Previous BOMs - Authors; A - D: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Anything Goes BOM) Start Date March 19, 2015

[Stephanie]

42. Why don't you think Werner escaped Saint-Malo with Marie-Laure? He could have easily changed clothes, discarded or burned his uniform, and fled with Marie-Laure without being recognized. Do you think it was atonement? Did he simply want to try to find Volkheimer? Why did he stay?

As others have said, I don't think he could have passed for anything other than German. More harm would have come to him and to Marie-Laure if he stayed and pretended than if he left her and essentially turned himself in.

43. Marie-Laure gave Werner the key to her secret place on the beach. Did she want him to find the wooden house with the diamond? Did she actually leave the diamond in the house when she put it in the water? Was she testing Werner and his ability to resist temptation, or was she tempting fate and the curse?

I think she did want him to find the house with the diamond. Perhaps she secretly wondered if it would offer him protection. I do think that he found the diamond and dropped it into the ocean. He kept the house as a memory of not just her but of his youth and the professor and a time of innocence.

44. We know that Werner went back to the secret beach cove and took Marie-Laure's little wooden house. However, later on he walks through a mine field and dies. IF Werner had the diamond, this means the curse would be broken, or never existed. The house was in his diffel bag. Did the diamond have to be ON you in order to keep you alive forever? Did he ever have it to begin with? And finally, WHY do you think he walked through that mine field? Was it suicide, or was he so ill it made him delusional?

I think he was ill and had given up so to speak. The sorrows of the war weighed heavy on his heart. I think initially it was delirium that took him into the field.....but then I think he chose to ignore the warning calls

45. Volkheimer's story ends with him alone, never married, sitting in front of an outdated television set. Eventually, he visits Jutta and her family to return Werner's belongings. What do you make of his story? Do you think he feels any remorse for the things he's done? Do you think he sees them as lives he's taken? Why do you think he was so nurturing to Max?

Volkheimer was one of my favorite characters. He was a person with two faces. The outside one that others saw....the brute, the giant. Just like Werner he was forced to do things he did not want to do during a time of war. Even in the seemingly cruel acts like taking clothing and boots from prisoners, he did not bring his rifle. The other side was his inner true self. This is the one he showed Max. I also think Max reminded him of Werner. I think Volkheimer clearly has remorse for his wartime actions and this shows in how he leads his life. I don't think he feels he deserves the happiness of a relationship, children, etc. He in many way seems to be living with PTSD.

46. Finally, this beautiful book ends with Marie-Laure and her grandson. She's over 100 years old and still very active. Only one question: Do you think she kept the diamond and is the legend true?

She's only about 85 at the end of the book :-) No she didn't keep the diamond. It had no value to her. And no I don't believe in the legend.

47. Doerr concluded most of our main characters stories. Do you prefer that to an open-ending, where you can imagine the future you hope that character ends up with?

I like that she summed everything up at the end the last chapter with her grandson did not add anything to the book.

[Stephanie]

Thanks for letting me participate in this. Strangely I read this a month ago but because I didn't remember all the details I opted to reread the book. This speaks volumes to how much I loved this book as I truly have very little reading time and I read slowly and deliberately soaking in every word. I hope I will be able to join in future discussions and I hope that it will not be a problem if I don't volunteer to write questions. A very busy and unpredicatable work life makes me not the most punctual or reliable person in the world.

Oh and I must share.....did anyone wonder what was wrong with Werner medically? I believe I know. If you recall him describing the worms in the sausage. I believe he had an infection from these worms called Trichinosis. THis worm can cause debilitating diarrhea and can also infect the central nervous system including the brain. This could have explained the delirium of walking into the mind field.

Stephanie

[Kerri]

42. Why don't you think Werner escaped Saint-Malo with Marie-Laure? He could have easily changed clothes, discarded or burned his uniform, and fled with Marie-Laure without being recognized. Do you think it was atonement? Did he simply want to try to find Volkheimer? Why did he stay?

I spent most of the novel waiting for the moment Marie-Laure and Werner met and fell in love; feeling they were destined to manage a happy ending out of all the horrors of war. In hindsight it seems that would have lessened the quality of the story. In a way, it seems their struggles would have been in vain.