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All the Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

Start date: May 20, 2017

Finish date: August 31, 2017

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Apr 16, 2017 Linda rated it liked it

If Doerr's self-portrait is right, he wrote a lyrical prose poem to humanism: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2014/.... Since I'm listening to Voddie Baucham today, and thinking about the contradictory claims of secular humanism, it seems ludicrous that a man should intentionally spend 10 years of his life writing a story about children caught in a war...children who grew up idolizing different strains of man-centered scientific learning, who nevertheless were drawn toward a mystical appreciatio If Doerr's self-portrait is right, he wrote a lyrical prose poem to humanism: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2014/.... Since I'm listening to Voddie Baucham today, and thinking about the contradictory claims of secular humanism, it seems ludicrous that a man should intentionally spend 10 years of his life writing a story about children caught in a war...children who grew up idolizing different strains of man-centered scientific learning, who nevertheless were drawn toward a mystical appreciation of nature. Why? The author never explains it. He just pulls various threads together, makes his readers feel the pitiless tug of social pressure and child brainwashing (and the fear of poverty), and then displays two or three characters strong enough to declare resistance against that pressure. Why is that a better road than what Naziism offered? Because that belief was internally inconsistent? This book leaves me with more questions than any answers, no curiosity about the Sea of Flames, and dissatisfaction that such a confusing riddle of a book would not have won a Pulitzer Prize. To me, this is just another attempt to say, "If man just followed his own natural inclination to be kind to others and understand that they are equal to himself, despite their physical or mental limitations, then no one would force children into the horrible wretched uselessness of war." Despite the overwhelming evidence that evolutionary materialism greatly encouraged men's inherent love of racism, and despite the fact that the Führer loved Darwin's flights of fancy just as much as the character Marie-Laure, the author doesn't bother to criticize anything other than two overused targets: Nazi beliefs and Christian theism. The author is obviously a clever, well-learned man who has a great deal of imagination, and good insight into the backwash of resentment that the war caused for anyone of German heritage (even if they hated Naziism), but I think his viewpoint of humanism is far too sparkly. The roots of humanism may sparkle like the Sea of Flames, but leaves a swath of destruction every time it's allowed to reach a logical conclusion. If the light in us is darkness, how great is that darkness! ...more

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Jun 10, 2020 Chasity Eklund rated it did not like it

There are not many books that I haven’t finished but this is one of them. It was well written and but the story lost me. It was a struggle to get as far as I did but it was just not engaging for me at all. Very disappointed that I disliked it so much but I’m glad that so many people did enjoy
It.

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