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

dark emotional informative reflective 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? No

2.5

It was meh. It had the potential to be a truly wonderful book but terrible pacing ruined that. While I liked the dual narratives, it just didn't work. The jumping back in forth in time was haphazard and did nothing to make the book more interesting or pique my interest. 

Some decisions in the book made no sense like a certain content warning event that happened near the end served no purpose. While stuff like that really happened in the war, it did nothing for the story except maybe trigger some people.

I did like Werner and Marie-Laure as characters but the eventual climax of their stories was underwhelming. Also von Rumpel was a pointless character. If you removed him from the story it wouldn't have changed at all. 

This book had promise but was too messy and long winded to be any good. Did it deserve the Pulitzer? If you gague worthiness by artsy literature BS then yes, it did. Otherwise no, it's an overhyped book.
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