All the Light We Cannot See in 2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge

Sep 07, 2014 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recentfiction, fiction, read-this-book-again

This blurb speaks to my issues with the book:

A small thank you to Mr. Doerr for deliberately giving this intricate book an extremely readable format, with very short chapters, many about a page and a half long. As he told the Powell’s Books blog in a recent interview: “This was a gesture of friendliness, maybe. It’s like I’m saying to the reader, ‘I know this is going to be more lyrical than maybe 70 percent of American readers want to see, but here’s a bunch of white space for you to recover fr This blurb speaks to my issues with the book:

A small thank you to Mr. Doerr for deliberately giving this intricate book an extremely readable format, with very short chapters, many about a page and a half long. As he told the Powell’s Books blog in a recent interview: “This was a gesture of friendliness, maybe. It’s like I’m saying to the reader, ‘I know this is going to be more lyrical than maybe 70 percent of American readers want to see, but here’s a bunch of white space for you to recover from that lyricism.’ ”

I love lyrical prose, but Doerr's prose, which I found riveting in The Shell Collector and Four Seasons in Rome, feels too precious as I begin this newest book. I read fiction to be pulled into a story. Doerr seems to self-conscious in this novel. He creates set pieces and rather than enjoying the white space, I want to tell him, "Get on with the story."

Well. I've changed my mind. Complete turn around. You know how sometimes a book or poem needs to teach you how to read it? I think that was what needed to happen for me with this book. I am loving the story, the sentences, the structure of this novel. It breaks my heart. Often. But Doerr has planted hope throughout. It's a book worth staying with. Sometimes I think that my life, where I am, what I'm dealing with shifts whether I can fall under a book's spell. I don't think that's what happened for me here. I wanted a traditional narrative. This isn't. I love poetry, but this poetry felt contrived. Contrived means made. It is, and I am loving the made story for the past three days. I'm willing to let the story shift every four pages. I didn't think I would be, but the story has caught me. And bravo to Anthony Doerr for enchanting me in a way I didn't think was possible. I will give this book to people I love. Read it. Be prepared to resist, but read because it is so beautifully written and so completely compelling. In the way poetry is, but also narrative.

Each time I wrote about this book, I added another star. I have done a complete turn around. The exquisiteness of the language, which I found somewhat off-putting at first, eventually pulled me in so much that I fell completely under its spell. I found myself savoring. Taking breaks between short chapters so that I could think about them. By the end (for the last hundred pages) I realized I was holding my breath as I read. Perhaps another reason why I had to breaks...so I could breathe. I cared so much about these characters. This is a book I will return to. I'm certain. ...more

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Jan 30, 2015 Amy rated it really liked it

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. The novel centers around the lives of two families on opposing sides of the war. Werner and his sister Jutta are raised in a German orphanage after their father is killed in a mine explosion. Werner fears following in his father's footsteps, however, he possesses a rare gift in mathematics which capitulates him into military service.

Despite his sister's misgivings, he's proud to serve his country as one of Hitler's Youth. Meanwhile in Paris, Marie-La ...more

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Sep 09, 2014 Ike rated it it was ok

Shelves: a-audiobooks

the book was disjointed and I never felt a flow through the storyline. I cared for the young blind girl but quickly lost interest in all other storylines. I'm surprised this one was so highly rated. ...more

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