Winner of the Pulitzer Prize A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book* A National Book Award finalist * From Anthony Doerr, the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning author of Cloud Cuckoo Land, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World … France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. 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, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. 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” (Los Angeles Times).
more
This is a beautiful book. It will stay with you.
The interest this book provokes beyond the plethora of mediocre WW II sad romances is the device of a blind heroine. The writing is beautiful the story predictable and moralistic but gracefully and naturally unfolds in inevitable sequence.
There may not be any better way to write about the devastation of war and the fallacy of good guys vs bad …
The absolute best book I read in 2018.
Beautifully written
There are many books that cover some aspect of World War II and all those it impacted. This one was exceptional in its perspective and take on those events and the people so deeply impacted. Well worth the read.
Told from such a unique perspective! Loved it!
I loved this beautifully written book. It was a moving and totally absorbing account of WWII that went well beyond standard historical fiction. Exquisitely developed characters.
This was a book club choice, not sure I would have discovered it on my own. A great read.
One of the best books I have read. We discussed this in our book club a couple of years ago…a big hit. The story kept me guessing to the end.
Being French and only a small boy at the time of the story, I was able to relive traumatic moments––Doerr is a great writer he is my mentor for my own writing.
This was a book club choice and we discussed it. I really liked the book. It was about the second world war. If you like historical based novels you will love it.
I am fascinated with Holocaust stories. This one was particularly heart wrenching. The symbolism of blindness permeates throughout the book and is a metaphor for humanity’s ingorance towards the horrors of the Holocaust, then – and now.
This book was, for me, very slow to start. The character development took almost half the book because the chapters are so short. It was hard to invest in once character when the change of chapters meant you were already onto the next in a page or two. I stuck with it until the end and I’m glad I did, it was a satisfactory ending. I would …
A beautiful story about a horrific and evil time. Good triumphs but pays a terrible price. The characters, especially the German boy, are believable and incorruptible. His love of knowledge and truth put him at odds with his country.
This is one of my all time favorite books. It’s an interesting take on a WWII novel. Memorable characters.
poorly written
If you enjoy historical fiction, this book is great. Loved the descriptive writing of times and places.
A beautiful, thrilling and tragic story about the invisible bonds that unite human beings and the disastrous effects of destroying those bonds. The short chapters propel the reader through the story while also making this book easy to read for those who can only spare a few minutes at a time. I only wish Doerr could have managed to sustain the …
Excellent!! Love the way this is written. I had to actually pay close attention go the dates so I could understand when things were happening. Wonderful touching intriguing story.
You wanted the best for both characters, but they would always be in opposing situations. This is what happens to good people in wartime.