All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr

First of all, to all my readers I'm really sorry. I have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. I know I have been neglecting this blog a little bit and I want to make it up to you by posting a review of one of the books I have been able to read lately. Also I wanted to announce that this blog will probably move to another format. Currently I'm looking into making a tumblr blog for this. And last, I am thinking to extend the content of this blog. I am really into K-drama's and music in general. So please stay tuned ^-^

 
 
 

All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr

Published by Scribner

Pages 530

Genre : historical fiction



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 Marie-Laure 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

 

What I thought

 

I really enjoyed this book, however I don't know why it has so much hype. First of all I found it really hard to get into the story because of it's unique writing and also because I didn't fully understand what the story was about. I have read this book, it is quite embarrassing to say, in one and a half months. Also I was super, extremely busy. Which caused me to not really be in the mood to read.

Now, as I mentioned, this book has quite unique writing. The chapters are really short and written in third person. Which really makes the atmosphere of the story, but also makes it hard to really get into the story - in my opinion-

One of the things that I really didn't like, were the unnecessary chapters that had no influence in the story anyway. But let's talk about the amazing things about this book, because it really is a good book. It was just really bad timing on my part to read this in one of the busiest months of the school year. I loved the characters! One of the main characters is Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, who is extremely sweet. It was really interesting to read about her growth and also about her medical condition. Because obviously her handicap, not being able to see, was a real burden during the war. So it was really interesting to see how she experienced the war. Then there's Werner, a German soldier, who we get to know from an early age. This way we really get to know him and we develop empathy for him. It was so interesting to read all the point of views on the war. Every single character has a different view, and that is something I really enjoyed reading about in this book.

I don't want to tell to much about the book, because I think that will take away the atmosphere of the story. So I will keep this post short and sweet.  This was one of the first historical fiction books that I have read. And I have to say that I really enjoyed it. But right now I can really use a simple contemporary book ^-^

I really recommend this to you guys, it was really interesting and entertaining. An amazing way to introduce what happened during the war to young adults (:

 

Have you read this book?

let me know in the comments.

xx Zoë