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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Not a big fan of this book. I don’t get what all the hype was about. I read it with my book club and we all felt it was good, but not great. Certainly not a page turner, or a book that we couldn’t wait to pick up again.
This was an acurrate detail of St. Malo, one of my favorite French port towns. It brought back many memories.
Among the most intelligently written books I’ve read. From the concept of the story line, to the diverse characters and their evolving development, to the mind-blowing use of continually head-shaking descriptive words and phrases, this is a journey that captivated me and didn’t let go. Ten years in the making, Anthony Doerr’s efforts are a gift to …
One of my all-time favorite books. Right up there with books that have helped me understand the world better: Huckleberry Finn, Scarlet Letter, Gone with the Wind, The Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, The Caine Mutiny.
Compelling, uplifting, and at times, tragic. An epic novel of fiction!
This is a gripping story of good and evil. Deep insights into physical blindness and blindness of the soul are contrasted with the invisible light and strength of truth.
A young French girl who is blind and who lives a life rich in the accumulation of knowledge and the intricately tactile experience of the natural world. An orphan in Germany who discovers early on that he has a natural talent for understanding the workings of electricity, a facility with unseen forces. As teenagers the two must cope with the …
A powerful book with haunting characters. I really felt like I saw the events as they were happening. Doerr has an incredible gift for visualizing both the outer and inner journey.
Best book I have ever read!
This book is a masterpiece—not something I say lightly. It is simply exquisite, beautifully written, and haunting.
An amazing novel. No wonder it won the Pulitzer. The characters, the prose, the biology lessons, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. It all comes together in a stunning tale of life, love, war, sacrifice, and compassion. It is hard to explain the story only with words. It draws the reader in using many different emotions, emotions caused …
This was my favorite book of the year in 2016 and I recommend it to many people. it is one I still it is one I still think one of the best novels.
Simply put, an amazing book. It spoils you. The book you read immediately after will seem less because this book is so very much more. Extremely proficient prose. It isn’t encumbered by overly flowery wordcraft. It says what it wants to say, perfectly.
Nearly everything about this book is impeccable. The pacing. The structure. The characters. …
One of the best books I’ve ever read. The language of the book is so lyrical.
Very good book. Not just a WWII book.
Had to read it because everyone has talked it up, consistently.
Deserves all the praise. Now I recommend it myself. Hope they make a movie – if they ever make any again.
Beautiful story!
Captivating story! Even though I sometimes had trouble following the shifting time lines, this story is a page-turner. I fascinated by looking at the war through the eyes of children.
I didn’t care for the profanity near the end of the book.
I borrowed a copy from my local library. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
i created a quilt inspired by this story!
I read this book in a very short amount of time because I wanted to see if Marie-Laure and Werner would survive the devastation of the war. The characters are intriguing and the storyline is captivating.