Scan barcode
A review by lovelymisanthrope
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
I read this book as a buddy read with a friend.
This is not typically a book I would have gravitated towards because Historical Fiction does not traditionally call to me. However, I was very excited to give this one a try because I heard nothing but great things about it, and I thought it would be an excellent candidate as my first intentional Historical Fiction. What made this book so approachable was that it was a story about how it is difficult to be human, and the characters happened to be living through WWII, rather than a story about WWII at the forefront. I also really loved the writing style. Anthony Doerr has such a lyrical way with words, and the metaphors were beautiful, but not heavy handed.
I really enjoyed the dual perspectives, especially because the characters were from two completely different worlds. I loved seeing their individual stories develop and being able to draw parallels between their struggles. Despite living very different lives, their stories really overlapped, which I think provided great commentary on how every person's life may be different, but we are all still so similar at the end of the day. Particularly, I enjoyed seeing Werner's character progression and how he got pulled into Hitler's Army. It is so easy to look at something from the outside and say how wrong it was, but I always find it interesting to see the state of mind of a person who gets drawn into something so deplorable. I also really appreciated his pushback and questioning of what he was experiencing and what he was being trained to do.
The story really dove into some difficult to read subjects, like Fredrick's story, but Anthony Doerr was able to handle these topics with grace. Nothing was "too much" to read, but the story was still so powerful.
I will say that the actual formatting of the book was sometimes difficult for me to enjoy. The chapters are short and alternate between Marie's and Werner's perspectives rapidly. Initially, this made it difficult for me to get into the story because just when I was finally starting to connect with one character's story, we switched to the other character's story. I did enjoy this towards the middle and end of the novel because it felt like we were getting both character's stories simultaneously.
Overall, I was very impressed by this novel, and I am excited to pick up more by Anthony Doerr.
This is not typically a book I would have gravitated towards because Historical Fiction does not traditionally call to me. However, I was very excited to give this one a try because I heard nothing but great things about it, and I thought it would be an excellent candidate as my first intentional Historical Fiction. What made this book so approachable was that it was a story about how it is difficult to be human, and the characters happened to be living through WWII, rather than a story about WWII at the forefront. I also really loved the writing style. Anthony Doerr has such a lyrical way with words, and the metaphors were beautiful, but not heavy handed.
The story really dove into some difficult to read subjects, like Fredrick's story, but Anthony Doerr was able to handle these topics with grace. Nothing was "too much" to read, but the story was still so powerful.
I will say that the actual formatting of the book was sometimes difficult for me to enjoy. The chapters are short and alternate between Marie's and Werner's perspectives rapidly. Initially, this made it difficult for me to get into the story because just when I was finally starting to connect with one character's story, we switched to the other character's story. I did enjoy this towards the middle and end of the novel because it felt like we were getting both character's stories simultaneously.
Overall, I was very impressed by this novel, and I am excited to pick up more by Anthony Doerr.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Death of parent, and Death