All The Light We Cannot See - Tanima and Maya

[Hallie, I'm all about the books]

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill”

Buddy read by Maya and Tanima

[Tanima]

I'm a little less than halfway through the book and I have to say, it's definitely a lot slower paced than I thought it would be! I still don't see why we are getting two separate narratives of these characters. Will they meet or interact at some later point in the novel?

Things I love so far:
(view spoiler)[-Werner! I love that he's more curious about knowledge and tech than the rampant nationalism that has taken over his country
-Marie-Laure and her positive energy and innocence. It's endearing! (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

I'm not quite as far as you but I agree it is a bit more slow paced than I was expecting. I'm I'm not sure how I feel yet on the 2 separate narratives, sometimes these types of writing can pull it off really well and other times not so much, it's not confusing though which is a good thing because sometimes that can happen as well.

[Tanima]

Hey Maya! How far are you?

I finished it last night! It was a great book :)

[Maya]

I was going to ask you how you liked it overall, I'm almost finished and I am definitely enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would at first.

[Kern]

Just bought this book. I'm going to read it after I finish a book called Sleep. Good to see some of you enjoying it.

[Tanima]

It was a great read! I did think I enjoyed it a little less than I thought I would, especially given the popularity, but overall it was a great read.

Let me know when you're finished so we can discuss some more!

[Tanima]

Maya wrote: "I was going to ask you how you liked it overall, I'm almost finished and I am definitely enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would at first."

Welcome Kern! Feel free to discuss with us on this thread :)

[Maya]

I was upset about what happened to Frederick

[Maya]

I finished the book and I really liked it. It picked up a lot as it got closer to the end with twists and turns I was not expecting.

[Tanima]

Maya wrote: "I finished the book and I really liked it. It picked up a lot as it got closer to the end with twists and turns I was not expecting."

Hey! How did you like the book overall? Yes, I was very upset with Frederick and he ended up being one of my favorite characters after Werner. I was also saddened by what happened at the end with (view spoiler)[ Werner's death. I wasn't fully expecting a happy ending or for Werner and Marie to meet again, but I definitely wasn't expecting that!! (hide spoiler)]

While reading, did you have a preference for Werner or Marie-Laure's narrative?

[Maya]

overall I liked it a lot. I definitely wasn't expecting the ending to be as it was especially with Werner and her father. Maybe a small part of me was wishing for a happy ending with Werner and Marie-Laure reuniting.

I liked both of their narratives...but if I had to choose I might say I liked Marie-Laure's a slight bit more. She was very brave and never used her blindness as an excuse, if anything she triumphed more because of it and I appreciated that aspect.