which may have had more to do with my own personal state of mind at time than any real fault of the author) I persevered and found characters of strength, courage, loyalty and depth and out of the terrible immorality of war, found kindness and love.
Briefly, the story revolves around Marie-Laure, a French blind girl, and Werner, a German boy whose gift for radio mechanics gets him enlisted into the Nazi army. His job is to locate and destroy illegal radio transmissions - all the while bringing him closer to meeting Marie-Laure in the French coastal town of St. Malo. She and her father evacuated here from Paris after the German occupation. Doerrs’ prose is beautifully descriptive throughout but he handles their exodus so touchingly, how he carries her when her feet hurt (I was listening to Nick Cave’s We Came Along This Road at the time, so tears were spilled). In fact, their relationship is one of the great triumphs of the book, as is the bond between herself and her great-uncle Etienne, voice of the broadcasts we hear at the opening.
I was gripped by these ’children with a conscience’, their experiences, their fates, Marie-Laure’s infatuation with Jules Verne and Werner’s passion for science. I was also very impressed by Doerr’s sentiment, his insights and writing style. He was criticised I think, for normalizing the Nazi historical record, but I don’t believe that was the point of the novel. I didn’t talk about the miniature neighbourhoods, the Sea of Flames, the sea ‘big enough to contain everything anyone could ever feel’, the snails or the messages in baguettes but bravery, intellect, memory and unwavering hope combine to move the reader in innumerably emotional ways. The fact that it’s possible all of humanity, dead and living, communicate in unseen light along inexplicable wavelengths is just pure poetry to me. Full marks all round.