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All the Light We Cannot See

In full compliance with FTC Guidelines, I received this audiobook for free in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was in no way compensated for this post as a reviewer, and the thoughts are my own.

All the Light We Cannot See By Anthony Doerr Narrated by: Zach Appelman Publication Date: May 6, 2014 at Simon & Schuster Audio   Duration: 16:02 hours ISBN: 978-1442369375 Genre: historical fiction Source: Received from the publisher for review Goodreads Buy this book

This book counts for the following Reading Challenges:

       

 

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

Wow! If you are weary about all the hype going on around this book, don’t worry, this is really worth it! I was right away engrossed in All The Light We Cannot See.

It  goes back and forth between two characters, a structure I enjoy, just like in 1Q84. Marie Laure, the young girl, is French. Her blindness hardly puts any barrier to her scientific curiosity. Her remarkable father, who does all he can to develop her culture and skills, is in charge of the locks at the Museum of Natural History.

Then you have young Werner, a German orphan. He is also super smart. Radio is his thing. His skills are getting noticed by the Hitler regime. The novel follows the rising of the Third Reich and WWII, and how history will get these two persons connected, from radio waves to… I won’t tell you of course.

The book is so beautifully written, with amazing descriptions of places (Paris, and Saint-Malo in Western France, and Germany) and characters, great images, lots of neat details on shells, Marie Laure’s passion, on work in mines, and on radio waves and what you can do with that. I listened to it, and didn’t take time to write down some quotations. I think I’m going to end up reading the book now, to really savor every word as it should. I am not blind, just very near-sighted, but I think the author does also a fantastic job at describing how the blind perceive the world around them.

The whole thing is so atmospheric, you really feel right there in the world of each protagonist. Lots of historical novels have been written on WWII, but there’s still room for creativity, and Doerr outdid it. War is devastating at so many levels. Some people lived that period the best they could, and grew through them to become exceptional beings. You can meet two of them right here in this book.

 

Thoughts on the audio production:

I had not listened to Zach Appelman before. I really enjoyed his warm voice and his tone staying as neutral as possible, which I think was really essential here. Otherwise it could have been too emotionally overwhelming. He managed beautifully to  deliver the story while staying in the background. The book goes back and forth between places and times, but once you get into the reflex to really listen carefully to the time set given at the beginning of each section, you are fine. It could be confusing for readers not used to audiobooks, but if you are familiar with the format, it’s really a gem to savor.

VERDICT: How two young people in France and Germany can be connected through WWII. A unique perspective on war. The best historical novel I have listened to so far this year.

 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anthony Doerr is the author of five books,
The Shell Collector , About Grace , Memory Wall , Four Seasons in Rome and All the Light We Cannot See .
Doerr’s fiction has won four O. Henry Prizes
and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories,
and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Fiction.
He has won the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, the Rome Prize, the Story Prize,
the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship,
the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award, and the Ohioana Book Award three times.
Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho.

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