All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel

Really powerful storyline. It gives reader vivid imagery of the strength and resilience of the heroine.

This was a lovely and thought-provoking book. I found it kind of slow and the non-linear storyline a little difficult to track.

Where do I start? I didn't even like this book to begin with, the pacing felt so very slow. I was encouraged to keep going, and I did. I was however, immediately captured by the beautiful writing style! The way everything is described in the physical sense, or in smell. It's so different than what I usually read, where authors just simply tell you what is in a scene. They don't really describe it, or lay it out for you.

I loved reading the POV from a blind person's perspective. I learned that even though her eyes don't work, she still "sees" the world. And I think in some ways, she sees much more and much more beautifully than we could ever hope to. For those of us that take our sight for granted, we tend to miss the beauty in small things. Marie-Laure finds so much beauty in snails and rocks, but completely misses what we see in diamonds. Or do we miss the beauty in snails and rocks, and place too much value in diamonds, letting their sparkling beauty dazzle us? After all, their worth only comes from what we place on them.

I love books that leave me thinking afterwards, that have me reframing what I thought I knew. This book made me rethink the situation of wars. How many stories go untold. How life was still going on in the midst of it. How many innocents get caught up in someone else's bloody mess. Werner for instance, he would have never chosen to be involved of his own accord. Rather he was caught by flowery words of fighting for his country, and soon it was just a matter of following orders. He was caught in something so much bigger than himself that it left him feeling like he had no choice. He was just another boy chasing after the "weakest" one.

This book was brutally honest; it was refreshing. Now that I've read it, I know I wouldn't want this book to cater to human emotion and just give us the picture perfect endings. Doerr doesn't just tear everything apart, no. We do get some good endings, we see people happy, but he also shows us just how cruel war is, and what it does. Innocents suffer, innocents die. This novel really pulled me in with that stark reality.

This is an amazing book, and so very wonderfully written! Please, pick it up, and give it a chance.

So tragically beautiful. Worth the few nightmares and stress dreams it probably caused. Written in such a way that the horrors of that time are conveyed without being graphic.

Barb's recommendation