All the Light We Cannot See in Reading with Style

Apr 25, 2014 Claire Jefferies rated it really liked it

Shelves: own-it

I had high expectations for this book, and for the most part, they were met. Since most of you have read and/or know the plot by now, I want to focus on what worked for me and what didn't.

The good -
The writing - some of the phrases and descriptions in this book took my breath away. Doerr writes like a poet, in short, fragmented sentences much of the time, and his writing is lush and gorgeous. It reminded me a bit of the writing in A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, another book that I loved. I had high expectations for this book, and for the most part, they were met. Since most of you have read and/or know the plot by now, I want to focus on what worked for me and what didn't.

The good -
The writing - some of the phrases and descriptions in this book took my breath away. Doerr writes like a poet, in short, fragmented sentences much of the time, and his writing is lush and gorgeous. It reminded me a bit of the writing in A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, another book that I loved.

The perspective - I've read more than a handful of books in the last few months about WWII and Nazi Germany, and I really enjoyed reading it from the perspective of children coming of age during the war. It was also interesting to consider the tragedy from Werner's point of view - Doerr helped the reader understand that there were so many unwitting participants fighting for the Nazis who simply had few (or no) other options than to fight. I was equally blown away when considering what it would have been like to be blind during the war. When I let myself truly consider Marie-Laure's experience, it was just terrifying. Can you imagine living through WWII, not knowing what the leaflets said that were dropped on your city, warning you to evacuate immediately? Not knowing if the person you were talking to on the street was your friend or foe because you couldn't see their uniform? I can't think of many things more unsettling, and Doerr did a really fantastic job of getting inside Marie-Laure's head to let the reader "see" from a blind person's perspective (I wonder if he has a close friend or relative who is blind - he did such a great job with this I can't imagine he doesn't).

The less than stellar-
The writing - I know that I said the writing was part of the good, but it was also part of what made me give this four stars instead of five. Because of the short, fragmented sentences, it was sometimes hard to immerse myself in the story - I found myself getting distracted quite a bit, and I kept having to pull myself back into the novel. It didn't help that the book was also broken up into very short chapters - sometimes less than a page - and that it was also chopped into time periods that jumped around from the 1930s until present day. I think this book might have worked better in a traditional narrative form (at least, I think it would have worked better for me as a reader). The choppiness seemed unnecessary and didn't add much to the reading experience.

Overall, I'm so glad that this is my first book of 2015 - and despite my minor annoyances with it, I'm very impressed with Doerr and highly recommend it to those of you who have yet to pick it up. ...more

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Aug 13, 2014 Katy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, beautiful-writing

I loved this book! The book tells the story of two young people in the leadup to and events of WWII. One is a blind Parisian girl, the daughter of a museum’s locksmith. The other is a German orphan boy with a talent for radios and electronics. The story alternates between their perspectives until finally, their stories cross paths. I enjoyed the characters and plot, and wanted to read on, but what kept making me pause to marvel during reading was the author’s command of the structure of the book ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it it was amazing

Everything that I expected from Doerr and more. I anticipated his beautiful, piercing words. Having only read Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World and short story collections, I was not prepared for his wonderful characters, amazing sense of history and complex story telling. I think that like Jules Verne for some of the characters here that I will carry this story with me. ...more

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