All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
is a tour de force, and I highly recommend it. He “deftly interweaves the lives
of Marie-Laure (blind girl) and Werner (talented orphan), he illuminates the
ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.” (cover blurb)
All this against the backdrop of World War II, France and Germany. This
book is splendid, well written, and will keep you turning pages.
Marie-Laure went blind at age six but this didn’t limit her
world. Her father, the key master for the Natural History Museum, builds her a
miniature model of their neighborhood so she can memorize it and navigate her
way in the neighborhood. At age twelve, she and her father must flee the Nazi
occupation in Paris. They go to an uncle’s citadel by the sea in Saint-Malo.
There they are protected and Marie’s father might be guarding the museum’s most
valuable and dangerous jewel.
Meanwhile, Werner is a radio expert, a talent which gains
him stead in Hitler Youth and a special intelligence assignment in tracking the
resistance. “More and more aware of the human cost of this intelligence, Werner
travels through the heart of the war and, and finally, into Saint-Malo, where
his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.” (cover blurb)
This is a very personal and heartwarming story. Yes, the
backdrop is war and there is sorrow and pain involved, but also resilience and
hope. You will enjoy and root for Marie-Laure, her father and uncle, and
Werner, the pale persistent boy. The magic of radio – voices in the night – is
a shining beacon. You will track the myth of the dangerous diamond – who has
it, who wants it, who will find it, and who will win?
In All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
shines with his words and characters. He illuminates the way, and you will
enjoy the journey.
