A review by imaginefishes
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

4.5

The book is emotional and provides us with dual perspectives on the lives of two children before and during World War II: it recounts the innocence of their childhood and with the passage of time, slowly strips it away until they have nothing left but war, difficult choices, and pain. There is an obvious dichotomy between good and bad characters, but given the context of the war, it would be difficult not to - Werner is one of the few German military men who remain empathetic to those they were trained to discriminate against and kill, though self-preservation comes first and he never actually stands up against it. Some chapters and scenes felt a little drawn out, but the good thing about having two simultaneous storylines was that my attention could fluctuate between the two main characters if I was getting a little bored with the other. The end of their stories came a little sad, but then again, these things are expected to occur in war times, and the final eventual resolution provided enough closure to comfort the reader after all that had occured.
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