Reviews

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

srartese's review against another edition

4.0

It took me a long time to actually get through the book. It was long and I was bad at committing. Once you get into it the stories start to make more sense and really flow together. I liked the short chapters that bopped back and forth.

sarahf14's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

doriereads's review against another edition

5.0

Hauntingly beautiful and devastating.

Goodness, just read it, this is an incredible book. I was hooked and on the edge of my seat from the jump. It tells the separate but intertwined stories of Marie-Laure, the blind daughter of a Parisian locksmith, and Werner, a German orphan turned Nazi radio technician. I fell in love with nearly every character in this book and treasured every line. I can’t wait to read this again.

mroderique's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A nearly perfect book, one that you can't read fast enough but never want to end

jennrocca's review against another edition

5.0

Definite spoilers. Do not read if you haven't already read the book.



I mostly loved the story, even though it took me six months to get through. It is a World War II story so I expected darkness. I did not expect how dark the ending felt. I should not have been surprised, how could these characters possibly have a truly happy ending? But I wanted so much more for them that I found the ending profoundly sad.

ramblinred77's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eden_2000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

gabriela_dreams's review against another edition

5.0

amazing book

calebmatthews's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this book and thought that it had an interesting story. I didn't like the flashbacks and felt that some of the book could have been edited a little better. This story is also one of those books that you finish and then have to head to google to type "all the light we cannot see ending explained". The author leaves the ending open partially for interpretation, which is a valid choice, but one that I personally did not find appealing.

Great writing though. I might have to give this author another shot in the future.

allisonhollingsworth's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

”When I lost my sight, Werner, people said I was brave. When my father left, people said I was brave. But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?” I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time, but have been putting it off because I know the subject matter was going to be quite heavy. But I finally made myself read it and I’m glad I did. I thought the writing was really beautiful and descriptive and even though I at times have a hard time connecting with historical fiction, I didn’t feel that way about this book. There were some slow parts, but breaking up the timeline helped. The story follows two main characters: Marie-Laure, who lives in Paris with her father, and Werner, who is an orphan from Germany. Marie is blind and her father creates this map of the city and using her hands, helps her learn how to navigate the city on her own. Marie-Laure’s relationship with her father was just very cute overall. Her father also works for the Museum of Natural History and she loves learning about science. When the Germans occupy Paris they flee to live with Marie’s uncle. Her father carries with him a diamond called the Sea of Flames that is supposed to give immortality to the one who owns it, but also misfortune to everyone near that person. When he is called back to Paris he is arrested and Marie never sees him again, which is really sad. Marie gets involved with the resistance against the Germans because her uncle and her housekeeper are. The radio serves as a thread of connection between Marie and Werner, even though for the majority of the book they never meet or interact. Werner has a really hard life in school and grows up to be German soldier and even though his job is to track down illegal radio signals when he heard Marie’s father broadcasting the same things as he heard when he was little and learning about radios, he wants to protect them. There is also a Nazi official who is after the stone because he is dying and he thinks that the stone will keep him immortal. So he is tracking down Marie’s father and in turn, her. But when Werner finds her as well, he makes the decision to kill the Nazi official and help Marie. Marie hides the stone and gives a key to its location to Werner, but Werner falls ill, steps on a land mine and dies. This part made me really upset; I feel like he deserved better. Years later Werner’s sister finds Marie, who was grown and has a family of her own. Some loose ends are tied there, but we don’t really know what happened to the stone in the end. I like how it’s sort of left unsaid, but really the story is just plain sad. I wish there was a bit more hope at the end. There was more when Werner and Marie found each other more so than there was at the end. The characters did grow on me throughout the book, though, and the story was different from what I usually read, so I’m proud of myself for trying something that is a bit different for me. I felt like the story was trying to suggest to hold onto kindness even if they are strangers and to continue to find hope in science and learning even when the world is literally falling apart around you. I just wish the characters could have seen a bit more of that in the end.