All the Light We Cannot See in Around the World

May 06, 2014 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: league-extraordinary-dorks, read2015, international-book-club, around-the-world, location-france, location-germany, pulitzer

This book was selected for two of my book clubs this year - one for August and one for September. Since it seems like everyone I know has read this book, it must be time! I actually wouldn't have read it otherwise, unless I'd gone on a Pulitzer Prize Winners spree, which could happen. I've never had so many comments prior to writing a review as I have with this book.

I feel similarly to this book as I felt about The Goldfinch, but at least Donna Tartt told a story I hadn't heard before - the paci This book was selected for two of my book clubs this year - one for August and one for September. Since it seems like everyone I know has read this book, it must be time! I actually wouldn't have read it otherwise, unless I'd gone on a Pulitzer Prize Winners spree, which could happen. I've never had so many comments prior to writing a review as I have with this book.

I feel similarly to this book as I felt about The Goldfinch, but at least Donna Tartt told a story I hadn't heard before - the pacing, the storytelling, the fast pace that moves the reader quickly through hundreds and hundreds of pages. I read the book in two days, along with other things I was reading.

It's confusing why so many authors write novels about World War Two. I keep waiting for one of these novels with so much hype to have something unique to it. This is a well researched story, very placed in a specific city or two, with at least one interesting character (Werner, the German kid who is good with radios), but the overarching story is the same old thing - the same villains, the same outcome, the same deterioration of daily life. It might be that historical fiction is not my favorite, but just last year I read a WW2 novel that felt fresh - The Undertaking by Audrey Magee. So I know it can be done.

The Pulitzer judges referred to it as a "page turner." Any author can turn a book into a "page turner" by writing short chapters, as Doerr has done. He also moves backwards and forwards between a period before the war, the two main characters' childhoods (even farther back), and during the war. As a reader, I kept reading because there was not a good place to stop and I didn't know what to expect to come next. In Anthony Marra's great book A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, the author does this because of something important that is only revealed near the end of the book, but not the chronological end. It was an important storytelling approach in that case. In this novel, I think the story is the same either way, and would have preferred alternating chapters between Werner and Marie-Laure from their childhood into the future. This would have allowed for a more cohesive story, but also the author could have better developed the other characters, who are rather shallow and serve more as props throughout the novel.

The end of the book moves to 1974 for one chapter and 2014 for another, in an unnecessary epilogue. I think maybe it is to leave the reader feeling okay about the characters, but it may have been more poignant to leave certain storylines unresolved. That is the reality of war, particularly a war so far-reaching as this one. ...more

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Oct 30, 2014 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, tragedy, world-war, europe, dramatic, book-club, disability

I love this book. It took me a while to really finish it - it's pretty long and detail, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The sentences are very beautiful - Doerr is a really wordsmith. The characters are very lovable too... from the blind girl to the young German soldier. Doerr can capture the bitterness of world war 2 in a dramatic but not too melancholy way. An epic that will become a classic :) ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Michelle rated it it was amazing

This is my all-time favorite novel set during WWII. Read it. You won't be disappointed. ...more

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Dec 02, 2014 Neila rated it it was amazing

I absolutely loved this book. It was a book I wanted to read slowly and let all the details sink in. The descriptions of simple things like birds or snails made me feel that I was experiencing them in a whole new way, through different eyes.

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Dec 11, 2014 NAY rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Finished reading it, and now there's a big hole inside my heart. Foolish I was to assume that the book would lead to a happy ending. The story is set during war time, and no good things ever come out from wars. No then, not now, not ever. ...more

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Apr 04, 2014 Toni rated it really liked it

Shelves: war-stories, historical-fiction, multi-cultural, germany, france

Yes, the story has some elements that don't ring quite true, but the writing is so exquisite that I wanted to soak it up and read certain passages over and over again. Beautiful prose! Thank you Mr Doerr! ...more

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