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).
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This is the very best book I have ever read in my life! So excited to learn that Doerr has a new novel coming out soon.
One of the best I’ve read in a long, long time.
My suspicion is that Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See, thought of Saint Malo first. Saint Malo is a walled city on a promontory along the French coast, jutting out into the English channel, and known as the “jewel of the Normandy coast.” In 1944, it was the last German-held city in Normandy to surrender to the Allies, and as a …
One of the BEST books I’ve ever read!
A great World War II story in France, with different characters, a father and blind daughter.
One of my favorite books. Loved it.
The opening chapters of this book are filled with some of the most incredible writing I’ve ever read. Noting short of brilliant. While some of that art is lost in later chapters as story takes precedence, it was still a wonderful book.
Exceptional
One of the best books I’ve read. Simply amazing.
I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, though the constant changing of time and place had me confused. At first, I didn’t notice that some of the time changes were just months apart and thought maybe I hadn’t been paying attention.
That notwithstanding, the book is beautifully crafted, with lyrical phrases containing evocative imagery and …
Brilliant
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
1/2
Young, blind Marie-Laure learns to function without her father when he is arrested for hiding a precious blue diamond that the Nazi’s seek. She and her recluse of an uncle become embroiled in the sending of secret missives into the night.
Orphaned pre-teen Werner Pfenning grows up fast …
Again don’t remember but know I enjoyed
This is a pnenomenal book that traces the experiences of a blind girl during the war and her interactions with someone her age from the “enemy” camp. Loved it.
Wonderful characters….interesting plot.
Excellent read, a real page turner.
One of the best books I’ve read on the Holocaust. I couldn’t put it down, and I can’t get it out of my mind. That’s a good thing. We need to remember! The format is unusual and refreshing. I hope you will read it. It’s an important story.
I was raised with a blind grandmother. The author did an amazing job of portraying the young blind girl against the backdrop of wartime.
One of the best books I’ve read in many years, this is the story of two children who grew up on different sides during World War II. The characters are three dimensional, both likable and tragic, and memorable. The writing is beautiful, but never overly sentimental. The book keeps the reader engaged and involved throughout.
Excellent is all I will say because I wouldn’t want to say more and ruin anyone’s first experience with the story. You won’t be disappointed.