From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

Start date: March 19, 2015

Finish date: March 31, 2015

Discussion: Books of the Month

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What Members Thought

Nov 19, 2023 Andreea rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, all-the-drama, borrowed-ebooks, never-so-bored-in-my-life

- review to come after the book club meeting -

Alas, review time - so not looking forward towards this, hence let's start with the things I liked:
+ finding joy in the little mundane things even in the darkest of times;
+ great secondary characters, presented as complex human beings not just characters used for pushing the plot forward;
+ Werner's friendship with Federik (maybe? forgot his name - the guy who liked birds);
+ Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark - iykyk, if not, well let me tell y - review to come after the book club meeting -

Alas, review time - so not looking forward towards this, hence let's start with the things I liked:
+ finding joy in the little mundane things even in the darkest of times;
+ great secondary characters, presented as complex human beings not just characters used for pushing the plot forward;
+ Werner's friendship with Federik (maybe? forgot his name - the guy who liked birds);
+ Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark - iykyk, if not, well let me tell you - it's the idea of Nazis looking for this historically magical thing that might make them invincible or whatever. Granted, not very original, but it made the book more fun for me;
+ even though I complain about Werner and how he acts, I do understand and think I might be the same in his situation - basically just survive no matter the means;
+ the writing is good, the descriptions are good, everything is so lyrical and even though sometimes it is a bit too much, goddammit I enjoyed it! Although my complain would be that they do not feel organic necessarily. Do I make sense?

And now what I really really really disliked:
- I did not care for our main characters... at all. I find them flat and boring and I felt emotionally manipulated to feel for them just because they have a hard life... I felt like it was too much. I would've liked it more if at least Werner was not an orphan, but a normal German boy;
- this book was way too long and way too slow and not enough things are happening for it to be this long;
- the time jumps were rushed and chaotic and messy and made the reading not fun;
- I could easily do without the last 100 pages - if it weren't for those chapters after what I think should've been the real ending (view spoiler) my rating would be totally different;
- the scene with his sister after the war - there was no need to use her character like that.

BUT the book club discussion on this book was amazing! The girls from the book club are amazing! And I do clearly do not have a poker face. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 28, 2018 Tien rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, historical-fiction, read-on-kobo

Such beautiful writing! I’m not sure how to describe it but it’s definitely the writing that’s pulled me along through this book. It is just so full of wonder; the beauty of the world, the strength of people, and in contradiction, the ugliness of people. How such juxtaposition exists!? I was reading this together with a colleague and she admitted that she’d have given up very early on if I wasn’t reading with her. It’s a very slow moving book and rather difficult to get into; too many switching ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 13, 2015 Chris rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, fiction, historical-fiction, europe, war, 2015owned, 2016owned, world-war-ii

I liked it - I really, really liked it in some places - but I didn't love it the way some others have. The first half of the book is excellent. I loved the relationship between Marie-Laure and her father, and I loved Werner's desire to become something more than just another worker in the coal mines. I didn't mind the jumping back and forth in time, as I found it pretty easy to follow. I didn't even mind the obvious way these stories were going to have to come together. As write this, I'm wonder ...more

Like · see review