☊ All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr ★★★★★+❤❤❤

[Karin]

I just finished re-listening to this and loved it as much as I did the first time. I knew the basic outcome, but over the past 5 or 6 years had forgotten enough details that I wasn't anticipating every little thing. I just hope that listening to this now won't cloud my enjoyment of Cloud Cuckoo Land in print. This is still one of my all time favourite novels.

This time I took more time to really appreciate how deeply and well thought out each character in the book was, even ones we barely see, among other things.

Original review:

When Marie-Laure Leblanc, born with congenital cataracts, becomes blind at age six, her father, locksmith at the museum, builds her a detailed miniature of their neighbourhood to allow her to memorize it by touch, although it takes a couple of years of outdoor practicing with him turning her around three times at various points and telling her to find their way home before it really clicks. Werner grows up in an orphanage with his sister, Jutta. Frau Elena, a Huguenot, tells them stories in French daily. He is tiny for his age, a mechanical genius who repairs and makes a simple radio work for he and his sister to listen to. One day they come across a fabulous French radio broadcast about science and they are mesmerized.

The Nazis ascend to power, and less than a year until Werner is to be sent to work in he local mines, his mechanical genius is discovered by a Nazi officer when Werner is called to repair a radio no one else locally has been able to fix. Werner, naturally, fixes it, and at fourteen, desperate to avoid working in the very mines that killed his father, he ends up being sent to a brutal academy for Hitler Youth. Throughout the rest of his schooling and career, warning words from his sister continue to haunt him as he increasingly begins to question what they are doing, yet has always been someone who does what is expected of him.

Just before the Nazis reach Paris, Marie-Loure and her father leave their apartment, forced to go on foot when no train arrives, and end up in the home of her reclusive great uncle Etienne, who hasn’t been right since tragedy struck when he was serving in WW I. With them they are carrying something which may or may not be one of the most valuable items from the museum.

This is not only an exquisitely well written and crafted novel, but the audiobook narrator is perfect for the book. Part him, part, I expect, due to the director of the recording, but he captures the feel of the writing and the story. He wisely refrains from trying to make women sound like women, but uses more subtle means of conveying who is speaking and it works marvelously. This is perhaps the best newer book I’ve read in a long time.

Highly recommended.

[Joanne]

This is one of my favorites too Karin. I am afraid to read Cloud Cuckoo Land, as it seems so different...and everyone says it is. I am going to wait a while on it.

[Karin]

Joanne wrote: "This is one of my favorites too Karin. I am afraid to read Cloud Cuckoo Land, as it seems so different...and everyone says it is. I am going to wait a while on it."

I have been in the hold line for so very long that I may read it when I finally get it. Too bad I'm not in line for the audio.

But I'll expect different, so perhaps that will help.

[Joanne]

Have you ever read Mark T. Sullivan? His writing style is similar to Doerr's in this book. I loved both of Sullivan's books.

Also, Doerr's non-fiction Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World was very good.

[Karin]

Joanne wrote: "Have you ever read Mark T. Sullivan? His writing style is similar to Doerr's in this book. I loved both of Sullivan's books.

Also, Doerr's non-fiction [book:Four Seasons in Rome: O..."

Interesting--Sullivan writes thrillers, so I hadn't suspected how he writes; I'll add him to my want to read shelf. Plus that nonfiction of Doerr's

[Joanne]

Karin wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Have you ever read Mark T. Sullivan? His writing style is similar to Doerr's in this book. I loved both of Sullivan's books.
"
Sullivan's last 2 books are historical fictionBeneath a Scarlet Sky and The Last Green Valley are the two I am talking about

[Jgrace]

Doerr has two short story collections that are also excellent, Memory Wall and The Shell Collector. I want to read his first novel, About Grace

[John]

I thought All the Light We Cannot See was better than Cloud Cuckoo Land, which I rated four stars over the former's five stars. However, there are some who thought the reverse.

[forsanolim]

Joanne wrote: "Have you ever read Mark T. Sullivan? His writing style is similar to Doerr's in this book. I loved both of Sullivan's books.

Also, Doerr's non-fiction..."

I loved Four Seasons in Rome! I got Cloud Cuckoo Land for Christmas but feel like I need a period of downtime to really get into it, so it may be a little bit. I also really want to read The Shell Collector - I did read about his other novel, About Grace, at one point, but I think it sounded a little darker than what I'm really interested in reading right now.

[Book Concierge]

One thing I particularly loved about the audio is how it begins / ends with the strains of Debussy's Clair de Lune

[Karin]

Thanks! I will take a look at these. Joanne, I marked Sullivan's latest book as want to read.

[Susan]

Thanks for your review. I too loved All the LIght. Just finished About Grace and, although I thought it not quite as good, it's still Doerr's amazing writing.