Reviews with content warning for Violence - All the Light We Cannot See

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

227 reviews

noiraet's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.5

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therealsouls's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

3.25 stars

What a book. I love dangerous settings in books, there's just a certain aesthetic to them.

"All The Light We Cannot See" is a challenging book in dual POV, exploring the lives of a blind French girl Marie-Laure and a young and gifted German orphan named Werner, all during the mayhem of World War Two. The novel recounts themes such as the impact of propaganda on Werner and Marie-Laure yearning to belong somewhere.

The prose was incredible. Crafted by a literary god, I have never seen someone who can craft such addicting descriptions as Doerr. Interweaving imagery and dialogue like the man was born for it. The literary equivalent of Haribos, right here you guys. Take this image:

"Their son, Max, is six, fond of mud, dogs, and questions no one can answer."

Or the fabricated contrast in these lines, symbolising overthinking:

"Just a dumb model of this town.
Which is why he walked away.
Look inside Etienne's house.
'What's wrong?' asks Etienne.
Inside the house."

What the fuck? How do you manage to use italics and conciseness to portray meditative thoughts, without easing the word thought or meditation once? Jesus Christ! Chill!

In all fairness, the novel was distinctive. There were characters of most, if not all, ages. Doerr carefully considered the circumstances of the characters, such as a heightened sense of awareness for Marie-Laure's point-of-view due to her blindness, and historical reliability of the fascist regime of Nazi Germany and the chaos of World War Two. Some allusions made me curious on some history, so I researched and even learned something new!

I have one caveat though.

Throughout the duration of the plot, not much happens. The juicy stuff happens in the last 50 pages, and Doerr needs to work on his pacing. Werner and Marie meet during two chapters! That's it! Two chapters! And they don't even kiss! What the hell? Sure, I didn't expect romance; however it would have improved my rating!

Excluding that, I enjoyed the novel. It was a hard and emotional read, very mature, but Doerr portrayed these events in an intriguing and engaging way; I could hardly put the book down, especially for the last 50 pages. I applaud his work of genius.

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christiemaple's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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ella_ruby's review against another edition

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I really liked what I did read specifically the almost lyrical and highly descriptive style of writing. I actually completely forgot about it but want to read all of it in the future

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martha_is_reading's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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maddierandolph's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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eliya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Historical fictions are difficult for me, and this one was beautifully written. I loved following two people as they grow up, I found it very interesting and informative the different ways in which they interacted with and experienced the war. Heartbreakingly told, such incredible detail done in every moment.

I think this is a book I would not recommend the audiobook for - I found myself getting too distracted on the small details and had to go back several times. I started the beginning chapters probably thrice. Although, Zach Appelman does an incredible job - there was so much consistency throughout the 16 hours I was astonished.

I learned a lot about radios and sound waves and science. I learned more about WWII.

I particularly enjoyed

the story about the Sea of Flames, I listened to that probably three times it was so fantastical..

I savored Yutta’s story as much as I possibly could. I found her fascinating. Verner

:-( I totally get why he had to die but :-( did he really have to. I get that he did some bad things and made some bad choices but 😭 I wanted them together so badly.

Liked this book a lot, other than the out of no where horrificly anti-fat descriptions of fat people lol. I am excited to see what Netflix does with it.

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