All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
5 Star Review! At first I didn't think that I would like this book or even enjoy it, but midway through the second chapter I was so hooked on it, I couldn't wait to read it every chance I got and there were times I stayed up later to read it.
The writing was very good, the descriptions were so spot on I could actually see what the author was describing or even felt the emotions they wanted to get across to the reader. I was very impressed with the fact that I could have never predicted the outcome. One thing I did take away from the novel was the way the author portrayed the war from the way the children saw it, lived it, and the trauma that it inflicted on them, and for those that survived how it impacted their lives and how they carried it on into their adult lives, long after the war had ended.
This book is told more from a child/teenager’s point of view instead of an adult. How some went all gun – ho on wanting to serve under Hitler, to where they were treating their peers the way the German soldier’s treated people, two parallel stories are told from two children from two different countries. This book was beautifully written, haunting, and gives you a whole different outlook on the war; it alternated between two different characters.
Set in WWII, Germany is marching towards France. Six year old Marie-Laure lives with her father, who works at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. His job is being the mater of thousands of locks. Inside is a very expense diamond they call the Sea of Flame. The keeper of the stone is said to have immortality as long as it is in their procession. When Marie-Laure goes blind from a degenerative disease, her father builds her a tiny miniature of Paris and teaches her how she can learn to move around the city.
When Germany invades Paris, Marie-Laure and her father flee the city to go and live their uncle, Etienne LeBlanc. Uncle Etienne is delighted for Marie-Laure and her father to come and stay with them. He teaches Marie-Laure about radios and how they can transmit. Madame Manec, friend and housekeeper to her uncle becomes more than a friend to Marie-Laure. When her father is arrested, Madame Manec, teaches Marie-Laure how to get around the city that she will now be calling home. Saint Malo. Madame gets involved in the resistant and she uses Marie-Laure. No one would ever expect a blind girl to be in the resistant, but when Madame becomes ill and dies, Marie-Laure continues with the help of her uncle.
A young German boy, Werner Pfennig, and his younger sister Jutta are orphans and live in Children’s House ran by Frau Elena. Werner finds a transistor radio and becomes interested in learning everything he can. When he turns 13 he is sent to a nightmarish Hitler Youth Academy. Here he learns what it truly means to be under Hitler’s iron fist. Life is not easy for him or for Fredrick a boy that is labeled the weakest boy there. His friend under goes torture from upper classman, Werner is also sucked in to torment his friend, but the two remain friends. Werner is transferred to the army when he is 16; he works with specialist in locating those that are transmitting messages in Saint Malo.
One day, when the American’s arrive and the shooting begins, he finds Marie-Laure hiding at her uncles’ house. Werner finds her hiding in an old closet behind a hidden wall. He realizes then that she is blind and he informs her that he’s not there to kill her. They both stay in the hidden wall, listening to the shots ringing out from both sides. When the fighting finally stops, Werner helps her to go to the American’s who will help her. He takes her as far as he can and tells her what to do. He then watches her to make sure she gets to them safely and then he turns and goes in a different direction. Knowing that he will never see her again, he knows he did the right thing in helping her get to safety.
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