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

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publication Date: 6th May 2014

Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2015, Goodreads Choice Awards (historical fiction) 2014, Audie Award for Fiction 2015

I would like to start off this review by giving this book 5 big stars.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Amazing book! The plot, writing style, characters, the pacing…f*cking awesome.

Plot:

The plot revolves around the events leading upto the World War II. There are two parallel stories taking place at the same time. One in Nazi Germany and the other in Paris, France. Therefore, it is told in alternate POV’s by Werner Pfenning and Marie-Laure respectively.

Werner is a German orphan boy who lives at the orphanage with his younger sister, Jutta. His story starts from the age of 8. His curiosity about how things work, his ability to ask questions and his fearless attitude to try new things wins him a place in the Hitler-Youth Academy. The story shows how he finds a broken radio and then somehow while figuring out how to fix it starts listening to a science broadcast from France. His love for radios, fixing things and science and technology inadvertently shows how deep the connection between technology and the war really was.

Marie-Laure is a daughter of a locksmith of the French National Museum, who lost her sight at the age of six. Her father makes miniature models of the cities she lives in so that she could be better acquainted with the houses and streets. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and the 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, The Sea of Flames.

The story is told in parts, beginning from 1934-1945, both pre-war and post-war.

The lives of Werner and Marie-Laure intersect in the most surprising and wondrous of ways. Values of love, friendship, compassion and mercy are put to test, showing how war can change people and can sometimes even bring out the good in them.

What I liked especially about this book was, that despite being a historical fiction, it wasn’t targeting only one civilization. We saw bad side of the Germans, but on the other hand, the brutality of the French towards the Germans was also shown. The tyranny and brutality in this book, however, is put into such imaginative, dreamy words that I literally read those lines twice, just to savour the feel of them.

Writing Style:

I am not surprised he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. Hell, if he hadn’t won it, I would have died. Seriously. The prose of this book is a work of genius. It has beautiful imagery, employed by metaphors and many scientific references. However, it has some dense literary feels at times due to which one needs a lot of concentration to really get the hang of the book in the beginning. But the way Doerr describes how Marie-Laure sees the world, or how Werner really feels when he realizes the horrors of what the Germans were really doing, or how Frederick acts when he’s disabled is just remarkable and….haunting! It’s haunting because it shows how war tore apart innocent souls of children. Doerr uses really strong phrases which makes you stop and think what he just wrote. Atleast for me, the scenes of the destruction of Saint-Malo, the cease-fire, Marie-Laure hiding in the cupboard came so vividly to me that I had to stop and write those lines down to share with you guys.But that would make this review waaayyyyy too long and half of you wouldn’t even read till the end lol.

Favourite Scene: How Werner and Marie-Laure meet. Although this came waayyyyyy too late in the book, the only incentive which kept me going to read the book, it was such a heart-felt moment. Especially from Marie’s POV because since she was blind, her feelings and sensations were very fervently done.

Do I need to talk about the characters individually?? There’s Marie-Laure and Werner and both of them are really smart and witty. As for the brave part, it goes for every character in a way. Jutta, Werner’s younger sister, Frederick, Werner’s bunk-mate,Volkheimer (The Giant) who is one of the older students at Schulpforta each display a moment of gallantry which leaves you in awe for each one of them.

Overall, I loved this book. I love historical fiction generally, because I feel like it gives you something to learn about. You cannot just read a historical fiction novel and take away nothing from it. Although, it still doesn’t top The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, nevertheless this is one book, I’ll recommend to everyone.

Until next time, guys!