Play Book Tag discussion
February 2016: World War II
>
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
date
newest »
newest »
I felt similarly. The short chapters made it hard to get into at first. I thought both characters offered an interesting perspective. I really didn't care for the ending. I was a bit surprised that it won the Pultizer.
I liked this alot but I have to say I was very put off by the constant switching AND I listened to this so it was sometimes hard to know where I was in the story. I didn't even realize it had short chapters because you don't see them in audio and they aren't announced if it wasn't part of the print in the book. However, I loved the setting, unique for WWII fiction, and the characters.
I do remember the very short chapters but I absolutely adored this book. I thought it had everything and I could not stop reading. I was so sad when it was over....
I had many of the same problems as you did Jen.
I was the same as Nicole. I absolutely adored it and spent half of last year insisting that everyone read it!
I'm in the same boat. I was underwhelmed with it. I have a similar problem as you. I read so much non-fiction WWII works that it takes a lot to impress me on HF.
It's worth the read, Cin, I gave it 4.5 stars. It has its flaws, but for me they were easy to overlook. I didn't have any problem with the switching POVs. The time jump I agree was gimmicky but I didn't have a problem with it either. Overall very enjoyable.
I liked it a lot. I thought the characters were fresh and different, especially if you read a lot of WW2 historical fiction. I read it as soon as it came out in 2014 so there was no hype about it yet.
annapi wrote: "It's worth the read, Cin, I gave it 4.5 stars. ..."Wow! I suspect I'll read it at some point. :-)
My mom has been raving about this book. I'm going to have to read it sometime soon.
You are not the last person, I'm still hoping to get to this before the month is done.
I have been working on this all month and am truly enjoying it. Its not a book I want to burn through quickly though, because I want to take the time to fully absorb and enjoy it. For being a Pulitzer prize winner, I have so far been surprised at the easily readable and engaging writing style. I personally really enjoy the jumps between the two time periods.
This was my favorite book of year for 2014, I absolutely loved it.
I may well be one of the last people in this group to read this book so I'll refrain from spending too much time on the synopsis of the book and will go right into my review.
I had mixed feeling about the book. The first 1/3 was a pretty solid 3-star read for me. I thought the writing was fantastic but I found the pace extremely slow and I found myself having a hard time emotionally connecting to either of the protagonists in part because of the very short chapters. I felt like it switched perspectives so frequently that it made it difficult to get truly connected to the characters. I found Werner's chapters to be much more interesting. But then about 1/3 of the way through I started to really enjoy the book and it became a 5-star read. Then the ending bumped it down a little for me. I also disliked the jump in time. I didn't really get why the author decided to structure it this way. It seemed unnecessary and somewhat gimmicky since (for me) it didn't really add anything to the storyline.
I liked the concept and loved the writing. I wasn't thrilled about the very short chapters (which made me feel less connected to the characters), I didn't like the timeline jumps, and I found the pace of the first 1/3 of the book to be very slow.
I will say that I've read so many WWII fiction books that it takes a lot to really impress me and I've read others that I have liked much more. That said, I did like the book and I loved some parts of it. I'm glad I read it.