From the Bookshelf of Challenge Corner…

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

Start date: May 1, 2022

Finish date: May 31, 2022

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jan 30, 2016 C.P. Cabaniss rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historic-fiction, historic-wwii

This book was beautiful. There is so much horror in war, and that really comes through here, but there is also goodness. This book has a beautiful blend of that horror and goodness.

I've heard some people say that they don't enjoy the way this book is written, and I can definitely see why some readers might not enjoy it. Personally I loved the style. The story is told through images and metaphors. Sounds and feelings. The jumps forward and backward in time were genius. You had to piece it all to ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Sep 12, 2018 Lee rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction

This is a moment when I would really really like a half star option as this one falls under the 2.5 stars for me.

All the Light We Cannot See takes us on a journey about how WWII has affected two individuals Werner and Marie-Laure. We witness how their lives were before, during and after the war.

I struggled with this novel I think for a few reasons. One, it continually flips perspectives. With the chapters as small as they are, it quickly began to annoy me. You could start getting involved in w ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2018 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it really liked it

Shelves: all-of-the-feels, adult, 2018, 4-stars, historical, stand-alone, from-my-shelf

“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.”

4 stars. Not gonna lie, I was so on the fence with this for the first half of the book. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to end up liking this but this definitely one of those books where you have to push through to get to the good stuff.

The first almost 200 pages of this book was S L O W. Slow, slow, slow, slow, ~~slow~~. I kept reading because the writing is amazing and scenic and it is very easy to just fall into the s ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2017 Claire rated it liked it · review of another edition

Mixed feelings about the book. I liked the story, but found the book sometimes too long winded. It's written nicely and it is a nice read, but I have some difficulties to understand the hype about it.
The author thanks former authors at the end, among which Curzio Malaparte. I can only say the Malaparte's book is a monument compared to this ( in my opinion) ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 01, 2017 Michelle rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, world-war-2

I thought with all the rave reviews of this book and it also being historical fiction set during WW2, I too also thought I would love this book. That is not the case. Yes it's written well, I can't argue with that, but that's it. Pretty on the outside, but nothing underneath. Personally I thought the story could have been told in 200 fewer pages than it was. From what I understood I thought that Werner and Marie's story were going to come together sooner than they did and would have a much bigge ...more

2 likes · Like · see review