Review: All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the Light We Cannot See is a beautifully written tale of Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig. Marie-Laure is a blind young woman living in Paris at the height of WWII and Werner is a young German orphaned boy recruited into Hitler's Youth. Marie-Laure and her father are forced to evacuate to St. Malo, France where Werner is eventually deployed to. It is there that Marie-Laure and Werner's paths cross. Two worlds collide in the midst of the bombing of St. Malo. They are each victims needing to be saved. They are each other's light.

This story is well-crafted with layers of themes and symbolism. It is thought-provoking and evocative. Doerr takes the reader on a sensory journey. It is written in short chapters that move back and forth in time, much like a puzzle that you put together piece by piece, you see the story piece by piece until you can make out the full picture. It is the perfect book for a book club or discussion group. It is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year.

View all my reviews