Reviews

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

lindsayvale's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

8690em's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

svenjab's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

lindsayaunderwood's review against another edition

5.0

This book perfectly masters that out of order timeline with multiple perspectives, wrapping in the "one thread connects us all" theory. Loved it.

carliekw's review against another edition

4.0

It took me a false start and then my book club choosing this book to actually get far enough into it to continue. The time jumps were challenging to follow at first and there was a lot of backstory that took about half the novel to get through. I did enjoy the ending, a couple of my favorite characters had different arcs than I would have wanted but it does all come together well. I liked the French setting, different than most WWII novels I read (mostly England-based).

kit1983's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

iamtaylorhope's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

lisahoeflinger's review against another edition

Was not holding my attention.  

kendallsmith1999's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

daniobsessivelyreads's review

5.0

I decided to read this book while in the middle of watching the new Netflix show. The show is very good, and the book is also good. This may be one of the new times where I recommend the show over the book.

I think seeing it visually adds gravitas to this story. Also, they made a few changes to the story in the show that make more sense than what happened in the book.

As with most World War II stories, it is gruesome and devastating, but this is not my first World War II book. It can be very prosy at times which reminded me a lot of other popular General Fiction like The Midnight Library and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. So, I can see why it has become very popular with General Fiction readers.