Reviews tagging 'Grief'

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

81 reviews

evnfig's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

5.0

Definitely a book worth taking your time with and allowing yourself to ponder after you're done. The language is beautiful, kind of poetic. I found myself distracted halfway through, but once I finished, I appreciated every word written and was sad there wasn't more. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, War, and Grief

janan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Antisemitism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Terminal illness

sjanke2's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

aeriecircus's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, and Xenophobia

pauli_alarcon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Rape

Minor: Genocide and Grief

lilandraws's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

5.0

The amount of times I had to close the book and just cry about it: [redacted]. This hit different in the middle of the pandemic, honestly, I don't think I'd have the same reaction to Marie-Laure's descriptions of the outside world if it weren't for the fact that I haven't gone out in a year. Anyway. If you were to tell me a year ago that I'd root for a Nazi white haired sad boy, I would look at you funny but now ???? 

Doerr wrote the experiences of the main characters so elegantly and intricately that I was invested in their hobbies and interests like yes, Werner, tell me more about radios and soundwaves, yes, Marie, tell me more about mollusks. The way Marie-Laure described things were amazing and I might even prefer it to the regular way of describing things. Doerr also handled the topics of death and war so delicately; making us feel for and understand the Germany's side of the war but not diminishing the atrocities they committed. Werner is a prime example of compliance and I'm glad that he chose his own path in the end.

All of the characters are lovable and well-rounded, I loved them all so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Grief, and Stalking

lou_o_donnell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

pb914's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Cancer, Death, Genocide, Grief, Murder, and Sexual assault

macsenbesemer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Rape

februaryfriday's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

"so how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world so full of light?"

this book wrecked me. if you´re planning on reading it, prepare to be crushed.

reading it is definitely an experience. it follows two very lovable, smart and kind, but also realistic and flawed main characters, werner and marie-laure, from childhood to adulthood. we get to see little vignettes of every stage of their lives and see the plot develop over a very long period of time, which makes it really slow-paced. overall, there isn´t a lot of plot, but i still enjoyed reading those scenes because of how much i loved the characters. i really appreciated how fleshed out even the side characters were and how real they felt. 
moreover, i thought that the descriptions from marie-laure´s pov were super interesting since she´s blind and we learn how she perceives the world through other senses. she also has a strong bond to her family members and caretakers which was very nice to see.
furtherore, the writing was absolutely stunning! the imagery was breathtaking and the scenes all felt extremely well crafted. it was beautiful without being overly discriptive or elaborate, it was just right and i really appreciate it!
however, i was a little sad that we don´t get a lot of interaction between the main characters. the synopsis already tells us that the storylines of the main characters will intersect at some point, but it doesn´t happen until about 85% into the book. i was really anticipating it the whole time and when it did happen, it was really beautiful and i loved it, but i wished there would have been more of it. i think that a little more romance would have enriched the story even more, but i also understand that it fits the story and makes it realistic. just don´t expect the focus to be on the romance. 
nevertheless, i was absolutely heartbroken by the end of the book and cried my eyes out. it was really impactful and i can´t stop thinking about it. i feel like this is something that will definitely stick with me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Violence