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greatestheights's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Not an exaggeration to call it a triumph. It's an absolute gut-punch of a story, but worth every painful, beautiful moment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death, War, Violence, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Rape
macsuga's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
kelly_e's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: May 6, 2014
T H R E E • W O R D S
Daring • Vivid • Dense
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. 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, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie- Laure's converge.
💭 T H O U G H T S
All the Light We Cannot See has sat unread on my shelf for far too long, yet with the release of the mini-series slated for December, I knew there was no better time to finally dive in. My expectations were incredibly high knowing it's beloved by so many, yet the size really had me hesitating. Unfortunately, the timing just wasn't right and my sky high expectations left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.
I'll start out by saying the imagery was stunning, the writing was evocative, and the relationship between Marie-Laure and her father was beautiful. I greatly appreciated the way she learned to find her own way in the world. It also paints a realistic depiction of young men being drawn into the Hitler Youth. However, the structure made it hard to follow the story at times, which made it unnecessarily long.
Even though I enjoyed the story overall, I never found myself totally invested. I know part of that was the timing and my expectations, but another part is just poor execution in putting the story onto paper. This is one case where I think I may enjoy the movie more than I did the book and I look forward to watching it sometime soon.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction buffs
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?"
"It's embarrassingly plain how inadequate language is."
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: May 6, 2014
T H R E E • W O R D S
Daring • Vivid • Dense
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. 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, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie- Laure's converge.
💭 T H O U G H T S
All the Light We Cannot See has sat unread on my shelf for far too long, yet with the release of the mini-series slated for December, I knew there was no better time to finally dive in. My expectations were incredibly high knowing it's beloved by so many, yet the size really had me hesitating. Unfortunately, the timing just wasn't right and my sky high expectations left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.
I'll start out by saying the imagery was stunning, the writing was evocative, and the relationship between Marie-Laure and her father was beautiful. I greatly appreciated the way she learned to find her own way in the world. It also paints a realistic depiction of young men being drawn into the Hitler Youth. However, the structure made it hard to follow the story at times, which made it unnecessarily long.
Even though I enjoyed the story overall, I never found myself totally invested. I know part of that was the timing and my expectations, but another part is just poor execution in putting the story onto paper. This is one case where I think I may enjoy the movie more than I did the book and I look forward to watching it sometime soon.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction buffs
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?"
"It's embarrassingly plain how inadequate language is."
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, Genocide, Xenophobia, Racism, and Torture
Moderate: Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Rape, Confinement, Bullying, and Abandonment
Minor: Ableism, Death of parent, Child death, Cancer, and Mental illness
PTSDalpacachii's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Gonna be harsh because of it won a pullitzer tbh. Its a pretty standard WWll story about a german soldier and blind french girl of a similar age. Really enjoyed the parts about the Natural History Museum and the descriptions of scenery in general but the overall plot was simplistic and a little predictable. Also theres a jarring unnecessary sexual assault scene near the end of the show that really took me out of the story and definitely made me like the book less as a whole. Wouldn’t read again but wouldn’t talk someone out of reading it either tbh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Antisemitism, Ableism, War, and Gore
cateyackerman's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Rape, Gore, Genocide, and War
esjackson's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The jumping time periods was very confusing at times
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, War, Physical abuse, and Genocide
Moderate: Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Ableism, Abandonment, Murder, and Cancer
Minor: Cursing and Death of parent
medini_l's review
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, War, Xenophobia, and Bullying
smkelly1997's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Overall, I felt this book was written beautifully. The prose, word choice, flow, and quick chapters left me throughly engaged. Regarding the actual story I felt as if I needed more. I just felt like something was missing to the the whole book together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gore, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, War, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, and Genocide
omniscienttaco's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked the prose in this book, but man was it a long read (or listen, it’s a 15 hour long audiobook, and I had to wait for it to become available again though my library). I can’t justify giving this a 5 star rating due to some decisions on how to portray the war. It’s a little too… baby-proofed? It reads like it was intended to be included in a middle school English class, but this book is long.
I enjoyed the plot progression, and the jumping around in timelines was never confusing for me. The writing was lovely, but it was also drawn out enough that I could leave my phone blaring the audiobook in another room and come back, not feeling like I had missed anything crucial.
While this book tried to humanize every character, to show that war is horrible for everyone….. I don’t think it did enough to show how horrible Nazis were, how passionate for their political views, how violent and angry young men can be. I dont feel like this book was intentionally sanitized, just be aware that there is some suspension of disbelief involved for everything to come together towards the end. I’m personally okay with some of that, I still overall liked the book. However, I didn’t come away from this book feeling like it blew my mind or anything. Just felt like a well written average fictional WWII story.
I enjoyed the plot progression, and the jumping around in timelines was never confusing for me. The writing was lovely, but it was also drawn out enough that I could leave my phone blaring the audiobook in another room and come back, not feeling like I had missed anything crucial.
While this book tried to humanize every character, to show that war is horrible for everyone….. I don’t think it did enough to show how horrible Nazis were, how passionate for their political views, how violent and angry young men can be. I dont feel like this book was intentionally sanitized, just be aware that there is some suspension of disbelief involved for everything to come together towards the end. I’m personally okay with some of that, I still overall liked the book. However, I didn’t come away from this book feeling like it blew my mind or anything. Just felt like a well written average fictional WWII story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Genocide, and Antisemitism
alexiafox's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
Beautiful and lyrical prose. There is no doubt that Anthony Doerr is a talented writer.
I’m not sure if it was all the hype I had heard previously or if it was because it took me a long time to read this, but I simply didn’t enjoy this as much as everyone else (it seems).
It felt very long, and at times it seemed like the plot didn’t progress all that much. If you enjoy reading for the ambience and characters rather than plot then I would recommend this. It would be easier to forgive the slow pace if I felt connected to the characters but I simply didn’t connect with them that deeply. I certainly cared and empathized but I felt something lacking.
Close to the end (probably 200 pages from ending) I felt more “hooked” since the war was starting to end. However, by the end, I felt more frustrated than heartbroken. I don’t know if I understood the choices for such a bleak ending that seemed rushed and came out of nowhere. On the other hand, the ending had some beautiful moments.
I was just left wanting a bit more: emotionally and for the characters. But then again, that is the point. War is bleak. War is catastrophic. War destroys.
<Spoiler>:
After reading some discussion, I will say I understand that war isn’t something that has “happy endings” for the people affected by it. I now see the irony of Werner’s death since he died in the way he feared (his father’s death). I also understand that so many people were lost to the war and many didn’t get the peace of knowing what happened to their loved ones. I think this reality is what is upsetting… but it’s important to read about. <Spoiler>
I’m not sure if it was all the hype I had heard previously or if it was because it took me a long time to read this, but I simply didn’t enjoy this as much as everyone else (it seems).
It felt very long, and at times it seemed like the plot didn’t progress all that much. If you enjoy reading for the ambience and characters rather than plot then I would recommend this. It would be easier to forgive the slow pace if I felt connected to the characters but I simply didn’t connect with them that deeply. I certainly cared and empathized but I felt something lacking.
Close to the end (probably 200 pages from ending) I felt more “hooked” since the war was starting to end. However, by the end, I felt more frustrated than heartbroken. I don’t know if I understood the choices for such a bleak ending that seemed rushed and came out of nowhere. On the other hand, the ending had some beautiful moments.
I was just left wanting a bit more: emotionally and for the characters. But then again, that is the point. War is bleak. War is catastrophic. War destroys.
<Spoiler>:
After reading some discussion, I will say I understand that war isn’t something that has “happy endings” for the people affected by it. I now see the irony of Werner’s death since he died in the way he feared (his father’s death). I also understand that so many people were lost to the war and many didn’t get the peace of knowing what happened to their loved ones. I think this reality is what is upsetting… but it’s important to read about. <Spoiler>
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual assault