All the Light We Cannot See: Reviews by 2020 Reading Challengers

[Winter, Group Reads]

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing "[spoiler]" at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the []s with <>s.

[Claire]

I read this book as a TBR Twins read (with Kara) in 2014, just a few months after its release. Here is my review, minus the spoilers:

"Every now and then, a book comes along that is profoundly beautiful, and which illuminates a topic in an unexpected way. All the Light We Cannot See is one such book. Set in France and Germany before and during World War II, it examines the lives of a blind French girl and a brilliant German boy, as well as several others who, for better or worse, attempted to navigate the dangers of the war....

...The magnitude of the horror of Nazi Germany and World War II generally makes it difficult to reduce the scale to the impact on individuals. Even the studies of larger than life heroes such as Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg rely on the large numbers of people saved to make their point. In this masterful book, Anthony Doerr has succeeded in relating the stories of single human beings and the profound effects of the war on them. Individuals, suffering terror, loss, and guilt, but also acting heroically in the face of evil, are clearly and beautifully drawn. The language is poetic, with soaring insights and gorgeous imagery that left me breathless on many occasions.

If it were possible to give this book 10 stars, I would gladly do so. It is, by far, the best book I have read in a very long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough."

Yeah, I kind of liked it! ;)

[Shareen]

This is lovely! I am still gaining Traction, just being introduced to the young male character...

Claire wrote: "I read this book as a TBR Twins read (with Kara) in 2014, just a few months after its release. Here is my review, minus the spoilers:

"Every now and then, a book comes along that is profoundly bea..."

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

I listened to this on audio last year and really didn't like it. The narrator was good, but the story did not pull me in enough. I found myself zoning out more often than not and sped up the narration just to get it over with. It's possible historical fiction just does not work on audio for me.

[Julia]

I've read this book last year and looking forward to seeing what you guys think. My thoughts about "All the Light We Cannot See" haven't changed since I wrote my review, so I'll attach it further.

"At first, I fell in love with this book. Taking place in different countries and different timelines it absorbed me completely. I couldn't put it down and tried to track every storyline development. BUT!

But... The ending was such a painful disappointment for me that I've even decided to write a review!:D The book itself has so many thing that I appreciate (excellent writing, beautiful description, friendship, mystic, tragic fate, ruthless inhuman war decisions) that somehow I believed that the end would be epic! It wasn't for me. And a bitter taste of lost hopes is killing.

Anyway, it is a great book which I'm glad I've read. It's just my personal opinion that Mr Doerr should have finished it on the Part 10."

In general, with all the respect, I don't consider this book as something special.

[Rob]

SarahKat wrote: "I listened to this on audio last year and really didn't like it. The narrator was good, but the story did not pull me in enough. I found myself zoning out more often than not and sped up the narrat..."

Is it possible that the flipping back and forward in time was confusing on an audio version. I found myself flicking back to the chapter header a few times mid chapter to check which date I was on. This is not as easy to do on an audio book. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and find that some stories lend themselves better to it than others.

I think I agree with Julia about the story needing to end on about Part 10 (I forget which part is which) but I suspect we mean the same bit.

[Leon]

I absolutely loved the book, I just could not stop reading. For me it is one of the few 5 star rating books and one of the books to keep at the home “library”.

[Ashleigh]

Rob, I think that's the problem I'm having with the audio. Until you mentioned it just now, I didn't even realise there were different times as the narrator doesn't even say that. Just reads the chapter title. I didn't even know there were parts.

I definitely don't think this book is made for audio, that's for sure.

[Cheryl]

4/5. I enjoyed the book overall but found it difficult to get into at first with multiple time lines. 2nd book of the year complete and 1st group read as well.

[Natalie]

I read this last year and I was really moved by the story. I think the story is something that all young people should be exposed to, to be able to better empathize with people in war stricken areas and to understand why it’s important to welcome immigrants fleeing dangerous areas with open arms.

[Megan BG]

I read this book, mostly in 2017, and finished it in 2018. It was one of the books that caused my book reading block (I was trying to read this and A Dance with Dragons - that was the problem... it took me forever to read both). That doesn't mean I thought it was bad, in fact, I loved it. I thought it dragged a bit for the first half or so, but it was beautifully written and once I got through the slow part, I really flew through the rest. I gave it 5 stars.

[Diana]

The book was interesting to read. I was beautifully wtitten, probably the richest in language and prose I’ve ever read. Somerimes it was too descriptive that I actually lost track in the story. Marie-Laure was too perseptive for her disability that I actually always forgot in the action that she was blind. Werner was an ambitious boy but apart from that I felt he lacked character.

[deific]

Though the back-and-forth thing was horribly confusing, I found the book to be beautifully written, but at times the purple prose throws me off a bit. I loved the characters but I felt Marie-Laurie lacked depth (perhaps that's just me) but I really liked Werner's character. Overall, it's a good book but by no means will I give it a reread in a long time.

[Alison]

I just finished reading this book...it was a 4 star read for me. The writing was beautifully descriptive and well done however, the switching back and forth between time frustrated me at times...you would be left in suspense when the time period switched back in time. I guess that kept me reading and wanting to know what would happen, though! The ending was a bit disappointing and I felt the threads for the story could have come together in a more satisfying way.